1.
Spillway
–
A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the UK they may be known as overflow channels, spillways ensure that the water does not overflow and damage or destroy the dam. Floodgates and fuse plugs may be designed into spillways to regulate water flow, other uses of the term spillway include bypasses of dams or outlets of channels used during high water, and outlet channels carved through natural dams such as moraines. Water normally flows over a spillway only during flood periods – when the reservoir cannot hold the excess of water entering the reservoir over the amount used. In contrast, a tower is a structure used to release water on a regular basis for water supply, hydroelectricity generation. A spillway is located at the top of the reservoir pool, dams may also have bottom outlets with valves or gates which may be operated to release flood flow, and a few dams lack overflow spillways and rely entirely on bottom outlets. There are two types of spillways, controlled and uncontrolled. A controlled spillway has mechanical structures or gates to regulate the rate of flow and this design allows nearly the full height of the dam to be used for water storage year-round, and flood waters can be released as required by opening one or more gates. An uncontrolled spillway, in contrast, does not have gates, the rate of discharge is controlled only by the depth of water above the reservoirs spillway. Storage volume in the reservoir above the spillway crest can only be used for the storage of floodwater. In an intermediate type, normal level regulation of the reservoir is controlled by the mechanical gates, if inflow to the reservoir exceeds the gates capacity, an artificial channel called either an auxiliary or emergency spillway that is blocked by a fuse plug dike will operate. The fuse plug is designed to over-top and wash out in case of a large flood, the fuse plug concept is used where it would be very costly to build a spillway with capacity for the probable maximum flood. A chute spillway is a common and basic design which transfers water from behind the dam down a smooth decline into the river below. These are usually designed following an ogee curve, most often, they are lined on the bottom and sides with concrete to protect the dam and topography. They may have a device and some are thinner and multiply lined if space. In addition, they are not always intended to dissipate energy like stepped spillways, chute spillways can be ingrained with a baffle of concrete blocks but usually have a flip lip and/or dissipator basin which creates a hydraulic jump, protecting the toe of the dam from erosion. Stepped channels and spillways have been used for over 3,000 years, the steps produce considerable energy dissipation along the chute and reduce the size of the required downstream energy dissipation basin. Research is still active on the topic, with developments on embankment dam overflow protection systems, converging spillways
2.
Australia
–
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
3.
New South Wales
–
New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840
4.
Macarthur, New South Wales
–
Macarthur is a region in south-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region includes the government areas of the City of Campbelltown, Camden Council. It covers an area of 3,067 square kilometres and has a population of close to 240,000 residents, the region geographically forms the foothills between the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands regions. The region is bounded at the north by Glenfield and Warragamba, at the south by Yanderra and Buxton, at the east by the town of Appin, and at the west by the hamlet Nattai. Most of the area is taken up by the semi-rural Wollondilly Shire, most of the population lives within the city of Campbelltown. The region is named after Elizabeth Macarthur and John Macarthur who were founders and pioneers of the Australian wool industry, the original Macarthur family property covered the three local councils that are within the region. The region is regarded as the area where the city of Sydney meets rural countryside of regional New South Wales. Campbelltown and Camden were once rural towns which formed the nucleus of new urban communities created following the Three Cities Structure Plan 1973, the Wollondilly Shire which makes up the largest Southern part of the region is a mostly rural region with small scale industry and commerce. The administrative towns of the Macarthur Region are, Campbelltown where the seat of chambers of the City of Campbelltown is based, Camden where the seat of chambers of the Camden Council is based. Picton where the seat of chambers of the Wollondilly Shire is based, Camden Council announced in May 2012 that it will transfer its administrative headquarters to Oran Park. The history of the region begins over 40,000 years ago and is contained in the culture of the Tharawal people. The land still contains reminders of their past lives in rock engravings, cave paintings, axe grinding grooves and their culture also remains in the surviving songs, stories and descendants. The lands of the Tharawal language Nation extended from approximately Botany Bay to Shoalhaven, the principal symbol of the Tharawal nation is the lyrebird. European history began in 1788 shortly after settlement at Sydney Cove, in 1795 a greatly enlarged herd of 61 cattle were discovered on the grassy land between the Nepean River and Georges River. In 1803, John Macarthur had been granted 5,000 acres at the Cowpastures and his sons William and James introduced viticulture and a commercial nursery, and a successful dairy was founded by Emily Stone, James wife. The region is steeped in history with statesmen, adventurers, larrikins and villains all having an association with the Macarthur region which makes it a tourist destination. Major attractions of Camden are, Australian Botanic Garden, Mt Annan and it is currently the largest botanic gardens in Australia and is administered by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. It is home to a collection of native plants, and includes facilities such as picnic areas, walking trails
5.
Hawkesbury River
–
The Hawkesbury River, is a semi–mature tide dominated drowned valley estuary located to the west and north of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its main tributary, the Nepean River. The Hawkesbury River is the tributary of Broken Bay. Secondary tributaries include Brisbane Water and Pittwater, that together with the Hawkesbury River flow into the Tasman Sea at Barrenjoey Head, the total catchment area of the river is approximately 21,624 square kilometres and the area is generally administered by the Hawkesbury–Nepean Catchment Management Authority. The land adjacent to the Hawkesbury River was occupied by the Darkinjung, Darug, Eora and they used the river as a source of food and a place for trade. The headwaters of the Hawkesbury River, the Avon River, the Cataract River, and these streams start on the inland-facing slopes of the plateau which forms the escarpment behind Wollongong. Flowing north-west, away from the sea, these combine to form the Nepean River. Near Penrith, the Warragamba River emerges from its canyon through the Blue Mountains and joins the Nepean, the other principal component of the upper Hawkesbury river system, the Grose River, rises in the area of Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains. Once formed, the Hawkesbury River proper flows generally northwards, albeit with a significant number of meanders, initially the river passes the towns of Richmond and Windsor, which are the largest settlements on the river. At Windsor, the river is joined by the South Creek, as it flows north, it enters a more rural area, with only small settlements on the river. On this stretch it passes Sackville and Lower Portland, where it is joined by the Colo River, the Colo River and its tributaries drain the northern section of the Blue Mountains. From Lower Portland, the Hawkesbury River continues flowing northwards to the community of Wisemans Ferry where it is joined by the Macdonald River. Here its course turns eastwards and the landscape gradually becomes steeper. At Spencer, Mangrove Creek joins the river from the north, from here to the river mouth, road access to the river is limited to a few points. At Milsons Passage, the river is joined by Berowra Creek from the south, in the area around Brooklyn the river is crossed by the major road and rail services that follow the coast north from Sydney. The river finally reaches the ocean at Broken Bay, from the confluence of the Nepean and Grose Rivers to the sea, the Hawkesbury River has a total length of some 120 kilometres. Islands in the Hawkesbury River include, in order going downstream are Barr Island, Milson Island, Peat Island, Spectacle Island, Long Island, and Dangar Island. Despite forming the boundary of the metropolitan region of Sydney for its entire length
6.
Nepean River
–
Nepean River, is a major perennial river, located in the south-west and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Nepean River and its mouth, the Hawkesbury River. The headwaters of the Nepean River rise near Robertson, about 100 kilometres south of Sydney, the river flows north in an unpopulated water catchment area into Nepean Dam, which supplies potable water for Sydney. North of the dam, the forms the western edge of Sydney, flowing past the town of Camden. Near Wallacia it is joined by the dammed Warragamba River, and north of Penrith, near Yarramundi, at its confluence with the Grose River, the river supplies water to Sydneys 5 million people as well as supplying agricultural production. This, combined with increased pressures from land use change for urban development, there are eleven weirs located on the Nepean River that significantly regulate its natural flow. The river has been segmented into a series of weir lakes rather than a flowing river and is also impacted by dams in the Upper Nepean catchment. The Wallacia Weir was initially built as a weir for the John Blaxland flour mill at Grove Farm. These dams and weirs have had a potent effect, blocking migratory fish like Australian bass from much of their former habitat. Nevertheless, the Hawkesbury/Nepean remains an important and popular wild bass fishery, the luscious banks of the Nepean River provide a natural haven for local flora and fauna and a quiet location for local residents to relax. At Emu Plains, the bank of the river provides a location for outdoor theatre productions on warm summer nights. The eastern bank at Penrith provides barbecue facilities and childrens play equipment, the eastern bank is also the home of the Nepean Rowing Club. Aboriginal people used the river regularly and their fish traps could be seen at Yarramundi before sand and gravel mining redirected the river. Charles Darwin also wrote of people at Emu Ford, commenting on their skill with spears, while Watkin Tench of the Royal Marines also noted their use of spears, lines, at first when these results were new they were controversial. More recently in 1987 and 2003 dating of the same strata has revised and corroborated these dates. A great many more artefacts made by people have found in the region dating back to within the last 5,000 years. Phillip named the river after Lord Hawkesbury, Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool, meanwhile, Lieutenant Watkin Tench set off to walk inland, west of Sydney. It took about three years to realise that the Nepean flowed into the Hawkesbury, a fire devastated the house in the 1860s
7.
Confluence
–
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. The term is used to describe the meeting of tidal or other non-riverine bodies of water. A one-mile portion of the Industrial Canal in New Orleans accommodates the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada is at the confluence of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. The junction of the Green River and Colorado River forms the heart of Canyonlands National Park in Utahs Canyon Country, the Sangam, near Allahabad, India, where the sacred rivers Ganges and Yamuna meet to create one of the holiest places in Hinduism. The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, located in Pittsburgh, the Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin Rivers in Three Forks, Montana form the confluence of the Missouri River, one of the longest rivers in the United States. Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, is at the confluence of the Gombak River and the Klang River. Passau known also as the Dreiflüssestadt, because the Danube River is joined there by the Inn River from the South, manaus, Brazil is on the Rio Negro near its confluence with the Amazon. It is the port and a hub for the regions extensive river system. Osijek, Croatia, is on the bank of the river Drava 25 km upstream of its confluence with the Danube. Belgrade, the capital of Serbia lies at the confluence of the Sava, the Hochelaga Archipelago, including the island and city of Montreal, is located at the confluence of the St. Lawrence River and Ottawa River in Quebec, Canada. Winnipeg, Canada, is at the confluence of the Red River, the area is referred to as The Forks by locals, and has been an important trade location for over 6000 years. The confluence of the rivers Danube and Morava in Devín on the border between Slovakia and Austria, triangle of Three Emperors, former tripoint in Europe. Cairo, Illinois, in the United States, where the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi River, St. Louis, Missouri, is built just south of the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. Lyon, France is located on the confluence of the Saône and Rhone rivers, lytton, British Columbia, Canada, is located at the confluence of the muddy Fraser River and the clearer Thompson River. The confluence between the Franklin River and Gordon River in south-western Tasmania The confluence of the Snake and Columbia River at the Tri-Cities of Washington, the confluence of the rivers Pivka and Rak is one of the largest subterranean confluences in Europe. The confluence at Lokoja, Nigeria, where the Niger and Benue rivers merge, the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, located at the confluence of the White Nile and the Blue Nile. This merging point is the beginning of the Nile, columbus, Ohio, in the United States is at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. Luang Prabang in Laos is at the confluence of the Mekong, River Kabul and River Swat at Attock, in Pakistan
8.
Nature reserve
–
Nature reserves may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions, regardless of nationality. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws, early reservations often had a religious underpinning, such as the evil forest areas of West Africa which were forbidden to humans, who were threatened with spiritual attack if they went there. Sacred areas taboo from human entry to fishing and hunting are known by ancient cultures worldwide. The worlds first modern nature reserve was established in 1821 by the naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton around his estate in Walton Hall and he spent £9000 on the construction of a 3 mile long,9 ft tall wall to enclose his park from poachers. He tried to encourage birdlife by planting trees and hollowing out trunks for owls to nest in and he also invented artificial nest boxes to house starlings, jackdaws and sand martins and unsuccessfully attempted to introduce little owls from Italy. Drachenfels was protected as the first state-designated nature reserve in modern-day Germany, in Australia, a nature reserve is the title of a type of protected area used in the jurisdictions of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania and Western Australia. The term “nature reserve” is defined in the relevant statutes used in those states and territories rather than by a national statute. As of 2014,1767 out of a total of 10339 protected areas listed within the Australian National Reserve System used the term “nature reserve in their names, in Brazil, nature reserves are classified as ecological stations or biological reserves by the National System of Conservation Units. Their main objectives are preserving fauna and flora and other natural attributes, visits are allowed only with permission, and only for educational or scientific purposes. Changes to the ecosystems in both types of reserve are allowed to restore and preserve the balance, biological diversity. Ecological stations are allowed to change the environment within strictly defined limits for the purpose of scientific research. A wildlife reserve in Brazil is also protected, and hunting is not allowed, there are 30 nature reserves in Egypt which cover 12% of Egyptian land. Those nature reserves were built according to the laws no, 102/1983 and 4/1994 for protection of the Egyptian nature reserve. Egypt announced a plan from to build 40 nature reserves from 1997 to 2017, to protect the natural resources. The largest nature reserve in Egypt is Gebel Elba in the southeast, denmark has three national parks and several nature reserves, some of them inside the national park areas. The largest single reserve is Hanstholm Nature Reserve, which covers 40 km2 and is part of Thy National Park, in Sweden there are 29 national parks. The first of them were established in 1909, in fact, Sweden was the first European country that established 9 national parks. There are almost 4,000 nature reserves in Sweden and they comprise about 85% of the surface that is protected by the Swedish Enironmental Code
9.
Reservoir
–
A reservoir is a storage space for fluids. These fluids may be water, hydrocarbons or gas, a reservoir usually means an enlarged natural or artificial lake, storage pond or impoundment created using a dam or lock to store water. Reservoirs can be created by controlling a stream that drains a body of water. They can also be constructed in river valleys using a dam, alternately, a reservoir can be built by excavating flat ground or constructing retaining walls and levees. Tank reservoirs store liquids or gases in storage tanks that may be elevated, at grade level, tank reservoirs for water are also called cisterns. Underground reservoirs are used to store liquids, principally either water or petroleum, a dam constructed in a valley relies on the natural topography to provide most of the basin of the reservoir. Dams are typically located at a part of a valley downstream of a natural basin. The valley sides act as walls, with the dam located at the narrowest practical point to provide strength. In many reservoir construction projects, people have to be moved and re-housed, construction of a reservoir in a valley will usually need the river to be diverted during part of the build, often through a temporary tunnel or by-pass channel. In hilly regions, reservoirs are constructed by enlarging existing lakes. Sometimes in such reservoirs the new top water level exceeds the height on one or more of the feeder streams such as at Llyn Clywedog in Mid Wales. In such cases additional side dams are required to contain the reservoir, where water is pumped or siphoned from a river of variable quality or quantity, bank-side reservoirs may be built to store the water. Such reservoirs are usually formed partly by excavation and partly by building a complete encircling bund or embankment, the water stored in such reservoirs may stay there for several months, during which time normal biological processes may substantially reduce many contaminants and almost eliminate any turbidity. The use of reservoirs also allows water abstraction to be stopped for some time. Service reservoirs store fully treated potable water close to the point of distribution, many service reservoirs are constructed as water towers, often as elevated structures on concrete pillars where the landscape is relatively flat. Other service reservoirs can be almost entirely underground, especially in hilly or mountainous country. In the United Kingdom, Thames Water has many underground reservoirs, sometimes called cisterns, built in the 1800s. A good example is the Honor Oak Reservoir in London, constructed between 1901 and 1909, when it was completed it was said to be the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world and it is still one of the largest in Europe
10.
Dam
–
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity, a dam can also be used to collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The word dam can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, the first known appearance of dam occurs in 1165. However, there is one village, Obdam, that is mentioned in 1120. The word seems to be related to the Greek word taphos, so the word should be understood as dike from dug out earth. The names of more than 40 places from the Middle Dutch era such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Dams were used to control the level, for Mesopotamias weather affected the Tigris. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan,100 kilometres northeast of the capital Amman and this gravity dam featured an originally 9-metre-high and 1 m-wide stone wall, supported by a 50 m-wide earth rampart. The structure is dated to 3000 BC, the Ancient Egyptian Sadd-el-Kafara Dam at Wadi Al-Garawi, located about 25 km south of Cairo, was 102 m long at its base and 87 m wide. The structure was built around 2800 or 2600 BC as a dam for flood control. During the Twelfth Dynasty in the 19th century BC, the Pharaohs Senosert III, Amenemhat III, two dams called Ha-Uar running east-west were built to retain water during the annual flood and then release it to surrounding lands. The lake called Mer-wer or Lake Moeris covered 1,700 km2 and is today as Berkat Qaroun. One of the wonders of the ancient world was the Great Dam of Marib in Yemen. Repairs were carried out during various periods, most important around 750 BC and these extensive works were not actually finalized until 325 AD and allowed the irrigation of 25,000 acres. By the mid-late 3rd century BC, an intricate water-management system within Dholavira in modern-day India was built, the system included 16 reservoirs, dams and various channels for collecting water and storing it. Eflatun Pınar is a Hittite dam and spring temple near Konya and it is thought to be from the time of the Hittite empire between the 15th and 13th century BC
11.
Tributary
–
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean, tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean. A confluence, where two or more bodies of water together, usually refers to the joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary, a river or stream that branches off from, distributaries are most often found in river deltas. Right tributary and left tributary are terms stating the orientation of the relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream, where tributaries have the same name as the river into which they feed, they are called forks. These are typically designated by compass direction, for example, the American River receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago Rivers North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork, the South Branch has its South Fork, forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here, the handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream, for instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river, the Strahler Stream Order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third, and higher orders, with the first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary, another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure, stored as a tree data structure
12.
Water supply
–
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. However, about 14% did not have access to a water source and had to use unprotected wells or springs, canals. A clean water supply - in particular water that is not polluted with fecal matter from lack of sanitation - is the single most important determinant of public health. Destruction of water supply and/or sanitation infrastructure after major catastrophes poses the threat of severe epidemics of waterborne diseases. Water supply systems get water from a variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including groundwater, surface water, the water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification, disinfection through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation. Treated water then flows by gravity or is pumped to reservoirs. In the U. S, the single family home uses about 69.3 gallons of water per day. This includes toilet use, washing machine use, showers, baths, tap use, many of the 3.5 billion people having access to piped water receive a poor or very poor quality of service, especially in developing countries where about 80% of the world population lives. Water supply service quality has many dimensions, continuity, water quality, pressure, and it is estimated that about half of the population of developing countries receives water on an intermittent basis. Drinking water quality has a micro-biological and a physico-chemical dimension, there are thousands of parameters of water quality. For more details, please see the entries on water quality, water treatment. Water pressures vary in different locations of a distribution system, Water mains below the street may operate at higher pressures, with a pressure reducer located at each point where the water enters a building or a house. In poorly managed systems, water pressure can be so low as to only in a trickle of water or so high that it leads to damage to plumbing fixtures. Typical UK pressures are 4–5 bar for an urban supply, however, some people can get over eight bars or below one bar. A single iron main pipe may cross a valley, it will have the same nominal pressure. So people at the bottom of a 100-foot hill will get about 3 bars more than those at the top, the effective pressure also varies because of the pressure loss due to supply resistance even for the same static pressure. An urban consumer may have 5 metres of 15 mm pipe running from the main, so the kitchen tap flow will be fairly unrestricted. A rural consumer may have a kilometre of rusted and limed 22 mm iron pipe, for this reason, the UK domestic water system has traditionally employed a cistern feed system, where the incoming supply is connected to the kitchen sink and also a header/storage tank in the attic
