Civil Engineering

Civil Engineering

HYDRAULIC AND WATER
RESOURCES ENGINEERING

By
B.S. MURTY
18th September 2007

Water Resources Engineering is as old as Civilization
• The First Wave: 900 – 10,000 Years Ago
• In Mesopotamia (Iraq & Syria)
• Spread to Nile & Indus Valleys
• Transportation & Management of Water for Irrigation
• Drainage System of Indus Valley
• Ganats of Armenia
• Canal System of Nile Valley
Beginnings of Basin / Flood Irrigation
Some Canals were used for more than 1000 years before
they were abandoned

• Aqueducts of Roman Period

WARS WERE FOUGHT FOR WATER
• Sumerians fought over water rights
• Ancient Babylonian Curse:
“May your canal be filled with sand”
• Ancient Law:
“The gentleman who opened his wall for irrigation purposes, but
did not make his dyke strong and hence caused flood and inundated
a field adjoining his, shall give grain to the owner of field on the
basis of those adjoining”

• Mongols destroyed Mesopotamian Irrigation system
• Hindu Mythology: “Indra the destroyer of Dams”
• Assyrians destroyed Armenia but brought the concept
of Ganats to Assyria

Greeks:
Showed connection between Engineering &
Science
Invented force pump, Hydraulic pipe organ,
water wheel
Archimedes

Romans:
Aqueducts, Sewers, baths,
Rainwater harvesting, Water Quality
Pipe making, Reservoirs
Marsh Draining
Water & Sanitation declined in Europe after fall of Rome
Islamic Cultures maintained high degree of
personal hygiene, and sanitation systems

Early Developments













Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519): velocity in streams
Palissy (1510-16589): Flow in rivers connected to rain
Perrault (1608-1680): Rainfall-Runoff studies
Newton (1642-1727): Viscosity & Mechanics
Bernoulli (1700-1782)
Chezy (1718-1798): Paris water supply system, rain gauge
Euler (1707-1783): Equations of motion
Darcy (1856): Groundwater Flow
Saint-Venant: Open-Channel Flow Equations
England 1840: Urban Sewerage Systems
Green-Ampt...

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