Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter presents an overview of the importance of planning of water supply during the development of a city. The size of a city is limited by the quantity of water that is available to it for residential, commercial, and industrial purposes. A survey in a city of a half-million persons revealed the consumption of about 90 gallons of water per family per day. All water is not alike. There is hard water, soft water, water with different amounts and varieties of mineral content, water that becomes polluted by local activities, and other water characteristics that present the problems that are not easy to solve. When plans are drawn up for the future of a city, the conditions under which water can be dispensed to the citizens must be considered. If reservoirs are to be built, rivers dammed back, or any other physical controls designed, space must be provided and this can easily affect the potential distribution of all manner of institutions including homes, manufacturing plants, recreation grounds, and public buildings.