1.   Purpose and objectives

     To help engineers, aid and agency workers to improve surface water drainage in low-income communities. To help in the understanding of surface water drainage problems so that work can be done towards finding realistic practical solutions.

2.   Description

     During flood, runoff mixes with human waste and can spread the agents of bad health in a community. This book is a manual for evaluation of drainage system performance. It focuses on three questions of particular relevance to low-income urban areas: (i) what is drainage performance and 
what happens when there is flooding? (ii) what are the effects of solids on performance? (iii) how can a drainage system be evaluated to improve performance?

     After the introduction there are two chapters giving a general review of the factors affecting flooding in urban catchments. Chapter 4 considers general approaches to drainage evaluation and contains a key to the remainder of the manual.

     Following chapters present ways to define and study the characteristics of the catchment of a system, to assess the nature of a flooding problem, and to estimate the size of flows that will pass through drains. An annex deals with the use of limited rainfall data. Methods of estimating the capacity of networks are then assessed, emphasizing the necessity of looking at the actual state of the system rather than its original design.

     Field methods for studying the structural condition of a network are presented; the evaluation of operation and maintenance are described. Procedures for observing drainage networks in action during storms are set out together with suggestions on how these can be organized. The last chapter summarizes the main points and conclusions in the manual.

     This manual not only gives a comprehensive account of how storm drainage systems may be evaluated, but also gives practical solutions to how this may be done successfully with low-cost equipment and limited data and resources. Theory and detailed analysis is brought together in annexes to the chapters for ease of reference. The text is supported by many illustrations and diagrams. This manual is a definitive tool for municipal and consulting engineers, students and instructors.

3.   Input

     Not applicable.

4.   Output

     Not applicable.

5.   Operational requirements and restrictions

     None.

6.   Form of presentation

     Book of 134 pages, with 47 figures and 27 tables.

7.   Operational experience

     This manual is the outcome of two-and-a-half years of fieldwork in the city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh, India.

8.   Originator and technical support

     The Indore Development Authority was supported by the British Department for International Development (DFID) in originating work on slum improvement. The Urban Poverty Alleviation Field Management Office of the DFID in Delhi gave technical assistance. The drainage evaluation project 
was primarily a collaboration between three research institutions: The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK), The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (UK), and The Sri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. The author is Pete Kolsky and the book is published by the Intermediate Technology Development Group.

9.   Availability

     From the UK HOMS Office, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford OXIO 8BB, UK. Generally for sale, but single copies available free at the discretion of the UK HOMS Office. Also available from book retailers (ISBN 1 85339 432 7).

10.  Conditions on use

     Subject to the usual laws of copyright with respect to reproduction and distribution.