Some Aspects of Water Conservation

Development of water conservation in the past has frequently been made in a piecemeal and haphazard manner, resulting in a less effective and economical exploitation of rivers than could be obtained by a systematic and coordinated study of all the factors concerned. In this paper formulas are developed for studying, in a preliminary manner, the merits of various storages and dam sites. The formulas have been tested in practice and were found to give reasonably correct results in most cases. Methods are also given for studying the relative economy of different types of dam, where the site admits of alternative types. The economic limits of specific capacity, or water stored per cubic yard of masonry in the dam, are discussed by means of examples from practice.