TABLE OF CONTENTS M.Kent Loftin
President
Synint, Inc.
Hobe Sound, Florida
Water resources engineering is concerned with the protection, development, and efficient management of water resources for beneficial purposes. It involves planning, design, and construction of projects for supply of water for domestic, commercial, public, and industrial purposes, flood protection, hydroelectric power, control of rivers and water runoff, and conservation of water resources, including prevention of pollution.
Water resources engineering primarily deals with water sources, collection, flow control, transmission, storage, and distribution. For efficient management of these aspects, water resources engineers require a knowledge of fluid mechanics; hydraulics of pipes, culverts, and open channels; hydrology; water demand, quality requirements, and treatment; production of water from wells, lakes, rivers, and seas; transmission and distribution of water supplies; design of reservoirs and dams; and production of hydroelectric power. These subjects are addressed in the following articles.
A list of symbols and their dimensions used in this section is given in Table 21.1. Table 21.2 lists conversion factors for commonly used quantities, including the basic equivalents between the English and metric systems. For additional conversions to the metric system (SI) of units, see the appendix.
| Symbol | Terminology | Dimensions | Units |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Area | L 2 | ft 2 |
| C | Chezy roughness coefficient | L 1/2/ T | ft 1/2/s |
| C 1 | Hazen-Williams roughness coefficient | L 0.37/ T | ft 0.37/s |
| d | Depth | L | ft |
| d c | Critical depth | L | ft |
| D | Diameter | L |
