We have to close pur eyes and hold our noses. Squalor and stench keep on increasing in the cities and towns. And about the only place to which adequate investment appears to have been routed is the national capital of New Delhi. The overcrowded Old Delhi city is an eyesore and one solution has been to skirt around the problem through the laying of good and wide ring roads. Civic amenities have been improved substantially in New Delhi but the three other metropolitan cities have been hard put to it to find funds to maintain minimum acceptable standards. And among these three, the plight of Madras perhaps is the worst.

Madras has been the biggest sufferer from water shortage and a solution for

this is in sight with the launching of the Telugu Ganga project. The population of Madras has doubled in the last two decades to more than four millions in the area of the metropolitan conglomeration. By the time the Krishna waters arrive, Madras can gainfully use it only if the entire distribution system is relaid. The old pipes are rotten and need replacement.

According to the 1981 census, India has about 3,250 urban conglomerations with a population of around 160 millions. Only a fifth of these people have access to safe sanitation. The objective is 80 per cent coverage by 1991. A seemingly impossible aim at the present rate of investment and marshalling of physical and human resources.

Drinking Water From Underground Rivers

So far, the collecting of drinking water from underground rivers has hardly ever been attempted in the world. The risks were too high. By drilling extraction wells, the danger is that vibrations would be sent through the sublayers of the ground sufficient to bring rocks down into the river and thus lose for all time a useful source of water for general use.

This enormous difficulty has nevertheless been overcome in the region of Montpellier, in South-East France. Last December, an installation of watercatchment in Karstic country was inauguraIts ted, the first of its kind in Europe capacity is enough to cover the needs of the town for next thirty years.

Despite all the risks, this solution appeared as the most advantageous. The other possible solution would have been to increase the amount of water taken from an irrigation canal fed by the Rhone river. This would have called for a new treatment unit, hence a much higher cost per cubic metre.

This type of drilling to collect underground water is different from any other type of drilling, of course. An underground gallery of 230 metres long and 1.80 metres circular cross section was first of all opened as far as a point just above the water collection point. drill the gallery, rock removal by liquid

To

oxygen was the system used, for it gives propagation speeds for lower than those generally practised for drilling done under buildings in poor condition. Carefullyplaced soundings safe enabled the continuation of the work to be noted at all times.

Then, a pumping room was opened at the far end of this gallery. It had to be high enough to communicate, from the inside, with the river situated 50 meters lower and with the surface. Here again, some "gentle" techniques had to be used: liquid-oxygen rock-removing for the arch and "Wirth" type

reverse-circulation

machines for the four pumping shafts. As for the double link with the surface (one for the equipment. the other for the team). this was achieved by means of a drill working upwards.

The three electro pumping groups of 1,000 litres/second each which have been installed in this area can deal with outflow heights varying from 5 to 40 metres. They take out the water by the gallery which had formerly been used to extract the rocks and earth from the drilling. On the surface is a control building, fitted with an electronic calculator to survey the faults, the regulation and the signalling.

The whole operation, achieved by the CGE (Companie Generale des Eaux) is sure to open new vistas for French -Jean-Claude Streicher technology.

Development of Roads and its Aesthetics and

Geometrics for Travel

By R. Ramakrishnan*

Faster travel needs necessitated construction of road with better surface and geometrics that can afford the desired travel comfort. Construction of road do cause some natural disturbance in aesthetics and has to be balanced. An approach to mingle the three aesthetics, geometrics & cosmetics is required for minimum disturbance and maximum comfort.

Necessity for Road and Classification

Why Road is Required

An area when it is populated and if their requirements are not available within the shortest reach, communication necessitates Foot paths and bridle paths were the starting points of this and when the quantum of travel and modes of travel increased and or improved, the paths needed to be widened and surfaced which got the name as road or Highway. Vedic Literature and Epics throw ample light on the care of the road. Ancient Cities of Mohanjodaro and Harappa of 5000 BC also contain paved streets and drainage in a planned way. Aryans (1500 BC) had formed and maintained the roads.

Ancient Classification1,2

Sukracharya, guru of Asuras in the discourses to his desciples had classified the road as under :

A. Raja Marga (Royal Road)

(These were main roads of towns

Sima Marga

*R. Ramakrishnan, M.Sc. (Engg.) MIE, AMIS, Engineer Liaison Officer, Min. of Shipping & Transport (Roads Wing) Goa.

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