Operation and management of drinking water supply project in rural regions of loess plateau

Water is the basic element for human survival and development, and access to safe drinking water has been an important national goal in rural areas of China. In loess plateau regions of China, however, due to the drought climate, scarce water resources, backward economy and simple technology, the problem of drinking water safety has been seriously endangered the health of the people, and hindered the development of the local socio-economic. Therefore, a lot of rural drinking water projects were constructed in northwest China to improve the living standard for the peasants, which is also the base of building a new socialist countryside. Most of this rural drinking water projects are small-scale centralized works with wide coverage, dispersed water-consumption points and lack of professional technical personnel, this made it supply water for the local residents inefficiently. Through years of exploration and practice, lots of problems has come out, some even influence the project benign running and their long term benefits. Thus this paper aims to propose an effective pattern for rural drinking water operation and management. In fact, these projects operation is not a piece of cake though they are small works, of which the water conveyance distance is long, the water pressure difference of pipe net is large, the temporal variation of water demand is greatly, and the short-term total water demand is far less than the long-term design volume. This paper proposed a practical supply mode for recent running, which is consist of district water supply, elevate reservoirs skillful utlization, spare pump flexible usage and remote intelligent monitor. According to management conditions of Yangchuan Drinking Water Projects, one of the effective management models is established. The management system consists of two components. The Water Management Station and the Branch Station are specialized agencies, while supported by the Township Water Committees and Village Water Users Associations. Their responsibilities include monitoring the project operation daily, maintaining regularly, repairing timely and punishment strictly and so on.