Watershed Hydrology &

Streamflow
CE 3620
March 21, 2007

Components of Streamflow
• Direct runoff (over land)
• Interflow (through near surface soil layers)
• Baseflow (from groundwater)
• Precipitation onto channel
– Small contribution

1
 Baseflow

Measuring Streamflow
• Manual approaches (Example 2.6, p. 88)
– Hand-held meters
– Orange peel?
• Float gage, bubbler
– Requires rating curve developed through
another method
• Acoustic (Doppler) methods

2
 USGS Manual Method
• Divide the cross-section of the stream into 20-30 partial sections based on
edge of water on each side of stream. No one section contains more than
5% of the flow.
• Person wading in stream measures water depth at each vertical, using
wading rod, to the nearest one-hundredth of a foot, if possible.
• If the water is more than 2.5 feet deep, measurements should be made at
20% and 80% of the water column height. For water columns less than 2.5
feet deep, a single measurement of velocity at 40% of the water column
height will suffice.
• Person should not stand directly behind the meter but either to the left or
right so as not to influence velocity readings.
• Repeat procedure at each vertical.

Factors Affecting Runoff

Hydrograph
• For a given rainfall depth, shape of hydrograph and
volume of runoff depend on:
– Intensity of rainfall, duration, and temporal pattern
– Areal distribution of rainfall over the watershed
– Size and shape of drainage area
– Nature of stream network
– Slope of land and channel
– Storage detention in watershed
– Soil conditions, land use (infiltration)
• Hydrologic losses such as infiltration, depression
storage, and detention storage must first be satisfied
before direct runoff occurs.

3
 Rainfall – Runoff Analysis
• Consider one of the simplest models:

• Rational Method:
Q = CIA
– C = runoff coefficient (dependent on soils, land use)
– I = design rainfall intensity for a duration equal to tc
– tc = time of concentration; time for rainfall at the most remote portion of
the basin to travel to the outlet
– A = area of watershed

• Assumes uniform rainfall over the watershed.

• Time-Area methods developed to address non-uniform rainfall

(larger areas).

Time-Area Method

Q1 = P1A1
Q2 = P1A2 + P2A1
Q3 = P1A3 + P2A2 + P3A1
etc.

+ =

4
 Hydrograph Fun
• Match the watershed with its unit hydrograph.

1 a Q

2 b Q

c Q
3

4 d Q

Example Problem 1
A 10-acre parking lot in
Houston, TX is found to
have a time of concentration
(tc) of 5 minutes. With a
runoff coefficient (C) of 0.98,
and the rainfall IDF curves
given, use the Rational
Method to compute the
peak outflow corresponding
to the 25-year rainfall event.

5
 Example Problem 1
Solution:
Q = CIA
I = 9.0 in/hr
A = 10 acres
Q = (0.98)(9.0)(10) = 88.2 ft3/s
Units?

Example Problem 2
• Compute the runoff hydrograph for a watershed with the
following time-area relationship. Assume 1.0 inch of
rainfall excess occurs evenly over the watershed over a
3-hour period (0.33 in/hr).

6
 Example Problem 2
Solution:
Q1 = P1A1 = (0.333)(100) = 33.3
Q2 = P1A2 + P2A1 = (0.333)(200) + (0.333)(100) = 100
Q3 = P1A3 + P2A2 + P3A1= (0.333)(300) + (0.333)(200) + (0.333)(100) = 200
Q4 = P1A4 + P2A3 + P3A2+ P4A1
= (0.333)(100) + (0.333)(300) + (0.333)(200) + (0)(100) = 200
etc.
250

200

150

Q (cfs)
100

50

0
0 2 4 6 8
Time (hr)