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Watershed
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Watershed

 A basin, drainage or
catchment area that is
the land area that
contributes runoff to an
outlet point

Watershed
boundary Outlet point
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Watersheds

 We all live in a watershed!

 Area of land from which all water drains,
running downhill, to a shared destination - a
river, pond, stream, lake, or estuary
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Watersheds

 Area of land that drains to a single outlet and

is separated from other watersheds by a
drainage divide.
 Rainfall that falls in a watershed will generate
runoff to that watershed outlet.
 Topographic elevation is used to define a
Watershed boundary (land survey or LIDAR)
 Scale is a big issue for analysis
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Functions

 Captures precipitation – its characteristics

influence how much is captured
 Stores water once it infiltrates into soil
(important to plants)
 Slowly releases water into streams, rivers,
oceans
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Why are watersheds important?

 Activities within a watershed impact runoff

and water quality of water leaving the
watershed
 Must manage at a watershed level rather
than other boundaries to attain goals related
to runoff and water quality
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Watershed Characteristics Divide

Reservoir

 Size Natural
1 mile stream
 Slope Urban

 Shape
Concrete
 Soil type channel

 Storage capacity
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Watershed Shapes
Important hydrologic
characteristic
• Elongated Shape
• Concentrated Shape

-Affects Timing and

Peak Flow
-Determined by geo -
morphology of stream
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Water Balance/Budget

 dS/dt = I – O
Where
dS/dt = change in storage per time
I = inflow
O = outflow
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Water Balance/Budget

 Input-Output = Change in storage

 P-R-G-E-T = ∆S
Where
P = precipitation
R = surface runoff
G = ground water flow
E = evaporation
T = transpiration
∆S = change in storage
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Example 1

 A catchment received inflow and outflow in

10 and 15 m3/s for 24 hours. How much
volume changes?
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Example 2

 A catchment received annual rainfall

2500mm with 1400mm/year
evapotranspiration. With losses to
groundwater is 250mm per year and area of
the catchment 70 km2, calculate volume of
water flowing out from the catchment.
Assume there is no changes in storage.
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Meteorological factors affecting

surface Runoff

 Type of precipitation
 Rainfall intensity
 Rainfall amount
 Rainfall duration
 Distribution of rainfall over the drainage basin
 Direction of storm movement
 Precipitation that occurred earlier and resulting
soil moisture
 Meteorological conditions that affect
evapotranspiration
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Physical characteristics affecting

surface runoff

 Land use
 Vegetation
 Soil type
 Drainage area
 Basin shape
 Elevation
 Topography, especially the slope of the land
 Drainage network patterns
 Ponds, lakes, reservoirs, sinks, etc. in the basin,
which prevent or delay runoff from continuing
downstream
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Human factors affecting

surface runoff

 Urbanization -- more impervious surfaces

reduce infiltration and accelerate water
motion
 Removal of vegetation and soil -- surface
grading, artificial drainage networks
increases volume of runoff and shortens
runoff time to streams from rainfall and
snowmelt
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Most runoff…

 Drains to a creek
– To a stream
 To a river
– To an ocean
– Rarely runoff drains to a closed lake
– May be diverted for human uses
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Measurement and Unit

 3 types of measurement
– Depth
 mm,cm,m, inch, ft
 Total rainfall, river depth, evaporation
– Volume
 cm3,m3,liter, ft3,meter hectare, km3
 Rainfall volume in tank, water requirement, ocean
volume
– Flowrate
 L/s, L/min, m3/s
 Stream flowrate, flow in pipe
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Units

 Rainfall volume is normally measured in inches or cm

 Rainfall rate or intensity in inches/hr or cm/hr
 Infiltration is measured in inches/hr or cm/hr
 Evaporation is measured in inches or in/hr (cm/hr)
 Streamflow is measured in cfs or m3/s
 Ground water flows are measured as ft3/day or m3/day
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Units of Flow

 After measures of volume, measures of

flow are most important in hydrology.
 CFS:
– The important measures of flow are Cubic foot
per second (CFS) (which is used for streams
and rivers).
– A small stream might be 1-10 CFS a large river
100,000 or more CFS.
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Units of Flow

 GPM
– Gallons per minute (GPM) is the typical unit for
production from wells. A typical well will product 20-100
GPM while very large wells will produce 2000 or more
GPM.
 MGD:
– Millions of gallons per day (MGD) is a typical unit for
water treatment plants and sewage treatment plants. A
small plant might be 1-10 MGD while a large plant might
be 100-200 MGD.
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Units of Flow

 CMS:
– Cubic meters per second is not as common in
the U.S. but is common everywhere else.
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How thirsty are you?

 The average person needs something like

1-2 quarts of water a day, although
consumption could be much higher in hot
arid areas.
 Or during fraternity parties (of beer
anyway)…
 Gallons are therefore good units for
individual water consumption.
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How thirsty is your toilet?

 The typical consumption of water in

residential settings is closer to 100
gallons per day per person.
 Thus gallons is not a very convenient unit
for measuring municipal water use.
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How thirsty is your cotton crop?

 Agriculture consumes far more water than

municipal uses, so gallons are rarely used
for measuring agricultural water use.
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Acre Feet

 Rather the acre foot is the common

measure for large quantities of water and
is approximately 325,851 gallons.
 This is the volume of water that will cover
one acre of land to the depth of one foot.
It is equal to 43,560 cubic feet of water.
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Other units

 Units of water velocity are feet/sec or

meters/sec and
 Units of stage height are feet or meters.
 There are also units of concentration,
typically parts per million PPM or parts
per billion PPB.
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CONVERSION FACTORS

Distance:
 1 meter = 3.281 feet.
 1 mile = 5280 feet
 1 kilometer = 1,000 meters = 1,000,000 mm.
Volume
 1 cubic meter = 264.2 gallons.
 1 cubic foot = 7.48 gallons, 28.32 liters.
 1 liter = .2642 gallons.
 1 acre foot = 325,851 gallons.
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CONVERSION FACTORS

Weight:
 1 kg = 2.205 pounds.
 1 cubic decimeter = 1 kg.
 1 gallon = 8.33 pounds
 1 cubic foot = 62.31 pounds
Velocity:
 1 meter/sec = 2.237 mi/hr.
 1 foot/sec = 1.097 km/hr.
Other factors.
 1 inch of run-off per hour from one acre = 1 cubic
foot per second of flow.
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CONVERSION FACTORS

Flow
 1 cubic meter per second = 35.32 cubic feet per
second
 1 cubic foot per second for 1 day = 1.98 acre feet.
 Conversion factors metric to U.S. Customary\
 1 hectare = 2.471 acres, 10,000 square meters.
 1 acre = 43,560 square feet.
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Hydrological Data

 Meteorological Data
– Temperature, relative humidity, moisture, wind
speed, sun
– Data can be obtained fom PAGASA
 Rainfall data
– ASTI-DOST
 Streamflow record
– ASTI-DOST
 Water quality record
– DENR?
Thank You

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