2018/2019

Lectures in Engineering Hydrology LEC-1

INTRODUCTION
Hydrology:
According to the US Federal Council for Science and Technology "Hydrology"
is a science that treats all the waters of the earth, their occurrence,
circulation and distribution, their chemical and physical properties, and their
reaction with their environment including their relations to living things.

APPLICATION OF HYDROLOGY INCLUDE:

✓ Determining water balance of a region (see subsequent discussion)
✓ Predicting floods and droughts
✓ Designing irrigation projects
✓ Preventing catastrophic events due to excess flooding
✓ Provide means to supply drinking water to communities
✓ Helps design dams, reservoirs, sewers, bridges and other structural and
hydrologic

HYDROLOGIC CYCLE:

HYDROLOGIC CYCLE is the water circulatory system on earth. The cycle has no
beginning or end as the evaporated water rises to atmosphere due to solar
energy.
The evaporated water can be carried hundreds of miles before it is condensed
and returned to earth in a form of precipitation. Part of the precipitated water
is intercepted by plants and eventually returned to the atmosphere by
evapotranspiration from plants and upper layers of soil, runs overland
eventually reaching open water bodies such as streams, oceans or natural
lakes or infiltrates through the ground forming deep or shallow groundwater
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aquifers. A good portion of the precipitated water evaporates back to the

atmosphere thereby completing the hydrologic cycle, Fig. 1.1

Fig. 1.1 The hydrologic cycle

ELEMENTS OF HYDROLOGIC CYCLE ARE:

a) Precipitation, P b) Evaporation, E
c) Transpiration, T d) Surface runoff, R
e) Infiltration, I f) Ground water flow, G

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Fate of Precipitation

Goes into groundwater Falls into ground forming

Storage or retained as surface runoff, lakes, rivers
soil moisture or reservoirs

A full discussion of each of the elements will be discussed in detail in

subsequent chapters.

SYSTEM CONCEPT IN HYDROLOGIC CYCLE:

Transpiration P
r
e
Atmosphere
c
i
p
Evaporation i
Transpiration t
Surface a
Vegetation Run Off t
I i
n Surface Streams/Lakes/Rivers o
f n
i Exfiltration
Precipitation
i Evaporation
t Soil Surface runoff
Interflow
r
Capillary Groundwater
a Rise flow
t Percolation
i Aquifers Oceans
o
n

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WATER BUDGET EQUATION (WATER BALANCE EQUATION)

DEFINITION

A Water Budget or the Water Balance is an accounting of all the water that
flows into and out of a project area, or, the hydrologic budget is a
quantitative accounting technique linking the components of hydrologic cycle

The projected area can be a wetland, a lake, or any other point of interest.
Development can alter the natural supply of water and severely impact an
area, especially if there are nearby ponds or wetlands.

WHAT IS THE NEED FOR WATER BUDGET EQUATION?

A water budget is needed to determine the magnitude of the

impacts and to evaluate possible mitigation actions.

MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF WATER BUDGET (WATER

BALANCE) EQUATION

It is a form of a continuity equation that balances the gains and losses of

water with the amount stored in a area. The components of water budget
are INFLOW, OUTFLOW and STORAGE.

 INFLOWS -  OUTFLOWS =  STORAGES,

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Or, in mathematical term,

I – O = ∂S / ∂t Eq. (1)

Breaking system into individual component as shown in schematic figure:

Fig 1.2 Individual components of water budget

P – E + ([(Rin + Gin)] – (Rout + Gout)] – T = dS/dt Eq. (2)

Where:
P: Areal mean rate of precipitation (L/T)
E: Evaporation (L/T)
Rin, Gin: Inflow from surface and groundwater (L/T)
Rout, Gout: Outflow from surface and groundwater (L/T)
S: Storage (L) and,
T: Transpiration (evaporation from plants, L/T)

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All the above is measured in volume per unit area of watershed.

Breaking the above into surface and subsurface balance equations:

Surface: P + Rin – Rout + Gup – I - E - T = ∆ Ss

Subsurface: I + Gin - Gout – Gup = ∆ Sg

The water budget formula is often used to estimate the amount of

evaporation and evapotranspiration. Combining & dropping subscripts to
represent net flows we get hydrologic budget formula,

P ± R ± G - E - T =  S / ∆t Eq. (3)

Balance Equation for Open Bodies with Short Duration:

And, for an open water bodies, short duration,

I - O =  S/ t Eq. (4)

Where,

I = inflow volume per unit time

O = Outflow per unit time

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Balance Equation for Urban Drainage:

For urban drainage system, ET (evapotranspiration) is often neglected,

P-I-R-D=0 Eq. (5)

P = precipitation
I = infiltration
R = direct runoff
D = Combination of interception and depression storage

CATCHMENT AREA:

The area of land draining into a stream or a water course (Path or Way) at a
given location is known as Catchment Area. It's also called as a Drainage
Basin. In the USA, it is known as Watershed, figure (1.3)

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Tributary

Fig (1.3) Catchment area

Example 1-1:
In a given year, a 10,000 Km2 watershed received 30 cm of
precipitation. The annual rate of flow measured in the river draining the area
is 60 m3/sec. Estimate the Evapotranspiration. Assume negligible change of
storage and net groundwater flow.

Solution:
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Combining E and T, then ET = P – R

In the above, the precipitation term P is given in cm and the runoff term R is
given in discharge unit. Since units in the equation must be consistent, and
since the area of the watershed is constant, the volume of flow into the
watershed is converted to equivalent depth.

Volume due to runoff = 60 m3/s x 86400 sec/day x 365 day/yr = 1.89216 x 109
m3

= 1.89216 x 109 m3 x (100 cm/m)3 = 1.89216 x 1015 cm3

Equivalent depth = volume of water / area of watershed

= 1.89216 x 1015 / [(10,000) (100,000 cm/km)2 ] = 18.92 cm

Amount of Evapotranspiration ET = P – R = 30 – 18.92 = 11.08 cm / yr

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Example 1-2

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