Water Budget Equation or

Hydrologic Equation
CE122 Hydrology
Prepared By: Engr. Neslyn E. Lopez
 Water Budget Equation

It describes the quatities of water going through

various individual paths of Hydologic Cycle.

Note:

1. Total water resources of water is constant

while the sun is the source of energy for
Hydrologic Cycle.

2. Man can interfere with any part of Hydrologic

Cycle.
1. Artificial Rain
Cloud-seeding
2. Evaporation
Suppression
For example, some studies
shown the use of surfactants
which are alcohol-
functionalized straight chain
hydrocarbons which can
reduce 60%-70% evaporation
over a week period.
3. Change of
Vegetal Cover
and Land Use
The area of influence of Hydrologic Cycle

1. Agriculture

2. Forestry

3. Geography

4. Economics

5. Sociology

6. Political Science, etc.

Catchment Area

• Area of land draining into a stream or a water course

• Other term: drainage area, or drainage basin

• In U.S., it is called water shed

Divide

• A ridge separating the catchment area from its neighboring

areas

• In U.K., it is called water shed

Sample Problems
Sample Problem # 1

A lake had a water surface elevation of 103.2 m above datum

at the beginning of a certain month. In that month, the lake
received on average in flow of 6 cubic meter per second from
surface run-off sources. In the same period, the outflow from
the lake had an average value of 6.5 cubic meter per second.
Further, in that month the lake received a rainfall of 145 mm
and the evaporation from the lake surface was estimated as
6.1 cm. Write the water budget equation for the lake and
calculate the water surface elevation of the lake at the end of
the month. The average lake surface area can be taken as
5,000 Ha. Assume that there is no contribution to or from the
ground water storage. (Ans. New Elevation, Z = 103.258 m
above datum)
Sample Problem # 2

A small catchment of are 150 Ha received a rainfall of 10.5 cm in

90 minutes to a storm. On the outlet of the catchment, the
stream draining the catchment was dry before the storm and
experienced a run-off lasting for 10 hours with an average
discharge of 1.5 cubic meter per second. The stream was again
dry after the run-off event.

A. What is the amount of water which was not available to

run-off due to combined effect of infiltration, evaporation
and transpiration? (Ans. L = 103,500 cubic meter)

B. What is the ratio of run-off to precipitation? (Ans. ratio =

0.343)
HOMEWORK # 1
Problem # 1

A river reach had a flood were passing through it.

At a given instant, the storage of water in the
reach was estimated as 15.5 Ha-m. What would
be the storage in the reach after an interval of 3
hours, if the average inflow and outflow during
the time period are 14.2 cubic meter per second
and 10.6 cubic meter per second, respectively?
(Ans. S = 193,880 cubic meter)
Problem # 2

A catchment has 4 sub areas. The annual precipitation and

evaporation from each of the sub areas are given below.
Assume that there is no change in the groundwater storage on
annual basis and calculate for the whole catchment the values
of annual average

A. Precipitation (Ans. P ave = 1105.167 mm)

B. Evaporation (Ans. E ave = 532.416 mm)

C. What are the annual run-off coefficients for the

subareas and for the total catchment area as a whole?
(Ans. ratio = 0.508)