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Environmental Hydrology, Third Edition

Article  in  Soil Science Society of America Journal · January 2016

DOI: 10.2136/sssaj2016.0001br

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Aaron Lee M. Daigh

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Environmental Hydrology, Third Edition

Authors: Andy D. Ward, Stanley W. Trimble, Suzette R. Burckhard, and John G. Lyon. CRC
Press/Taylor and Francis Group, 6000 Broken Sound Pkwy. NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL
33487-2742. 2016. 663 p. $101.96. ISBN 978-1-4665-8941-4.

Reviewed by Aaron L.M. Daigh*

Environmental Hydrology provides readers who are new to hydrology with an

introduction to hydrologic processes, some of their measurements and calculations,
interpretations, opinions, and practical exercises. This third edition of Environmental Hydrology
contains 188 additional pages of information and 497 new references from the second edition
published over a decade ago. The authors expand its scope to include current issues and trends
with stream flows and water quality with a particular emphasis on the impacts due to agricultural
land management and engineering. Dr. Suzette Burckhard and Dr. John Lyon, join the list of
authors of this third edition contributing much of the new information. Unlike many other
hydrology textbooks, the authors of Environmental Hydrology make an exceptional effort of
emphasize water in soil, agricultural soil and land management, and even the use of soil surveys
in several of the chapters while integrating classical hydrology concepts.

Each chapter, subsection, example, and practice problem within the second edition is
retained in the third edition. The chapters and their order remain the same but some
reorganization of the subsections can be found within chapters and occasionally between
chapters. The main additions in this third edition are on streambed armoring, maintenance, and
restoration (10 pages; Chapter 6), hydraulic control structures using rocks (23 pages; Chapter 8),
and agricultural production systems and their best management practices impact on water quality
(26 pages; Chapter 12). New materials can be found in all the remaining chapters; but the new
content ranges from a few paragraphs interspersed throughout chapter, to one or two new
examples and practice problems, to concise new subsections that complement the text already
retained from the second edition. Most sections throughout are able to stand alone without much,
if any, information needed from previous sections. The description of methods and calculations
presented in all three editions are at an introductory level and require minimal previous
experience or knowledge of the subject area. However, some of the new materials in this third
edition briefly expose readers to more powerful analytical and numerical modeling tools such as
SWAT, MIKE SHE, and STREAM, to list a few.

In the first half of Chapter 1, readers are introduced to current issues of water resources in
society as well as the components of the hydrologic cycle; whereas, the second half of the chapter
introduces basic statistical data analyses. The following chapters are dedicated to more in-depth
description of the hydrologic cycle’s components: precipitation (Chapter 2), infiltration and soil
water (Chapter 3), soil moisture and evapotranspiration (Chapter 4), runoff, surface flows, and
erosion (Chapters 5 through 10), and percolation, drainage, and groundwater (Chapter 11). The
authors then follow these chapters with Chapter 12 that focuses on human impacts to water
resources emphasizing pollution prevention and treatment strategies. Much of the new materials
in edition three are found in this chapter with focus on agricultural effects on water quality and
 contemporary best management practices. Chapter 13 turns the readers focus towards the
introduction and use of remote sensing technology and geographic information systems. Finally,
Chapter 14 is completely dedicated to providing practice for readers to address environmental
hydrology issues in real world scenarios. Chapter 14 is appropriately titled “Practical Exercises
on Conducting and Reporting Hydrologic Studies”. Unfortunately, Chapter 14 is virtually
identical to the second edition with no new exercises; which I see as a missed opportunity given
the extensive amount of experience all four authors share in this field of study. However, six to
twelve problems are provided at the end of each chapter for students to solve on their own. In this
third editions, two to four new problems are included along with the previous problems from the
second edition. Chapter 12 now contains 10 practice problems, which previously did not have
any.

This third edition of Environmental Hydrology should be of great value to freshman and
sophomore undergraduate students who are new to the topic area. Although some topics are
limited to only a few paragraphs, students interested in near-surface hydrology should gain a
broad sense of processes that exist in the field and can refer to other text and the scientific
literature for more in-depth information. Priced at just over one hundred dollars, and only
marginally higher than some of the prices listed online for the second edition, I would
recommend this third edition to undergraduate students majoring in geology, hydrology, water
sciences, and similar degrees as well as educators who teach applied hydrology courses. This text
should also be of great value to students in the soil sciences, agronomy, agricultural engineering,
and other production-agriculture majors who want to learn more about water and its movement in
the environment. However, for agriculturally-based students who already own the second edition,
I recommend that you check out this third edition at your library first before purchasing this third
edition as its new material may already have been covered in your agricultural courses.

*Aaron L.M. Daigh

Soil Science Department
School of Natural Resource Sciences
North Dakota State University
147 Walster Hall
Fargo, ND 58108
(aaron.daigh@ndsu.edu)

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