Fourth Year Engineering Hydrology Dr. Taymoor A.

Awchi

CHAPTER THREE
WATER LOSSES
The hydrologic equation states that

Losses = Rainfall - Runoff

In the previous chapter we studied precipitation and its measurement. The various water
losses that occur in nature are enumerated below. If these losses are deducted from the
rainfall, the surface runoff can be obtained.

What are the water losses?

(i) Interception loss-due to surface vegetation, i.e., held by plant leaves.
(ii) Evaporation:
(a) from water surface, i.e., reservoirs, lakes, ponds, river channels, etc.
(b) from soil surface, appreciably when the ground water table is very near the soil
surface.
(iii) Transpiration—from plant leaves.
(iv) Evapotranspiration for consumptive use—from irrigated or cropped land.
(v) Infiltration—into the soil at the ground surface.
(vi) Watershed leakage—ground water movement from one basin to another or into the
sea.

EVAPORATION
Evaporation from free water surfaces and soil are of great importance in hydro-
meteorological studies.

Evaporation from water surfaces (Lake Evaporation)

The factors affecting evaporation are air and water temperature, relative humidity, wind
velocity, surface area (exposed), barometric pressure and salinity of the water, the last two
having a minor effect. The rate of evaporation is a function of the differences in vapour
pressure at the water surface and in the atmosphere, and the Dalton’s law of evaporation is
given by:
………… (1)
where E = daily evaporation
ew = saturated vapour pressure at the temperature of water
ea = vapour pressure of the air (about 2 m above)
K = a constant.

the Dalton’s law states that the evaporation is proportional to the difference in vapour
pressures ew and ea. A more general form of the previous equation is given by

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Fourth Year Engineering Hydrology Dr. Taymoor A. Awchi

E = K′ (ew– ea) (a + bV) ... ……………..…(2)

where K′, a, b = constants and V = wind velocity.

Higher the temperature and wind velocity, greater is the evaporation, while greater the
humidity and dissolved salts, smaller is the evaporation.

Methods of Estimating Lake Evaporation

Evaporation from water surfaces can be determined from the following methods:
(i) The storage equation

P + I ± Og = E + O ± S
where
P = Precipitation
I = surface inflow
Og = subsurface inflow or outflow
E = evaporation
O = surface outflow
S = change in surface water storage
(ii) Auxiliary pans like land pans, floating pans, Colorado sunken pans, etc.
(iii) Evaporation formula like that of Dalton’s law
(iv) Humidity and wind velocity gradients
(v) The energy budget—this method involves too many hydro-meteorological factors
(variables) with too much sophisticated instrumentation and hence it is a specialist
approach
(vi) The water budget—similar to (i)
(vii) Combination of aerodynamic and energy balance equations—Penman’s equation
(involves too many variables)

EVAPORATION PANS
(i) Floating pans (made of GI) of 90 cm square and 45 cm deep are mounted on a raft
floating in water (See Fig. 1 and 2). The volume of water lost due to evaporation in the
pan is determined by knowing the volume of water required to bring the level of water
up to the original mark daily and after making allowance for rainfall, if there has been
any.

Figure 1. Floating type evaporation Pan

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Fourth Year Engineering Hydrology Dr. Taymoor A. Awchi

Figure 2. Floating type evaporation Pan

(ii) Land pan. Evaporation pans are installed in the vicinity of the reservoir or lake to
determine the lake evaporation. The IMD Land pan shown in Fig. 3 is 122 cm diameter
and 25.5 cm deep made of unpainted GI; and set on wood grillage 10 cm above ground
to permit circulation of air under the pan. The pan has a stilling well, vernier point
gauge, a thermometer with clip and may be covered with a wire screen. The point gauge
can directly measure the amount of water lost by evaporation from the pan. Readings
are taken twice daily at 08.30and 17.30 hours. The air temperature is determined by
reading a dry bulb thermometer kept in the Stevenson’s screen erected in the same
enclosure of the pan. A totalizing anemometer is normally mounted at the level of the
instrument to provide the wind speed information required. Allowance has to be made
for rainfall, if there has been any. Water is added to the pan from a graduated cylinder
to bring the water level to the original mark, i.e., 5 cm below the top of the pan.
Experiments have shown that the unscreened pan evaporation is 1.144 times that of the
screened one.

Figure 3. IMD Land Pan

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Fourth Year Engineering Hydrology Dr. Taymoor A. Awchi

(iii) Colorado sunken pan. This is 92 cm square and 42-92 cm deep and is sunk in the
ground such that only 5-15 cm depth projects above the ground surface and thus the
water level is maintained almost at the ground level. The evaporation is measured by
a point gauge (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Sunken Colorado Pan

Pan Coefficient Cp: Evaporation pans are not exact models of large reservoirs and have
the following principal drawbacks:
1. They differ in the heat-storing capacity and heat transfer from the sides and bottom. The
sunken pan and floating pan aim to reduce this deficiency. As a result of this factor the
evaporation from a pan depends to a certain extent on its size. While a pan of 3 m
diameter is known to give a value, which is about the same as from a neighboring large
lake, a pan of size 1.0 m diameter indicates about 20% excess evaporation than that of
the 3 m diameter pan.

2. The height of the rim in an evaporation pan affects the wind action over the surface.
Also, it casts a shadow of variable magnitude over the water surface.

3. The heat-transfer characteristics of the pan material is different from that of the reservoir.
In view of the above, the evaporation observed from a pan has to be corrected to get the
evaporation from a lake under similar climatic and exposure conditions. Thus a
coefficient is introduced as

Lake evaporation = Cp x Pan evaporation

in which Cp = pan coefficient. The values of Cp in use for different pans are given in the
Table below.

Table (1) Values of Pan Coefficient Cp

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Fourth Year Engineering Hydrology Dr. Taymoor A. Awchi

Example 1. The following are the monthly class A pan evaporation data (Jan.-Dec.) at
Dohuk station in a certain year in cm.

16.7, 14.3, 17.8, 25.0, 28.6, 21.4

16.7, 16.7, 16.7, 21.4, 16.7, 16.7

The water spread area in a lake nearby in the beginning of January in that year was 2.80
km2 and at the end of December, it was measured as 2.55 km2. Calculate the loss of water
due to evaporation in that year.

Solution: Mean water spread area of lake

Example 2. Compute the daily evaporation from a Colorado Sunken pan if the amounts of
water added to bring the level to the fixed point are as follows:

Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Rainfall (mm): 14 6 12 8 0 5 6
Water added or removed (mm) -5 3 0 0 7 4 3

What is the evaporation loss of water in this week from a lake (surface area = 640 ha) in
the vicinity?

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Fourth Year Engineering Hydrology Dr. Taymoor A. Awchi

Pan coefficient Cp = Lake evaporation / Pan evaporation

0.78 = EL / 63
 Lake evaporation during the week EL = 49.14 mm
Water lost from the lake = A. EL = 640 x 10000 x 49.14 / 1000 = 314496 m3
= 0.3145 MCM

Empirical Evaporation Equations

Two commonly used empirical evaporation formulae are:
Meyer’s Formula (1915)

in which EL, ew, ea are as defined previously, u9 is the monthly mean wind velocity in km/
h at about 9 m above ground and KM= coefficient accounting for various other factors
with a value of 0.36 for large deep waters and 0.50 for small, shallow waters.

Rohwer Formula (1931)

Rohwer’s formula considers a correction for the effect of pressure in addition to the wind-
speed effect and is given by

EL = 0.771(1.465 - 0.000732 Pa)(0.44 + 0.0733 uo) (ew - ea)

Pa = mean barometric reading in mm of mercury

uo = mean wind velocity in km/h at ground level, which can be taken to be the velocity at
0.6 m height above ground.

These empirical formulae are simple to use and permit the use of standard meteorological
data. However, in view of the various limitations of the formulae, they can at best be
expected to give an approximate magnitude of the evaporation.

In using the empirical equations, the saturated vapour pressure at a given temperature (ew)
is found from a table of ew vs temperature in °C. Often, the wind-velocity data would be
available at an elevation other than that needed in the particular equation. However, it is
known that in the lower part of the atmosphere, up to a height of about 500 m above the
ground level, the wind velocity can be assumed to follow the 1/7 power law as

𝑧 0.143
𝑢 = 𝑢𝑟 ( )
𝑧 𝑟

where u = wind velocity to be estimated at the height z, uz = wind velocity at a height z

above the ground and. This equation can be used to determine the velocity at any desired
level if uh is known.

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Fourth Year Engineering Hydrology Dr. Taymoor A. Awchi

Example 3:
(a) A reservoir with a surface area of 250 hectares had the following average values of
climate parameters during a week: Water temperature = 20°C, Relative humidity = 40%,
Wind velocity at 1.0 m above ground surface =16 km/h. Estimate the average daily
evaporation from the lake by using Meyer’s formula.

(b) An ISI Standard evaporation pan at the site indicated a pan coefficient of 0.80 on
the basis of calibration against controlled water budgeting method. If this pan
indicated an evaporation of 72 mm in the week under question, (i) estimate the
accuracy if Meyers method relative to the pan evaporation measurements, (ii) Also,
estimate the volume of water evaporated from the lake in that week.

Solution:
(a) From Table 2
ew = 17.54 mm of Hg ea = 0.4 X 17.54 = 7.02 mm of Hg
u9 = wind velocity at a height of 9.0 m above ground = 16 x (9/1)1/7 = 21.9 km/h
By Meyer’s Formula

Table 2. Saturation Vapour Pressure of Water

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Measures to Reduce Lake Evaporation

The following are some of the recommended measures to reduce evaporation from water
surfaces:
(i) Storage reservoirs of more depth and less
surface area, i.e., by choosing a cross section of
the reservoir like a deep gorge Fig. 5. While the
surface of water is exposed to temperature
gradients, the deeper waters are cool; from this
standpoint, a large reservoir is preferable to a
number of small reservoirs (while it is the
reverse from the point of flood control).

Fig. 5. Reservoir in a deep gorge

(ii) By growing tall trees like Causerina on the windward side of the reservoirs to act as
windbreakers.

(iii) By spraying certain chemicals or fatty acids and formation of films. By spreading a
manomolecular layer of acetyl alcohol (hexadecanol) C16H33OH over the reservoir
surface (from boats)—a film is formed on the surface which is only 0.015 micron
(approx.) in thickness. It is a polar compound and it has great affinity for water on one
side (hydrophylic) and repels water on the other side (hydrophobic). The film will only
allow precipitation from the top into it but will not allow water molecules to escape from
it. This method is readly effective when the wind velocities are less. If the wind velocity
is more, it will sweep the film off the water surface and deposit it on the bank. However
the film is pervious to O2 and CO2. About 2.2 kg (22 N) of acetyl alcohol is required to
cover an area of 1 ha of reservoir surface. It is best suited for small and medium size
reservoirs.

(iv) By allowing flow of water, temperature is reduced and evaporation is reduced; i.e., by
designing the outlet works so that the warmer surface water can be released.

(v) By removing the water loving weeds and plants like Phreatophytes from the periphery
of the reservoir.

(vi) By straightening the stream-channels the exposed area of the water surface (along the
length) is reduced and hence evaporation is reduced.

(vii) By providing mechanical coverings like thin polythene sheets to small agricultural
ponds and lakes.

(viii) By developing underground reservoirs, since the evaporation from a ground water
table is very much less than the evaporation from a water surface.

(ix) If the reservoir is surrounded by huge trees and forest, the evaporation loss will be less
due to cooler environment.
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Fourth Year Engineering Hydrology Dr. Taymoor A. Awchi

EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
Evapotranspiration (Et) or consumptive use (U) is the total water lost from a cropped (or
irrigated) land due to evaporation from the soil and transpiration by the plants or used by
the plants in building up of plant tissue. Potential evapotranspiration (PEt) is the
evapotranspiration from the short green vegetation when the roots are supplied with
unlimited water covering the soil. It is usually expressed as a depth (cm, mm) over the area.

Estimation of Evapotranspiration
The following are some of the methods of estimating evapotranspiration:
(i) Tanks and lysimeter experiments
(ii) Field experimental plots
(iii) Installation of sunken (Colorado) tanks
(iv) Evapotranspiration equations as developed by Lowry-Johnson, Penman, Thornthwaite,
Blaney-Criddle, etc.
(v) Evaporation index method, i.e., from pan evaporation data as developed by Hargreaves
and Christiansen.

Two well known empirical methods are discussed here.

(i) Blaney–Criddle Method

An empirical relation between mean air temperature, evapotranspiration, and mean
percentage of daytime hours was developed by Blaney and Criddle (1962). The underlying
assumption of this procedure is that the heating of the air and evaporation share the heat
budget in a fixed proportion.

As a result, the actual evapotranspiration Et varies directly with the sum of the products of
mean monthly air temperature and monthly percentage of daytime hours with an actively
growing crop with sufficient soil moisture as

Et = K . ETo
ETo = p (0.46Tmean + 8)

where ETo is reference crop evapotranspiration (mm/day) as an average for a period of 1

month, Tmean is mean daily temperature (°C), and p is mean daily percentage of annual
daytime hours. The use of the Blaney–Criddle formula is as follows:

Step 1: Determination of the mean daily temperature (Tmean)

Step 2: Determination of the value of p for which Table 4.8 is used. To be able to determine
the p value, it is essential to know the approximate latitude of the area and the number of
degrees north or south of the equator. Suppose the p value for the month of March has to
be determined for an area with latitude of 45° south. From Table 2, it can be seen that the
p value during March is 0.28.

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Step 3: Calculation of ETo, using the formula ETo = p(0.46Tmean + 8). For example, in
March, when p = 0.28 (from Table 4.8) and Tmean = 21.5°C, the ETo is calculated as
follows:

ETo = 0.28(0.46 × 21.5 + 8) = 0.28(9.89 + 8) = 0.29 × 17.89 = 5.2 mm/day

Example 4:
Determine the mean ETo (in mm/day) for the month of April using the Blaney–Criddle
method with latitude 35° North, Tmax in April = 29.5°C and Tmin in April = 19.4°C.

Table 2

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(ii) Thornthwaite Method

a
 10  Ti 
Eti  1.62 
 I 
Where Eti = the evapotranspiration of month (i) in (cm), Ti = mean temperature of month
(i) in oC, and a can be estimated as follows:

Example 5:
Estimate the potential evapotranspiration for the months April and July, use the data given
in the table below.

Solution:

1.598
 10  15 
Et april  1.62   5.5cm
 69.84 

1.598
 10  26.1 
Et July  1.62   13.3cm
 69.84 

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Fourth Year Engineering Hydrology Dr. Taymoor A. Awchi

Example 6:
If the monthly mean temperature is 30°C, estimate the potential evapotranspiration using
the Thornthwaite method.

Solution

(iii) Evaporation Index method.

Analysis of data on consumptive use indicate a high degree of correlation between pan
evaporation values and consumptive use. The relationship between the evapotranspiration
(Et) and pan evaporation (Ep) is usually expressed as:

Et = k Ep
where k is a coefficient (i.e., Et/Ep ratio) and is found to vary according to the stage of
growth of the crop.

Example 7:
Assuming a growing season of 4 months December-March for wheat, determine the
consumptive use of wheat in the month of January if the pan evaporation for the month is
9.5 cm. Take the consumptive use coefficient at 40%, stage growth of the crop as 0.52.
Solution
The crop season is December to March i.e., 120 days. By middle of January the number of
days of growth is 47, i.e., 47/120 = 0.4 or 40% stage growth of the crop has reached and k
for this stage is 0.52 and Ep for the month of January is 9.5 cm.

∴ Et = 0.52 × 9.5 = 4.94 cm

The daily consumptive use for the month of January
= {4.94 x 10}/31 = 1.6 mm/day
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Factors Affecting Evapotranspiration

From the above equations, it can be seen that the following factors affect the
evapotranspiration:
(i) Climatological factors like percentage sunshine hours, wind speed, mean monthly
temperature and humidity.
(ii) Crop factors like the type of crop and the percentage growing season.
(iii) The moisture level in the soil.

QUESTIONS

1 The following were the monthly evaporation data in cm in certain year (Jan.-Dec.) in the
vicinity of a lake:
15.7 14.1 16.9 24.0 27.5 21.4
15.7 16.2 16.2 20.5 15.7 15.4
The water spread area in the lake in the beginning of January was 3.2 km2 and at the end
of December 2.6 km2. Calculate the loss of water in million m3 due to evaporation in that
year. Assume a pan coefficient of 0.71.

2 For a particular place in the month of November, the percentage sunshine hours is 7.2
and the mean temperature is 18°C. If the consumptive use coefficient for the crop is
0.7 for that month, find the consumptive use of the crop in mm/day. (2.76 mm/day)

3 Determine the consumptive use of wheat in the month of December if the pan evaporation
for the month is 8.5 cm. Assume the growing season from November to February and
consumptive use coefficient at 40% stage growth as 0.52. (1.47 mm/day)

4 The following are the data for the rice crop in the south of India.

Determine:
(a) Peak consumptive use in mm/day
(b) Seasonal consumptive use
(c) The total irrigation requirement assuming an irrigation efficiency of 70%

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5.

6.

7.

8.

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