For a catchment with an area 20 km2, an average precipitationof 732 mm/year and a total evaporation

of 550 mm/year have been observedduring a 10-year period. Within the catchment, there is an old
waste dump;and at the discharge point, high phosphorous (P) contents have been found,0.25 mg/l of
P. What is the annual mass transport of phosphorous in the waterout from the catchment?

22 Engineering HydrologySolutionThe water balance for the catchment is:P  E  Q = DSIn this case,
the storage term S may be assumed to be zero because thecalculations are made for average values
(10 years).Consequently, the water balance for the catchment is:P = E + QOr, Q = P  E = 732  550 =
182 mm/yearIt has to be assumed that the concentration measurement of phosphorous
isrepresentative for the entire 10-year period, and this corresponds to 0.25 mg/L P.The runoff is
transformed from mm/year to m3/s by multiplying with the totalcatchment area.Thus, the runoff
becomes:Q = 182 mm/year ¥ 20 km2= (182 ¥ 10 3 m/year) ¥ (20 ¥ 106) m2= (3640 ¥ 103) m3/year =
3.64 ¥ 106 m3/yearLet us transform this quantity to l/s.Q = 3.64 ¥ 106 m3/ (365 ¥ 24 ¥ 60 ¥ 60)s= 3.64 ¥
106 m3/(31.54 ¥ 106)s= 0.115 m3/s = 115 l/sThis is consequently the average runoff every second for
the 10-year period.Now, we can calculate the transport of phosphorous that discharges in
thewater from the catchment during one year.Q ¥ C = 115 l/s ¥ 0.25 mg/l = 28.75 mg/sThe phosphorous
transport per year is= 28.75 mg/s ¥ (60 ¥ 60 ¥ 24 ¥ 365) s/year= 907 kg/yearThis is probably not an
exact figure, but we may assume the order ofmagnitude of phosphorous transport is about 900
kg/year.Answer The phosphorous transport out from the catchment is about900 kg/year.Example
1.5 A lake has an area of 15 km2. Observation of hydrologicalvariables during a certain year has
shown that:P = 700 mm/yearAverage inflow Qin