Activity 3

Introduction to Hydrology
Table of Contents
Introduction

Water and People

What is Hydrology?

What Hydrologists Do?

Surface Water

Groundwater

Careers in Hydrology

Reference

Introduction
Water is one of our most important natural resources. Without it, there
would be no life on earth. The lifestyle we have become accustomed to
depends heavily upon having plenty of cheap, clean water available as well as
an inexpensive, safe way to dispose of it after use.

The supply of water available for our use is limited by nature. Although
there is plenty of water on earth, it is not always in the right place, at the right
time and in the right quality. Adding to the problem is the increasing evidence
that chemical wastes improperly discarded yesterday are showing up in our
water supplies today.

Today, we face record consumption, uncertain supplies, and growing

demands for protection from flooding and pollution. The health and economic
effects of a shortage of clean water are matters of great concern. Hydrology
has evolved as a science in response to the need to understand the complex
water systems of the earth and help solve water problems. Hydrologists play
a vital role in finding solutions to water problems, and interesting and
challenging careers are available to those who choose to study hydrology.

Water and People

Water use in the United States in 1980 was estimated to be an average
of 450 billion gallons per day, a 22 percent increase from the 1970 estimate.
Average per capita use was 1,600 gallons per day of fresh water and 400
gallons per day of saline water. Total fresh water consumed (and therefore no
longer available for immediate subsequent use) increased to 100 billion
gallons per day, with irrigation in the western states accounting for about 80
percent of the total consumed. By the year 2000, it has been estimated that
17 out of 21 water resource regions of the United States will suffer from
inadequate surface and underground (groundwater) water supplies, flooding,
erosion and sedimentation problems, and pollution of both surface water and
groundwater.

Much of our water use is hidden. Think about what you had for lunch. A
hamburger, for example, requires water to raise wheat for the bun, to grow hay
and corn to feed the cattle and to process the bread and beef. Together with
French fries and a soft drink, this all-American meal uses about 1,500 gallons
of water--enough to fill a small swimming pool. How about your clothes? To
grow cotton for a pair of jeans takes about 400 gallons. A shirt requires about
400 gallons. How do you get to school or to the store? To produce the amount
of finished steel in a car has in the past required about 32,000 gallons of water.
Similarly, the steel in a 30-pound bicycle required 480 gallons. This shows that
industry must continue to strive to reduce water use through manufacturing
processes that use less water, and through recycling of water.

What is Hydrology?
Hydrology is the science that encompasses the occurrence,
distribution, movement and properties of the waters of the earth and their
relationship with the environment within each phase of the hydrologic cycle.
The hydrologic cycle is a continuous process by which water is purified by
evaporation and transported from the earth's surface (including the oceans)
to the atmosphere and back to the land and oceans. All of the physical,
chemical and biological processes involving water as it travels its various
paths in the atmosphere, over and beneath the earth's surface and through
growing plants, are of interest to those who study the hydrologic cycle.

There are many pathways the water may take in its continuous cycle of
falling as rainfall or snowfall and returning to the atmosphere. It may be
captured for millions of years in polar ice caps. It may flow to rivers and finally
to the sea. It may soak into the soil to be evaporated directly from the soil
surface as it dries or be transpired by growing plants. It may percolate through
the soil to groundwater reservoirs (aquifers) to be stored or it may flow to
wells or springs or back to streams by seepage. They cycle for water may be
short, or it may take millions of years.

People tap the water cycle for their own uses. Water is diverted
temporarily from one part of the cycle by pumping it from the ground or
drawing it from a river or lake. It is used for a variety of activities such as
households, businesses and industries; for irrigation of farms and parklands;
and for production of electric power. After use, water is returned to another
part of the cycle: perhaps discharged downstream or allowed to soak into the
ground.

Used water normally is lower in quality, even after treatment, which

often poses a problem for downstream users. The hydrologist studies the
fundamental transport processes to be able to describe the quantity and
quality of water as it moves through the cycle (evaporation, precipitation,
streamflow, infiltration, groundwater flow, and other components).

The engineering hydrologist, or water resources engineer, is involved in

the planning, analysis, design, construction and operation of projects for the
control, utilization, and management of water resources. Water resources
problems are also the concern of meteorologists, oceanographers, geologists,
chemists, physicists, biologists, economists, political scientists, specialists
in applied mathematics and computer science, and engineers in several fields.

What Hydrologists Do?

Hydrologists apply scientific knowledge and mathematical principles to
solve water-related problems in society: problems of quantity, quality and
availability. They may be concerned with finding water supplies for cities or
irrigated farms, or controlling river flooding or soil erosion. Or, they may work
in environmental protection: preventing or cleaning up pollution or locating
sites for safe disposal of hazardous wastes.

Persons trained in hydrology may have a wide variety of job titles. Some
specialize in the study of water in just one part of the hydrologic cycle:
hydrometeorologists (atmosphere); glaciologists (glaciers); geomorphologists
(landforms); geochemists (groundwater quality); and hydrogeologists
(groundwater). Engineers who study hydrology include those in agricultural,
civil, environmental, hydraulic, irrigation and sanitary engineering.

Scientists and engineers in hydrology may be involved in both field

investigations and office work. In the field, they may collect basic data,
oversee testing of water quality, direct field crews and work with equipment.
Many jobs require travel, some abroad. A hydrologist may spend considerable
time doing field work in remote and rugged terrain.

In the office, hydrologists do many things such as interpreting

hydrologic data and performing analyses for determining possible water
supplies. Much of their work relies on computers for organizing, summarizing
and analyzing masses of data. Computers are also used for modeling studies
such as the prediction of flooding and the consequences of reservoir releases
or the effect of leaking underground oil storage tanks.

The work of hydrologists is as varied as the uses of water and may range
from planning multimillion dollar interstate water projects to advising
homeowners about backyard drainage problems.

What do we mean by prediction?

: To declare or indicate in advance. especially : foretell on the

basis of observation, experience, trend with very minimal
scientific reasons.

What is meant by forecasting?

: Estimation of future events, happenings, or conditions.

Usually as a result of study and analysis of available pertinent

fast data.

Other words of forecasting --- Prognostication.

What type of word is prophecy?

The foretelling of what is to come. Something that is declared by

a prophet, especially a divinely inspired instruction, or
exhortation.

Surface Water
Most cities meet their needs for water by withdrawing it from the
nearest river, lake or reservoir. Hydrologists help cities by collecting and
analyzing the data needed to predict how much water is available from local
supplies and whether it will be sufficient to meet the city's projected future
needs. To do this, hydrologists study records of rainfall, snowpack depths and
river flows that are collected and compiled by hydrologists in various
government, agencies. They inventory the extent river flow already is being
used by others.

Managing reservoirs can be quite complex, because they generally

serve many purposes. Reservoirs increase the reliability of local water
supplies. Hydrologists use topographic maps and aerial photographs to
determine where the reservoir shorelines will be and to calculate reservoir
depths and storage capacity. This work ensures that, even at maximum
capacity, no highways, railroads or homes would be flooded.
 Deciding how much water to release and how much to store depends
upon the time of year, flow predictions for the next several months, and the
needs of irrigators and cities as well as downstream water-users that rely on
the reservoir. If the reservoir also is used for recreation or for generation of
hydroelectric power, those requirements must be considered. Decisions must
be coordinated with other reservoir managers along the river. Hydrologists
collect the necessary information, enter it into a computer, and run computer
models to predict the results under various operating strategies. On the basis
of these studies, reservoir managers can make the best decision for those
involved.

The availability of surface water for swimming, drinking, industrial or

other uses sometimes is restricted because of pollution. Pollution can be
merely an unsightly and inconvenient nuisance, or it can be an invisible, but
deadly, threat to the health of people, plants and animals.

Hydrologists assist public health officials in monitoring public water

supplies to ensure that health standards are met. When pollution is
discovered, environmental engineers work with hydrologists in devising the
necessary sampling program. Water quality in estuaries, streams, rivers and
lakes must be monitored, and the health of fish, plants and wildlife along their
stretches surveyed.

Related work concerns acid rain and its effects on aquatic life, and the
behavior of toxic metals and organic chemicals in aquatic environments.
Hydrologic and water quality mathematical models are developed and used by
hydrologists for planning and management and predicting water quality
effects of changed conditions. Simple analyses such as pH, turbidity, and
oxygen content may be done by hydrologists in the field. Other chemical
analyses require more sophisticated laboratory equipment.

In the past, municipal and industrial sewage was a major source of

pollution for streams and lakes. Such wastes often received only minimal
treatment, or raw wastes were dumped into rivers. Today, we are more aware
of the consequences of such actions, and billions of dollars must be invested
in pollution-control equipment to protect the waters of the earth. Other
sources of pollution are more difficult to identify and control. These include
road deicing salts, storm runoff from urban areas and farmland, and erosion
from construction sites.

Groundwater
 Groundwater, pumped from beneath the earth's surface, is often
cheaper, more convenient and less vulnerable to pollution than surface water.
Therefore, it is commonly used for public water supplies. Groundwater
provides the largest source of usable water storage in the United States.
Underground reservoirs contain far more water than the capacity of all surface
reservoirs and lakes, including the Great Lakes. In some areas, groundwater
may be the only option. Some municipalities survive solely on groundwater.

Hydrologists estimate the volume of water stored underground by

measuring water levels in local wells and by examining geologic records from
well-drilling to determine the extent, depth and thickness of water-bearing
sediments and rocks. Before an investment is made in full-sized wells,
hydrologists may supervise the drilling of test wells. They note the depths at
which water is encountered and collect samples of soils, rock and water for
laboratory analyses.

They may run a variety of geophysical tests on the completed hole,

keeping and accurate log of their observations and test results. Hydrologists
determine the most efficient pumping rate by monitoring the extent that water
levels drop in the pumped well and in its nearest neighbors. Pumping the well
too fast could cause it to go dry or could interfere with neighboring wells.
Along the coast, overpumping can cause saltwater intrusion. By plotting and
analyzing these data, hydrologists can estimate the maximum and optimum
yields of the well.

Polluted groundwater is less visible, but more insidious and difficult to

clean up, than pollution in rivers and lakes. Groundwater pollution most often
results from improper disposal of wastes on land. Major sources include
industrial and household chemicals and garbage landfills, industrial waste
lagoons, tailings and process wastewater from mines, oil field brine pits,
leaking underground oil storage tanks and pipelines, sewage sludge and septic
systems.

Hydrologists provide guidance in the location of monitoring wells around

waste disposal sites and sample them at regular intervals to determine if
undesirable leachate--contaminated water containing toxic or hazardous
chemicals--is reaching the groundwater. In polluted areas, hydrologists may
collect soil and water samples to identify the type and extent of
contamination. The chemical data then are plotted on a map to show the size
and direction of waste movement. In complex situations, computer modeling
of water flow and waste migration provides guidance for a clean-up program.
In extreme cases, remedial actions may require excavation of the polluted
soil.

Today, most people and industries realize that the amount of money
invested in prevention is far less than that of cleanup. Hydrologists often are
consulted for selection of proper sites for new waste disposal facilities. The
danger of pollution is minimized by locating wells in areas of deep groundwater
and impermeable soils. Other practices include lining the bottom of a landfill
with watertight materials, collecting any leachate with drains, and keeping
the landfill surface covered as much as possible. Careful monitoring is always
necessary.

Careers in Hydrology
Students who plan to become hydrologists need a strong emphasis in
mathematics, statistics, geology, physics, computer science, chemistry and
biology. In addition, sufficient background in other subjects--economics,
public finance, environmental law, government policy--is needed to
communicate with experts in these fields and to understand the implications
of their work on hydrology.

Communicating clearly in writing and speech is a basic requirement

essential for any professional person. Hydrologists should be able to work well
with people, not only as part of a team with other scientists and engineers,
but also in public relations, whether it be advising governmental leaders or
informing the general public on water issues. Hydrology offers a variety of
interesting and challenging career choices for today and tomorrow. It's a field
worth considering.

Reference:
Hydrology: The Study of Water and Water Problems A Challenge for
Today and Tomorrow

A publication of the Universities Council on Water Resources