1A- Hydrologic Cycle

What We Will Learn (…This Week…)

• Introduction to Hydrology,
• The hydrologic cycle,
• Watershed characterization,
• Hydrologic budget,
• Weather and climate.
 OBJECTIVES
Define Hydrology
Explain Hydrologic Cycle
State the fundamental Equation of
Hydrology (that is Hydrologic Budget)
Hydrologic Principles to
supplement “Decision Support
Systems” for Water and
Environmental Management
 Hydrology
 Hydrology is one of the earth sciences and is a very important
multi-disciplinary science to the environmental fields.
   Hydrologic theory offers tools to understand and quantify
physical, chemical and biological processes related to engineering or
natural systems where water is an important player.
  As engineers, we apply hydrology and use it as a tool, and
information in many applications concerning engineering analysis and
design. Examples of applications are:

– Urban storm water management

– Bridges, culverts, river channelization
– Water management during construction, e.g. coffer dams
– Dams, dykes and other flood control structures
– Design of reservoirs
– Hydropower development
– Land use regulations
– Predicting and managing environmental impacts of water resources project.
Importance of Hydrology and Its
Applications in Engineering
• Engineers dealing with problems related to:
 Irrigation Engineering: Irrigation of agricultural lands such as Alberta,
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Southern Ontario etc.

 Drainage Engineering: Drainage of agricultural lands and drainage of urban centres

 Highway Engineering: Drainage problems along our roadways

 Airport Engineering: Drainage problems on airport because we want our runways

to be as flat as possible for takeoff and landing. Due to flatness of airports, there is a
requirement for efficient drainage systems for safe removal of runoff water from
airports.

 Water Supply Engineering: Hydrology helps to locate potential sources of water –

lakes, river, groundwater etc.

 Water Power Engineering: For locating suitable sites for power generation,
hydrology plays an important role
 Importance of Hydrology and Its
Applications in Engineering (Cont’d)
 Inland Navigation Engineering: For movement of cargo ships and other
navigational vessels, one needs good knowledge of water levels and flow in our
channels (i.e., rivers and lakes) – hydrology helps to obtains the necessary
information

 Urban Drainage Engineering: For safe removal of runoff water from our urban
centres, hydrology plays a central role in providing the necessary information.

 Flood Control Engineering: For the protection of properties along our

waterways and from excess runoff, a good knowledge of hydrology provides you
with methods and techniques for peak flow estimation.

 Drought Mitigation Engineering: During insufficient availability of rain,

severe water shortage problems are faced by farmers, cattle industry, forest
industry, water supply industry, and hydro power generation industry – a study
of hydrology of an area or a region can help to discern the nature of drought i.e.,
how long and how severe, how frequent a drought is expected for protection
against and/or mitigation of droughts.
 Mismanagement
of
Water Resources

causes serious problems

in a wider region such as
Aral Sea ..…
Aral Sea: Photo by NASA – Year 1985
NOTE: Aral Sea area 65,000 Km2 has reduced to
less than Half by 1987 compared Year 1973.

N
 Aral Sea
Photo by NASA Photo by NASA
Year 2008 Year 2014
N

NOTE: Eastern
Basin is
completely
dried up.
 Hydrology
• It deals with occurrence and movement of water on and over
the surface of earth.

• It deals with various forms of water, the transformation  

between gaseous (clouds), liquid (rain), and solid (snow) states.

• The transformation and movement are driven by:

(1) Solar energy and (2) Gravitational pull.

• A hydrology scientist is interested in what and why.

• A hydrology engineer is interested in how, when and where.

Sun

CONCEPTUAL
DIAGRAM

Two Important Forces at Play:

- Solar radiation
- Gravitational pull
 Concept of Interflow
Precipitation
Infiltration

Infiltration Surface Runoff

“or” RUNOFF
Infiltration

Ground water OR

River Flow
INPUT = Precipitation

OUTPUT = RUNOFF
 Hydrologic Cycle
 Movement of water from atmosphere to sea, over earth
surfaces.
 The cycle continuous in perpetuity.
 But it could be short-circuited at several stages, causing
floods and droughts.
 Water-holding components are  atmosphere, vegetation,
snow and ice, soil mass, aquifers, oceans, stream, lakes,
wetlands, etc.

 Liquid-transport phases are:  rainfall, snow melt,

surface runoff, infiltration, percolation, capillary rise,
groundwater flow.
 Vapour-transport phases are:  evaporation,
transpiration, sublimation, diffusion.
 Hydrologic Cycle
A few worthy terms to remember:
Precipitation (P)
Evaporation (E)
Transpiration (T)
Evapotranspiration (ET)
Infiltration ( Iinfiltration or Iinf )
Storage (S)
 Change in Storage (+ ΔS)
Surface runoff or runoff (Q or R)

 Hydrologic Budget Equation (  on annual basis)

+ ΔS = [Inflow – Outflow] = [P- (E+T+ Iinf + R or Q)]

Importance of Water for our Survival
 Although less than 1/100 of one percent, it is still a
large amount and is very important to us.
 In Ontario, most of the population and development
occur in Southern Ontario, where they desperately
need water.
 But much of the lakes, which are the source of fresh
water, are in the north and northwest Ontario.
 20% of the world’s lake water is stored in the Great
Lakes system.
 Five Lakes …Versus…
Lake Baikal Russia
Average depth, 637 meters at places it up to
7 km. It is clearest water in the world.
Contains 20% of the world fresh water
(equal to all the Five Great Lakes).
Russia’s outer space program use this to
study neutrinos by placing equipment at a
depth of 1.0 km deep
Baikal is the most biological diverse than
any other lakes in the world.
The Great Lakes System
Watershed Area of the
Great Lakes System
International Great Lakes Datum (IGLD)
 Hydrologic Budget
 An accounting procedure of Inflow, Outflow and Storage of water

 Time interval of hydrologic budget could be month, season or year.

Basic principle is:

Change in Storage (+ ΔS) = [Inflow (I) – Outflow (O)]

 But on an annual basis, ΔS = 0.0 (no change) and since

+ ΔS = [Inflow – Outflow] = [ P - {E+T+ Iinfiltration + (R or Q)} ]

Inflow  Precipitation (P)

Outflow (O)  {(E + T + Iinfiltration + (R or Q)}

Fundamental Equation of Hydrology

P – R – E – T – G = +S
Basis for all Hydrologic Modelling

For large basins G = 0.0

On yearly basis (more accurately 5-year or more)
the change in storage +S = 0

Therefore, the fundamental Equation reduces to

P – (R + ET) = 0.0
Units in Engineering Hydrology
Metric Units
Depth  mm, cm, and m

Area  m2, Km2, hectare (ha) 1 Km2 = 100 ha

Volume – m3, ha-m (1 m depth over 1 ha area)

Streamflow (volume per unit time)

3
ft /sec (also called cfs)
3
m /sec
 Units in Engineering Hydrology
Imperial Units
Depth, length  inches, feet, yards, miles
1 mile = 1760 yards
1 mile = 5280 ft.

Area  sq. ft., sq. miles, acres

1 acre = 43,560 square feet

Volume  cubic ft. (ft3), acre feet (ac-ft), second feet day (sfd)
1 ac-ft = 1 acre x 1 ft. depth of water
1 sfd = 1cfs for 1 day = 1x24x60x60 = 86,400 cu.ft.
Units in Engineering Hydrology
Storage {or} Change in storage

Either as:
 Depth over the entire storage area

[Depth = Volume/ watershed area]

OR

 Actual volume calculation  in m3, or ac-ft,

ha-m, or sec-ft day.
An Example:

Lake area, A = 2.5 sq km

Precipitation, P = 620 mm (over the lake only)
Evaporation, E = 320 mm
Water withdrawn from the lake, Q=250 mm

What is the change in storage?

 SOLUTION

Inflow = Precipitation over the lake (620mm = 0.62 m)

Outflow = (Evaporation + water with-drown) from the lake
= 0.32 m + 0.25 m
= 0.57 m

Change in storage (± ΔS ) = (0.62m – 0.57m) x 6Lake surface area

= (0.05 m) x 2.5 x 10 sq. m
3 3
= 125 x 10 m

OR     (0.62 m - 0.57 m) = + 0.05 m

NOTE: A positive number indicative of the fact

that there is an increase in storage.
 Worked Example
 A watershed with a drainage area of 350 km2 has a mean annual
precipitation of 700 mm/year. If the annual evapotranspiration
is 450 mm/year, approximately estimate the mean annual
watershed streamflow in mm/year, m3/year, and m3/second
based on the assumption that there is no infiltration and the
precipitation is in the form of rainfall.
SOLUTION
On an annual basis, the change in storage (+ ΔS) = 0.0.
(Important fact to remember)
Therefore, the net outflow  Q = (P – ET) = (700 – 450)
= 250 mm/year
= 0.25m x 350 km2 {(1000x1000) m2}
In m3/year  {250 x 1/1000} x 350 x 106 = 87.5 x 106 m3/year
3
In m3/sec 87.5 x 106 x 1/(365x24x60x60) = 2.78 m /sec
 CONCEPT
OF THE
RESIDENCE TIME
 CONCEPT OF THE RESIDENCE TIME
The average duration of a water molecule to pass through a phase of the hydrologic
cycle is known as the residence time of that phase such as:

(I) Water vapour molecules in the atmosphere,

(II) Water flows through the river system,
(III) Water movement through the lakes systems, and
(IV) Water moving through the groundwater system.
𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒆
Residence Time through a phase: Tr = 𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘−𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒆

Residence times rates of hydrologic activities are measure in term of the average amount of
time (Δt) that water remains in its various states or reservoirs ( e.g., river system, lake
system, groundwater system, atmospheric system etc.).

For example:
[1] The average residence time of a water molecule in the atmosphere is very short, usually
from days to a week or two.
[2] Water molecule may be stored for months to years in soils
[3] Water and individual water molecules may remain in deep groundwater, glaciers, &
Ocean-basin for decades to 10,000 or more years.
 CONCEPT OF RESIDENCE TIME (Cont’d)
The residence time in a specific phase for a water molecule can be calculated as
follows.

For example:
By assuming that all the surface runoff to the oceans comes from the rivers.
The volume of water in the rivers of the world = 2120 Km3
The average flow rate of water in global rivers = 44700 km3/yr
Hence, residence-time of global rivers:
Tr = 2120 km3/44700 km3/year = 0.0474 year = 17.3 days

Similarly, when the residence time for other phases of the hydrological
cycle are computed, it will become apparent that the value of Tr varies
from phase to phase.

In a general sense, the shorter is the residence time,

the greater is the difficulty in predicting the behaviour of that phase of the
hydrological cycle.
 CONCEPT OF RESIDENCE TIME (Cont’d)

For example:
 The residence time (Tr) of Global atmospheric moisture =
12900/(458000+1190000) = 0.022 years = 8.2 days

 Atmospheric water systems are highly dynamic and hence difficult to

model………..

 The residence time (Tr) of Global fresh groundwater =

10,530,000/2200 = 4787 years

 Likewise, The residence time (Tr) of Ocean water =

1,338,000,0000/47000 = 28468 years
 Sources of Hydrological Data
Depending upon the problem at hand:
A hydrologist would require data relating to the various relevant phases of the
hydrological cycle playing on the problem-catchment (or basin or watershed). The
data normally required in the studies are:
 Weather records such as temperature, humidity, and wind velocity
 Precipitation data
 Stream flow records
 Evaporation and evapotranspiration data
 Infiltration characteristics of the study area
 Soils of the area
 Land use and land cover
 Groundwater characteristics
 Physically and geological characteristics of the area
 Water quality data
THANK YOU …..