PHASE 1: HYDROLOGY AND HYDROLIC CYCLE
HYDROLOGY ➢ Once this data is compiled, the engineer moves on to
• means the science of water. It is an extremely
important field of study, dealing with one of the
most valuable resources on Earth: water.
• All aspects of the Earth’s available water are
studied by experts from many disciplines, from
geologists to engineers, to obtain the information
needed to manage this vital resource.
HYDROLOGIST
• rely on their understanding of how water interacts
with its environment, including how it moves from
the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere, and then back
to Earth.
• This never-ending movement is called the
hydrologic cycle, or the water cycle.
HYDROLOGY VS. HYDRAULICS
➢ Hydrology is the scientific study of the waters of the
earth, with a particular focus on how rainfall and
evaporation affect the flow of water in streams and
storm drains.
➢ Hydraulics is the engineering analysis of the flow of
water in channels, pipelines, and other hydraulic
structures.
USE OF HYDROLOGY IN LAND DEV.
➢ In land development, hydrology typically refers to
the rate of precipitation, quantity of water, rate of
surface runoff, and timing of its arrival at a point of
interest (the project site).
➢ Any development activity will change the flow of
water on a site. If you clear cut a parcel of land,
rainfall is more likely to run off the site rather than
be absorbed by grass and trees.
➢ Engineers use hydrology to provide reports detailing
the surface water flow changes that are anticipated
with the proposed site design. The goal is typically to
determine if the post-development storm water flow
is equal to or greater than the pre-development
storm water flow.
➢ Engineers use data related to precipitation, drainage
basin sizes and land covers, soil type(s), appropriate
runoff coefficient(s), conveyance elevation and
geometry, etc. to determine this information.
➢ A drainage report is typically required in support of
the storm water management plan for a proposed
project.
the hydraulic design of any storm water systems
needed to manage the difference in water flow that the
proposed development would cause.
➢ In land development, hydraulic analysis is used after
the hydrology reporting process in order to design
storm water conveyance networks, calculate the depth
of flow in pipes, and determine open channel flow in
ditches and swales. This is often referred to as “storm
water management design.”
➢ Once the difference between pre-development storm
water flow and post-development storm water flow is
determined, civil engineers use hydraulics to design
storm water management systems to account for the
difference to minimize a development’s effect on
neighboring sites. These systems, both pipes and open
channels, are designed to accommodate all intercepted
water flow from rainfall events.
➢ A typical project includes the design of many hydraulic
components, such as pipe sizes, pipe alignments, flow
line elevations, end treatments, inlet and outlet
protection, channel geometry, and channel slope, to
name a few.
Hydrology helps assess all possible conditions of a
proposed development during multiple
environmental scenarios. Hydraulics is then used to
design appropriate systems to mitigate any changes
from the site’s pre-development state.
HYDROLOGIC CYCLE HUMAN IMPACT
• human activities can influence the hydrologic cycle
in many other ways.
• The volumes and timing of river flows can be greatly
affected by channeling to decrease the impediments
to flow, and by changing the character of the
watershed by paving, compacting soils, and altering
the nature of the vegetation.
• Risks of flooding can be increased by speeding the
rate at which water is shed from the land, thereby
increasing the magnitude of peak flows. Risks of
flooding are also increased if erosion of soils from
terrestrial parts of the watershed leads to siltation
and the development of shallower river channels,
which then fill up and spill over during high-flow
periods. Massive increases in erosion are often
associated with deforestation, especially when
natural forests are converted into agriculture.
 HYDROELECTRICITY
• This involves changing the stored gravitational
energy of water held behind the dam into electrical
energy that can be used. While this is a non-polluting
renewable way to generate electricity, it does have
environmental impacts – especially when
mismanaged. Spray irrigator
Irrigation is a method used to water farm land. Unfortunately, it
• Rivers must be dammed, which can affect the removes water from rivers and can cause surface run-off and
leaching.
function of the river both upstream and downstream
– lakes are usually formed from the water
accumulating above the dam and a build-up of silt
can occur, while the amount of water is reduced DEFORESTRATION
further downstream. This can be problematic for
any plants and animals that may find themselves • The removal of trees is having a major impact on the
with too much or too little water, and migrating fish water cycle, as local and global climates change.
cannot get through the dams.
• Normally, trees release water vapor when they
• Seriously mismanaged dams can result in droughts transpire, producing a localized humidity. This water
downstream, with smaller streams completely vapor then evaporates into the atmosphere where it
drying up, leaving areas of un-watered land. People accumulates before precipitating back to the Earth
then have to look at ways of getting more water into as rain, sleet or snow. Deforestation in one area can
these dry areas. therefore affect the weather in another area because
if trees are cut down, there is less water to be
evaporated into the atmosphere and subsequently
less rain.

• At a local level, the land becomes drier and less

stable. When it rains, instead of the water being
soaked up, there is increased run-off and leaching.
Areas can become more prone to both droughts and
flooding, impacting on plants and animals, and also
humans living near deforested areas.

Clyde hydro dam

The Clyde dam in the South Island uses water to generate electricity. It is New
Zealand’s third largest hydro dam.

IRRIGATION
• As the human population has increased, so have our
demands on the land. We need more food, and to make
food, we need water. Irrigation is the artificial watering
of land that does not get enough water through rainfall.
Irrigation is used substantially by most countries,
some more than others. Arid (dry) lands require far
more water, as do countries that have large intensive
farming communities. Dynamic and complex: the global water cycle
Water in the Earth system is influencing all aspects of life on
Earth. Pathways, storage, transfers and transformations have an
• The problem with irrigation is that it removes water effect on the global climate and human welfare.
from its natural source and often causes leaching and
run-off where it is used. This removal of nutrients
results in farmers using more fertilizers to keep their
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
pastures productive while the waterways become • The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon of
polluted. Another problem is that salt is brought up Earth’s atmosphere trapping a range of gases, which
from lower levels (salination). in turn capture infrared radiation to keep our Earth
at a moderate temperature range compared to the
other planets in our solar system.
• Human activity such as the burning of fossil fuels has
an effect on the overall increase of the Earth’s
temperature. Raising the Earth’s temperature may
mean that there is an increase of evaporation, melting
of ice or other processes of the water cycle that
adversely affect the climate on Earth.
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
• Evapotranspiration is the sum of evaporation
• from the land surface plus transpiration from plants.
• The typical plant, including any found in a landscape,
absorbs water from the soil through its roots. That
water is then used for metabolic and physiologic
functions. The water eventually is released to the
atmosphere as vapor via the plant's stomata — tiny,
closeable, pore-like structures on the surfaces of
leaves. Overall, this uptake of water at the roots,
transport of water through plant tissues, and release of
vapor by leaves is known as transpiration.
• Water also evaporates directly into the atmosphere
from soil in the vicinity of the plant. Any dew or
droplets of water present on stems and leaves of the
plant eventually evaporates as well. Scientists refer to
the combination of evaporation and transpiration as
evapotranspiration, abbreviated ET.
• Groundwater is water that fills pores and fractures in
• Infiltration rate is the rate at which a soil under
specified conditions absorbs falling rain, melting
snow, or surface water expressed in depth of water
per unit time (ASCE, 1985).
• Percolation is the flow of water through soil and
porous or fractured rock
• Percolation rate, although more difficult to
measure directly, represents the rate at which soil
moisture moves down through the soil or
permeable rock.
SURFACE & SUB-SURFACE RUN-OFF
• Surface runoff is water from rain, snow melting, or
other sources that flows over the land surface, and
is a major component of the water cycle. There are
two types of surface runoff that occur during
rainfall or snowmelt.
• Interflow, also known as subsurface runoff, is
relatively rapid flow toward the stream channel
that occurs below the surface. It occurs more
rapidly than base flow, but typically more slowly
than surface runoff.
GROUNDWATER
the ground, much as milk fills the voids within bits of
granola in a breakfast bowl.

• The top of ground water is called the water table.

• Between the water table and the land surface is the

unsaturated zone or vadose zone.

• In the unsaturated zone, moisture is moving

downward to the water table to recharge the ground
water.

• The water table can be very close to the surface (within

a few feet), or very deep (up to several hundred feet).
PRECIPITATION
• Precipitation is water released from clouds in the
form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail. It is
the primary connection in the water cycle that
provides for the delivery of atmospheric water to
the Earth. Most precipitation falls as rain.

INFILTRATION & PERCOLATION

• Infiltration and percolation are two related but
different processes describing the movement of
moisture through soil. Infiltration is defined as the
downward entry of water into the soil or rock
surface (SSSA, 1975)