HYAP 322

HYDROLOGY

JESSA MAE A. GOMEZ

MIDTERM REVIEWER

PART III STREAMFLOW

OUTLINE

o MEASUREMENT OF STREAMFLOW

o MEASUREMENT OF RIVER STAGE

o METHODS OF DETERMINING VOLUME OF RUN-

OFF

STREAMFLOW

In a streamflow phase of the hydrologic cycle, the

water from a given drainage basin is usually
concentrated in a single channel and it is now possible
to measure the entire quantity of water in the phase.

o Streamflow (channel run-off) is the quantity of

water flowing or passing through a certain point
of a stream.

o It also defined as volumetric discharge

expressed in volume per unit time, typically in
cubic feet per second (ft 3 /s) or cubic meters
per second (m3 /s ) that takes place in a stream
or channel and varies in time and space.

MEASUREMENT OF STREAMFLOW

Measurement of streamflow or discharge of a stream

maybe accomplished by any of the following methods:

1. By the use of weir or measuring flume.

o It is applicable specially to small channels,

for which a head-discharge relation can be
determined in the laboratory.

o Head measurements can then be converted

to rates of flow, using different formulas for
such purpose.
2. By the use of current meter.
o In large streams, measurements of
streamflow are made with instruments such
as the current meter.
o The Price meter is widely used for this
purpose. It consists of a cup wheel rotating
about a vertical axis, tail vanes to keep the
meter headed into the current, and a
weight to keep the cable as nearly vertical
as possible.
o In deep water, the meter is suspended from
a bridge, cable car, or boat by a cable which
serves as conductor to transmit electrical
contacts made by the cup wheel to a
counter or earphones worn by the
hydrographer.
o In shallow water, the meter may be
attached to a rod wading measurement.
o Streamflow measurement is usually made
by determining the mean velocity in several
vertical sections across the stream. The
average velocity at 0.2 and 0.8 of the depth
is preferable than a single measurement of
0.6 depth.
o The discharge in each portion is computed
by multiplying its area by the mean velocity.
The total discharge of the stream is the sum
of the discharges in several partial sections.
3. By the application of open channel formulas.
o Several equations are used to calculate the
rate of flow in an open channel.
o One of these is the Chezy equation, which
can be derived using the basic principles of
Fluid Mechanics.
o Another is the manning equation which is
applicable when the channel slope is less
than 0.10.
4. By the use of weir formulas for dams or
spillways.
o One formula used where the discharge of
an overflow spillway is given, is the weir
equation.
5. By calculation of flow through a concentrated
opening at a bridge.
6. By timing the travel of float in the stream.
7. By injecting a tracer solution into a stream.
The accuracy of streamflow records depends upon the
physical features of the cross section, the frequency of
measurements, and the quality of the stage measuring
device.
Hydrograph - a chart or plot showing streamflow
against time.
MEASUREMENT OF RIVER STAGE
• The simplest device for measuring river stage is
the staff gauge, a scale graduated in meters,
usually read by an observer once or twice a day.
• Self-recording gauges are used to obtain more
reliable records.
• Crest-stage gauges are designed and used to
provide a record of the highest stage observed
at a station.
STREAMFLOW UNITS
• Rates of flow are usually expressed in cubic
meters per second while volumes are in cubic
meters.
• Water Year is a twelve-month period beginning
and ending during a time of low flow.
Ex. In the U.S., a water year commonly used is the
period from October 1 to September 30 of the following
year.
• The rate flow in streams varies throughout the
year due to the distribution of precipitation.
• In most countries, the streamflow is lowest
during summer, but in the West, heavy run-off
from melting snow occurs during spring even
though precipitation is light.
BASIN RECHARGE
• Basin Recharge – is the portion of precipitation
which does not contribute to streamflow or
groundwater. It is constituted of the water
retained by vegetation, or interception,
together with depression storage and soil
moisture.
• Depression storage – includes the water
retained as puddles (a very small pool of usually
dirty or muddy water) in the surface
depressions.
• Soil Moisture – is defined as the water held in
the soil either as capillary water, gravitational
water or hygroscopic water.
• Gravitational water – is free water moving
through the soil by the force of gravity. Very
little gravitational water is available to plants as
it drains rapidly down the water table.
• Capillary water – water that remains in the soil
after gravitational water is drained out, that is
subject to the laws of capillary movement, and
that is in the form of a film around the soil
grains.
• Hygroscopic water – are tightly held water on
soil particle surfaces as a result of adhesion, this
water is essentially unavailable to vegetation.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CAPILLARY AND
HYGROSCOPIC WATER
Hygroscopic water occurs in the form of thin films
around the colloidal soil particles. Whereas the
water that is retained in minute interstitial spaces
in the form of thin films surrounding the soil
particles is known as capillary water.
Rainwater in melting snow, exclusive of the basin
recharge, may follow three paths to a stream.
o A portion travels as overland flow (surface run-
off) across the ground surface to the nearest
channel.
o Other water may infiltrate into the soil and flow
laterally in the surface soil to a stream channel
as interflow. A relatively impermeable stratum
in the subsoil favors the occurrence on
interflow.
o A third portion of the water may percolate
through the soil until it reaches the
groundwater. Vertical percolation of rainwater
results in groundwater accretion only if the soil
is highly permeable or if the groundwater is
near the surface.
o Overland flow and interflow are frequently
grouped together as direct run-off.
o This water reaches the stream so shortly after it
falls as rain and is discharges from the drainage
basin within few days.
o Stream channels which have perennial flow and
below the groundwater table are called effluent
streams.
o Intermittent streams, which go dry if much time
elapses between rains, are usually influent
streams, i.e., their channels are above the level
of the groundwater, and percolation from the
stream channel to the groundwater occurs.
METHODS OF DETERMINING VOLUME OF RUN-OFF
1. Hydrograph Analysis
2. By using Run-off-rainfall equation
3. Rational method
4. Unit Hydrograph method
HYDROGRAPH ANALYSIS
o Hydrograph is a graph of stage or discharge
over time.
o The characteristics of direct and groundwater
run-off difference so greatly that they must be
treated separately in problems involving short
period, or storm run-off.
o There is no practical means of differentiating
between groundwater flow and direct run-off
 after they have been intermixed in the stream,
and the techniques of hydrograph analysis are
rather arbitrary.
o The typical hydrograph resulting from a single
storm consists of a rising limb, peak and
recession. The recession represents the
withdrawal of water stored in the stream
channel during the period of rise.
o Double peaks are sometimes caused by the
geography of the basin but more often result
from two or more periods of rainfall separated
by periods of little or no rain.
RUN-OFF RAINFALL EQUATION
R=P – L – G
where:
R = the direct run-off
All in units of
P = precipitation
depth over
L = the basin recharge the drainage
area
G = groundwater accretion
o The run-off volume is the area bounded by the
ground water and hydrograph.
o Accurate estimate of R depend on estimates of
basin recharge L and the groundwater accretion
G.
RATIONAL METHOD
o If rainfall were applied at a constant rate to an
impervious surface, the run-off from that
surface would eventually reach a rate equal to
the rate of rainfall.
o The time required to reach this equilibrium is
the time of concentration t c and for small,
impervious areas, one may assume that if rain
persists at a uniform rate for a period as long as
t c , the peak of run-off will equal the rate of
rainfall. This is the basis of the rational formula.
Q=kiA∨Q p =CAi
Where:
Q = peak rate of run-off in sq.km-cm per hour
K = run-off coefficient
i = the intensity of rainfall in cm per hour for a
duration equal to t
A = watershed area in sq. km.
UNIT HYDROGRAPHS
o If two identical rainstorms could occur over a
drainage basin with identical conditions prior to
the rain, the hydrographs of run-off from the
two storms could be expected to be the same.
This is the basis of the unit hydrograph concept.
o The occurrence of identical storms is very rare.
Storms may vary in duration, amount, and aerial
distribution of rainfall.
o A unit hydrograph is a hydrograph with a
volume of 1 inch (25 cm) of runoff resulting
from a rainstorm of specified duration and
aerial pattern.
o Hydrographs from other storms of like duration
and pattern are assumed to have the same time
base, but with ordinates of flow in proportion to
the run-off volumes.
o A unit hydrograph maybe constructed from the
rainfall and streamflow data of a storm with
reasonably uniform rainfall intensity and
without complications from preceding or
subsequent rainfall.
o The first step in the derivation is the separation
of groundwater flow from the direct run-off.
o The volume of run-off is determined, and the
ordinates are found by dividing the ordinates of
direct run-off by the volume of the direct run-
off. The resulting hydrograph represents a
volume of 1 cm or run-off.
o The final step is the assignment of an effective
storm duration from a study of the rainfall
records. After the derivation of the unit
hydrograph, the streamflow for a storm of like
duration can be estimated by multiplying the
ordinates of the unit hydrograph by the
estimated volume of direct run-off and adding
to the groundwater flow.
Sample the data for the construction of a unit
hydrograph.
 o Groundwater is defined as the water which can
be found under the ground. It soaks into the soil
and stored in the tiny spaces (pores) between
rocks and soil particles.

o It is a vital source of water supply, especially in

areas where dry summers or extended droughts
cause stream flow to stop.

Plotting the unit hydrograph o It is also important to study and discuss

groundwater since both surface water and
To plot the unit hydrograph in x-y axis, plot the hour
groundwater problems should be considered in
(time) on the x-axis. On the y-axis, plot the following:
planning for water resources development.
1. Base flow in relation to time.
ZONES OF UNDERGROUND WATER
2. For unit hydrograph, plot direct run-off in relation to
o Immediately below the ground surface, the soil
time.
pores contain both water and air in varying
3. For storm hydrograph, plot the total Q in relation to amounts.
time.
o After the rain, water may move downward
PART IV GROUNDWATER through this zone of aeration. Some water is
dispersed through the soil to be held by the
OUTLINE
capillary forces in the smaller pores (capillary
o ZONES OF UNDERGROUND WATER water) or by molecular attraction around the
soil particles (hygroscopic water).
o SOURCES OF GROUNDWATER
o Water in the upper layer of the zone of aeration
GROUNDWATER is known as soil moisture.

o If the retention capacity of the soil in the zone

of aeration is satisfied, water moves downward
into a region where the pores of the soil or rock
are filled with water. The water in this zone of
saturation is called the groundwater.
o Above the zone of saturation is a capillary fringe
in which the smaller pores contain water lifted
by capillary action from the zone of saturation.
o The two major sub-surface zones are divided by
an irregular surface called the water table.
o The water table is the locus of points (in
unconfined material) where hydrostatic
pressure equals atmospheric pressure.
o Above the water table, in the vadose zone, soil
pores may contain both air and water, hence it
is sometimes called zone of aeration.
o In the phreatic zone, below the water table,
interstices are filled with water; sometimes this
is called zone of saturation.
SOURCES OF GROUNDWATER
o The main source of groundwater is the
precipitation, which penetrate the soil directly
to the groundwater or may enter surface
streams and percolate from these channels to
the groundwater.
o Groundwater has the lowest priority on the
water sources coming from precipitation.
o Interception, depression storage and soil
moisture must be satisfied first before any
amount of water can percolate to the
groundwater. Only prolonged periods of heavy
precipitation can supply large quantities of
water for groundwater recharge.
o Other sources of groundwater include water
from deep in the earth which is carried upward
in intrusive rocks, and water which is trapped in
sedimentary rocks during their formation.
o The quantities of such water are small, and they
are often so highly mineralized as to be
unsuited for use.
Water from:
o Precipitation is called Meteoric water
o Intrusive rocks are called Juvenile water
o Sedimentary rocks are called Connate water
Aquifers
o Formations which contain and transmit
groundwater are known as aquifers.
o The amount of groundwater which can be
obtained in any area depends on the character
 of the underlying aquifer and the extent and
frequency or recharge.

o The capacity of a formation to contain water is

measured by the porosity, or the ratio of the
pore volume to the total volume of the
formation.

o The specific yield is the volume of water

(expressed as a percent of the total volume of
the aquifer) which will drain freely from the
aquifer.
Artesian Aquifer

o A well piercing the confining stratum acts much

like a piezometer in a pipe, and water will rise in
the well to the level of the local static pressure
(artesian head). This well is called flowing
artesian well.

o The surface defined by the water level in a

group of artesian wells is called the piezometric
surface and is the artesian equivalent of the
water table.

Water Table

o The static level of water in wells penetrating the

zone of saturation is called the water table.

o It is often described as a subdued replica of the

surface topography, which is commonly higher
under the hills than under the valleys, and a
contour map of the water table in any area may
look much like the surface topography.

o The water table is the surface of a water body

which is constantly adjusting itself toward an
equilibrium condition. If there were no
recharge, table would eventually become
horizontal.
Types of wells
o In the ordinary water table well, the water rises
to the height of the saturated materials
surrounding it, and there is no pressure other
than atmospheric upon the water in the
surrounding aquifer.

o An artesian well is one in which the water rises

above the level at which it is encountered in the
aquifer because of pressure in the confined
water of the aquifer.
o A flowing well is an artesian well where the
pressure raises the water above the casing
head.

Hydraulics of Wells

o If a well penetrates an extensive homogeneous

isotropic aquifer in which the water table is
initially horizontal, a circular depression in the
water table must develop when the well is
pumped since no flow could take place without
a gradient toward the well.

o This depression is called the cone of depression

and the drop in the water level is called the
drawdown.