ABE 2 Notes: MAJOR ELEMENTS OF WEATHER (24 July 2020)

ABE 2 – Introduction to Water Management and Irrigation

Module 2: HYDROLOGY
Subtopic 5: WATER BUDGET

I. THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE – Please see uploaded Power Point Presentation

II. WATER BUDGET

A water budget is an accounting of all the water that flows into and out of a project area. This area can
be wetland, a lake, a watershed, or any other point of interest. Development can alter the natural
supply of water and severely affect an area, especially if there are nearby ponds or wetlands. A water
budget is needed to determine the magnitude of these impacts and to evaluate possible mitigation
actions.

A water budget describes the various components of the hydrologic cycle. The water budget include:

1. Precipitation, P
2. Evaporation, E
3. Evapotranspiration, ET
4. Surface runoff, SRO
5. Groundwater flow, GF

The water budget is expressed as an equation:

∆ = − − ± ±
Where ΔS is the change in storage of water (a dam, a lake, all in the watershed, etc). If the ΔS is positive,
storage will increase and the water level in the area of interest will rise. A positive change in storage is
called a surplus, while a decrease in storage is termed a deficit. The change in storage is usually
expressed in terms of depth, feet or inches in US customary units, and meter or centimeter in SI units.

P is positive because precipitation adds water to the storage. E and ET are negative because these will
leave the surface thereby decreasing the water storage. The SRO and GF are + because it can be either
addition to or subtraction from the water storage. It is addition if the water goes inside the area, such as
a river or stream feeding the dam or reservoir, or groundwater flows towards the reservoir. It is
subtraction if the water flows outside of the containment.

P, E and ET are natural processes that are largely unaffected by development. However, changes in the
land use can significantly affect surface runoff and groundwater flow. For example, commercial
development may intercept surface runoff that runs into a wetland by a by storm control basin. The
storm basin may hold the water until it evaporates or release the water into an outlet. The wetland is
deprived of the surface runoff which naturally flows before development. Another example, concreting
of land surface increases runoff and decreases infiltration and percolation because the surface is no
longer porous. Thus, more water goes to the rivers and eventually goes to the sea and less water will be
contributed to the groundwater reserve.

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ABE 2 Notes: MAJOR ELEMENTS OF WEATHER (24 July 2020)

Reference:

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/wrd-water-budget_565040_7.pdf

III. WATER BALANCE

Source of Information:

Sposób J. (2011) Water Balance in Terrestrial Ecosystems. In: Gliński J., Horabik J., Lipiec J. (eds)
Encyclopedia of Agrophysics. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht

Water balance. The cyclical movement of water between the atmosphere and the ground surface,
considering precipitation, evaporation, and runoff (Whittow, 1984).

Water balance equation. Equation presenting elementary parts of water balance: precipitation,
evapotranspiration, and runoff, expressed as volume of water.

Terrestrial ecosystem. The continental as distinct from marine and atmospheric ecosystem.

Ecosystem. Ecological system formed by the interaction of all living organisms with each other and
with the chemical and physical factors of the environment in which they live, linked by the transfer of
energy and materials (Clark, 2003, p. 130).