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Ward
Third Edition
WATER SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING
•
Trimble
Environmental
•
Third Edition Burckhard
Environmental Hydrology •
Lyon
The late Professor Reds Wolman in his Foreword to the award-winning 2nd Edition said “This is not your ordinary
Hydrology
Environmental Hydrology
textbook. Environmental Hydrology is indeed a textbook, but five elements often found separately combine here in
one text to make it different. It is eclectic, practical, in places a handbook, a guide to fieldwork, engagingly personal and
occasionally opinionated….. And, perhaps most engaging to me, in places the authors offer personal views as well as more
strongly worded opinions. The former often relate to evaluation of alternative approaches, or formulations, of specific
solutions to specific hydrologic problems.” The First and Second Editions have been bestsellers and the Third promises to
educate people new to hydrology and challenge professionals alike with insightful solutions to classical problems as well
as trendsetting approaches so important to the evolving genre.
The 3rd Edition enhances materials in the 2nd Edition and has expanded information on many topics and in particular
evapotranspiration, soil erosion, two-stage ditch design and applications, and stream processes. There are new sections on
rock structures in streams, hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, and agricultural practices to reduce nutrient discharges into water
resources. The format has been enhanced to aid the reader in finding Tables, Figures, and Equations. The book contains more
than 370 Figures, 120 Tables, 260 Equations, 100 worked examples, 160 problems and more than 1000 references. Collectively,
the authors have more than 130 years of international experience and the addition of John Lyon and Suzette Burckhard as co-
authors expands the breadth of knowledge presented in this book. Also, assistance was provided by more than 60 scientists
and engineers in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the United States to round out the offerings and ensure applicability to
hydrology worldwide.
Andy D. Ward
Stanley W. Trimble
Suzette R. Burckhard
John G. Lyon
K20405
Third
Edition
6000 Broken Sound Parkway, NW
Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487
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New York, NY 10017
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w w w. c r c p r e s s . c o m Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN, UK
w w w. c r c p r e s s . c o m
Tribute
M. Gordon “Reds” Wolman (August 16, 1924–February 24, 2010)

Sadly, since publication of the second edition of this textbook, the world has lost
Reds Wolman and Luna Leopold, who were friends and perhaps the United States’
greatest giants in stream geomorphology. Reds kindly wrote a preface to the second
edition of this book. This new edition builds on the second edition, and we would
like to take this opportunity to remember a remarkable man who was inspirational
to us and many who work in hydrology, geomorphology, water resources, and
environmental studies. Reds was a brilliant, witty, and friendly person who got the
name “Reds” for his red hair. He wore bow ties every day, drove convertibles, and
often wore suspenders. He was the son of Abel Wolman, who was known as the
“father of sanitary engineering” and in 1937 established the Department of Sanitary
Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. In 1949, Reds graduated with a degree in
geology from Johns Hopkins and then earned a doctorate degree in geology from
Harvard. He worked for 8 years with the U.S. Geological Survey and then joined the
faculty at Johns Hopkins as chair of geography. He played a key role in forming the Department of Geography and
Environmental Engineering. At the time of his death, he was still teaching courses at Johns Hopkins.
Among his many scholarly contributions was the development of the Wolman Pebble Count Method and the
Wolman–Miller Model for determining geomorphic work. In 1964, Luna Leopold, Reds Wolman, and John Miller
published their seminal book, Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology. This book is still being widely used around
the world. Reds was one of the first people who recognized the environmental threats to the Chesapeake Bay. He
was also a president of the Geological Society of America. He was an elected member of the National Academy of
Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. Reds was also the recipient of many scholarly awards.
In part of a wonderful tribute, Peter Wilcock, an eminent stream geomorphologist in his own right and a long-
time friend and colleague of Reds, said, “His indefatigable service, combined with his good-natured wisdom, influ-
enced environmental decisions and decision-makers around the world. For those who knew him, Reds’ professional
accomplishments merely provide context for his greater personal contributions through his inspired combination
of warmth, wit, and genuine affection for all he came into contact with. The whole exceeded the sum of the parts.
Reds was a distinguished scholar who played a central role in defining our modern understanding of rivers, a vision-
ary academic who pioneered integrated environmental education, a devoted citizen who worked tirelessly to apply
an understanding of rivers to their protection and wise use, and an extraordinary human being who inspired and
delighted generations of students and colleagues, all friends.”
As a tribute to Reds, part of the author’s royalties will be donated to The M. Gordon Wolman Fellowship at
Johns Hopkins University. The fellowship will be awarded to an outstanding incoming PhD student eager
to pursue challenges in the environment and society in an integrated and interdisciplinary context. Please con-
tact the Johns Hopkins Office of Development and Alumni Relations at 410-516-8723 or engineering@jhu
.edu if you would like to honor Reds by donating to this fellowship.
Contents
Foreword: For the Student.........................................................................................................................................xxi
Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................................................. xxiii
Authors.....................................................................................................................................................................xxv
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................................xxix
Chapter 1 The Hydrologic Cycle, Water Resources, and Society............................................................................1

1.1 The Water, Food, Industry, Population Growth Nexus................................................................1
1.2 The Hydrologic Cycle..................................................................................................................7
1.2.1 Precipitation...................................................................................................................8
1.2.2 Infiltration......................................................................................................................8
1.2.3 Evaporation, Transpiration, and Evapotranspiration.....................................................8
1.2.4 Runoff, Overland Flow, and Interflow...........................................................................9
1.2.5 Percolation, Groundwater Recharge, and Groundwater................................................9
1.3 Water Resources in the United States..........................................................................................9
1.4 The Importance of Hydrology to Society.................................................................................. 14
1.5 Modeling the Hydrologic Cycle................................................................................................. 14
1.6 Hydrologic Data Analysis.......................................................................................................... 15
1.6.1 Experimental Error......................................................................................................15
1.6.2 Plotting Data................................................................................................................16
1.6.3 Statistics.......................................................................................................................18
1.6.4 Probabilities and Distributions....................................................................................19
1.6.5 Normal Distribution....................................................................................................20
1.6.6 Descriptive Statistics for Normal Distributions...........................................................20
1.6.7 Standard Error.............................................................................................................23
1.6.8 Standardized Normal Deviate......................................................................................23
1.6.9 Student t Distribution...................................................................................................23
1.6.10 Confidence Intervals....................................................................................................23
1.6.11 Properties of Statistical Procedures.............................................................................24
1.6.12 Inferential Statistics and Hypothesis Testing..............................................................24
1.6.13 Probability Values........................................................................................................25
1.6.14 Statistical Errors..........................................................................................................25
1.6.15 Linear Regression........................................................................................................26
1.6.16 The Use and Misuse of Regression Equations............................................................28
1.6.17 Data Transformations..................................................................................................30
1.6.18 Multiple Regression Analysis...................................................................................... 31
1.7 Advantages and Disadvantages of Modeling Data.................................................................... 33
1.8 Typical Model Architecture....................................................................................................... 33
Problems...............................................................................................................................................34
Chapter 2 Precipitation..........................................................................................................................................37
2.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................37
2.1.1 Precipitation Data........................................................................................................40
2.2 Causes of Precipitation..............................................................................................................40
2.2.1 Frontal Precipitation.................................................................................................... 41
2.2.2 Convection................................................................................................................... 41
2.2.3 Orographic...................................................................................................................42
ix
x Contents
2.3 Precipitation Events...................................................................................................................42

2.3.1 Geographical and Seasonal Variations........................................................................42
2.3.2 Historic Time Trends...................................................................................................44
2.3.3 Storm Area Patterns....................................................................................................46
2.4 Measurement of Precipitation.................................................................................................... 47
2.4.1 Measurement of Rainfall............................................................................................. 47
2.4.2 Measurement of Snowfall............................................................................................50
2.5 Storm Time Trends.................................................................................................................... 51
2.5.1 Time Sequence Patterns.............................................................................................. 51
2.6 Average Precipitation over an Area........................................................................................... 52
2.6.1 Rainfall Distributions for Short Time Periods.............................................................54
2.7 Rainfall Frequency Distributions............................................................................................... 55
2.7.1 St. Louis Frequency Relationship Transferred to the Contiguous
United States�� 57
2.7.2 Regional Frequency–Magnitude Relationships: Seattle, Santa Fe,
Chicago, and New Orleans��59
2.7.3 Brief History of Probability Relationships and Their Application..............................62
2.8 Probability of an Event Occurring.............................................................................................65
2.8.1 Seasonality of Storm Probability.................................................................................65
2.8.2 Probable Maximum Precipitation................................................................................66
2.9 Rainfall Erosivity....................................................................................................................... 67
2.10 Climate Change and Uncertainty..............................................................................................68
Problems...............................................................................................................................................70
Chapter 3 Infiltration and Soil Water Processes....................................................................................................73

3.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................................73
3.2 Soil Water Relationships............................................................................................................73
3.3 Infiltration and Soil Water Retention.........................................................................................78
3.4 Factors Affecting Water Movement into and through Soils......................................................83
3.4.1 Soil Properties.............................................................................................................86
3.4.2 Soil Condition..............................................................................................................88
3.4.2.1 Soil Structure and Compaction.....................................................................88
3.4.2.2 Organic Material...........................................................................................88
3.4.2.3 Soil Fauna (Endopedofauna)........................................................................89
3.4.2.4 Soil Profile Truncation..................................................................................89
3.4.2.5 Hydrophobicity (Water Repellancy).............................................................89
3.4.2.6 Antecedent Soil Moisture.............................................................................90
3.4.2.7 Surface Crusting and Surface Sealing..........................................................91
3.4.2.8 Frozen Soil...................................................................................................92
3.4.2.9 Time..............................................................................................................94
3.5 Soil Water Balance....................................................................................................................94
3.6 Estimating Infiltration Rates......................................................................................................96
3.6.1 Horton Equation..........................................................................................................96
3.6.2 Green–Ampt Equation.................................................................................................96
3.6.3 Physically Based Methods...........................................................................................96
3.7 Perspective on Infiltration Methods...........................................................................................99
3.8 Measurement of Soil Properties................................................................................................99
3.8.1 Particle Size Analysis..................................................................................................99
3.8.2 Particle Density.........................................................................................................100
3.8.3 Bulk Density..............................................................................................................100
3.8.4 Soil Hydraulic Properties.......................................................................................... 102
3.8.5 Soil Water Content..................................................................................................... 102
Contents xi
3.8.6 Soil Suction and Soil Water Release/Retention Characteristics................................103

3.8.7 Infiltration..................................................................................................................105
3.8.8 Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity.........................................................................106
3.8.9 Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity............................................................................. 106
Problems............................................................................................................................................. 108
Chapter 4 Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration................................................................................................. 111

4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 111
4.2 Evaporation Process................................................................................................................. 111
4.2.1 Fick’s First Law of Diffusion..................................................................................... 112
4.2.2 Potential Evapotranspiration versus Actual Evapotranspiration................................ 113
4.2.3 Evaporation from Open Water................................................................................... 113
4.2.4 Evaporation from Bare Soil....................................................................................... 113
4.3 Evapotranspiration from Soil and Plants................................................................................. 114
4.3.1 Interception................................................................................................................ 114
4.3.2 Transpiration.............................................................................................................. 114
4.3.3 Factors That Affect Transpiration Rates................................................................... 116
4.3.3.1 Type of Plant............................................................................................... 116
4.3.3.2 Wind...........................................................................................................118
4.3.3.3 Plant Available Water................................................................................. 118
4.3.4 Transpiration Ratio and Consumptive Use................................................................ 119
4.3.5 Potential Evapotranspiration and Actual Evapotranspiration Concepts and
Practices in Agriculture�� 119
4.3.6 Reference Crop Evapotranspiration...........................................................................120
4.4 Measuring Evaporation or Evapotranspiration........................................................................120
4.4.1 Evaporation Pan.........................................................................................................121
4.4.2 Etp Gages....................................................................................................................122
4.4.3 Soil Water Depletion.................................................................................................123
4.4.4 Water Balance............................................................................................................123
4.4.5 Lysimeters.................................................................................................................123
4.4.6 Energy Balance and Mass Transfer...........................................................................124
4.5 Weather Data Sources and Preparation...................................................................................124
4.5.1 Saturation Vapor Pressure..........................................................................................125
4.5.2 Actual Vapor Pressure...............................................................................................126
4.5.3 Vapor Pressure Deficit...............................................................................................126
4.5.4 Mean Temperature.....................................................................................................129
4.5.5 Solar Radiation..........................................................................................................130
4.5.6 Extrapolating Wind Speed......................................................................................... 132
4.6 Estimating Evaporation and Evapotranspiration..................................................................... 133
4.6.1 Evaporation from Open Water...................................................................................133
4.6.2 Estimating Evapotranspiration..................................................................................134
4.6.3 Blaney–Criddle Methods...........................................................................................135
4.6.4 Jensen–Haise Alfalfa-Reference............................................................................... 142
4.6.4.1 Radiation Method....................................................................................... 142
4.6.5 Thornthwaite Method................................................................................................145
4.6.6 Penman’s Method......................................................................................................147
4.6.7 Penman–Monteith Methods...................................................................................... 149
4.7 Advances in Estimating Crop Evapotranspiration...................................................................151
4.8 Evapotranspiration and Soil Water Budgets in Space and Time............................................. 152
4.8.1 Class A Pan................................................................................................................152
4.8.2 Lake Evaporation....................................................................................................... 153
xii Contents
4.8.3 Time Patterns and Variance...................................................................................... 154

4.8.4 Soil Water Budgets.................................................................................................... 156
4.9 Using Evapotranspiration Data and Management Strategies................................................... 156
Problems............................................................................................................................................. 158
Chapter 5 Runoff and Drainage........................................................................................................................... 161

5.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 161
5.2 Factors Affecting Runoff Processes........................................................................................ 164
5.2.1 Horton Overland Flow Model...................................................................................164
5.2.2 Variable Source Area Concept or Hewlett Model.....................................................164
5.2.3 Precipitation............................................................................................................... 165
5.3 Watershed Factors That Affect Runoff.................................................................................... 168
5.3.1 Size and Topography.................................................................................................168
5.3.2 Soil.............................................................................................................................174
5.3.3 Shape and Orientation...............................................................................................174
5.3.4 Geology.....................................................................................................................175
5.3.5 Interflow and Baseflow.............................................................................................. 176
5.4 Runoff Characteristics: The Hydrograph.................................................................................176
5.5 Predicting Volume of Stormflow and Total Runoff.................................................................179
5.6 Prediction of Peak Runoff Rate............................................................................................... 184
5.6.1 Graphical Peak Discharge Method............................................................................184
5.6.2 Rational Equation......................................................................................................187
5.6.3 US Geological Survey Empirical Regression Models............................................... 193
5.7 Stormwater Hydrographs......................................................................................................... 198
5.7.1 Unit Hydrograph Methods.........................................................................................198
5.7.2 Time–Area Method...................................................................................................203
5.7.3 Kinematic Approach..................................................................................................204
5.8 Assessment and Application of Flood Estimation Techniques................................................204
5.9 Agricultural Land Drainage Modifications.............................................................................207
5.9.1 Surface Improvements...............................................................................................209
5.9.2 Subsurface Improvements.........................................................................................210
5.9.3 Perceptions................................................................................................................ 210
5.10 Determining Subsurface Drainage Flows................................................................................211
5.11 Flow Duration and Water Yield...............................................................................................215
5.12 Planning for Low Flow Water Shortages.................................................................................216
5.13 Runoff Characteristics–Pollutograph......................................................................................218
Problems...............................................................................................................................................219
Chapter 6 Stream Processes................................................................................................................................223

6.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................223
6.2 Interaction of Streams with the Landscape.............................................................................224
6.2.1 The Influence of Temporal and Spatial Scales on Geomorphology..........................224
6.2.2 Basic Terms and Geomorphic Work..........................................................................226
6.2.3 Channel Types (Summarized from Usda-Nrcs 2007)..........................................227
6.3 Stream Orders..........................................................................................................................228
6.4 Stream Biota............................................................................................................................ 232
6.5 Stream Characteristics............................................................................................................. 233
6.5.1 Channel Profile.......................................................................................................... 233
6.5.2 Stream Channel Patterns...........................................................................................234
6.5.3 Stream Dimensions.................................................................................................... 237
6.5.4 Regional and Stream-Type Curves............................................................................238
Contents xiii
6.6 Stream Stability and Sediment Transport................................................................................ 241

6.6.1 Source of Sediment................................................................................................... 241
6.6.2 Shear Stresses and Tractive Force.............................................................................242
6.6.3 Sediment Transport...................................................................................................244
6.6.4 Bank Stability............................................................................................................246
6.7 Meander Migration, Floodplains, and Streamways.................................................................247
6.8 Stream Classification...............................................................................................................250
6.8.1 Mountain Stream Morphology Classes.....................................................................250
6.8.1.1 Cascade Channels.....................................................................................251
6.8.1.2 Step–Pool Channels..................................................................................253
6.8.1.3 Plane–Bed Channels.................................................................................253
6.8.1.4 Pool–Riffle Channels................................................................................253
6.8.1.5 Dune–Ripple Channels.............................................................................253
6.8.1.6 Colluvial Channels...................................................................................253
6.8.1.7 Bedrock Channels.................................................................................... 253
6.8.2 Alternative Mountain Stream Classification System.................................................254
6.8.3 Rosgen Stream Classification Method.......................................................................254
6.8.3.1 Rosgen Type A Stream.............................................................................256
6.8.3.2 Rosgen Type B Stream.............................................................................257
6.8.3.3 Rosgen Type C Stream.............................................................................257
6.8.3.4 Rosgen Type D Stream.............................................................................257
6.8.3.5 Rosgen Type E Stream.............................................................................257
6.8.3.6 Rosgen Type F Stream.............................................................................257
6.8.3.7 Rosgen Type G Stream............................................................................. 257
6.8.4 Using Stream Classification Methods........................................................................ 258
6.9 Channel Evolution.................................................................................................................... 262
6.9.1 Disturbance................................................................................................................ 262
6.9.2 Evolution Models.......................................................................................................264
6.10 What to Measure and Why the Measurement Should Be Made..............................................265
6.10.1 Site Selection and Reconnaissance at a Watershed Scale..........................................266
6.10.2 Drainage Area Determination....................................................................................267
6.10.3 Discharge and Sediment Data...................................................................................267
6.10.4 Channel Properties....................................................................................................268
6.10.5 Elusive Nature of Bankfull (Effective Discharge) Dimensions.................................269
6.10.6 Bed Material Characterization.................................................................................. 272
6.11 Some Other Important Factors................................................................................................ 274
6.11.1 Bed Armoring............................................................................................................274
6.11.2 Maintenance of Pool–Riffle Sequences.....................................................................275
6.11.3 Losing (Influent) and Gaining (Effluent) Streams.....................................................276
6.12 Stream Restoration.................................................................................................................. 278
6.12.1 Introduction...............................................................................................................278
6.12.2 A Perspective on Stream Restoration Approaches (by Andy Ward).........................279
6.12.3 Stream Restoration Resources and Guidelines..........................................................283
Problems................................................................................................................................................285
Chapter 7 Uniform Open Channel Flow.............................................................................................................287

7.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................287
7.2 Flow Velocity and Discharge...................................................................................................288
7.2.1 Manning’s Equation..................................................................................................288
7.2.2 Approximation and Estimation Errors......................................................................294
7.2.3 The Darcy–Weisbach Equation.................................................................................294
xiv Contents
7.3 Grassed Waterways..................................................................................................................296

7.4 Compound Channels...............................................................................................................297
7.5 Two-Stage Agricultural Ditches and Canals............................................................................300
7.6 Other Compound Channel Applications..................................................................................303
7.7 Modifying, Managing, and Enhancing Constructed Channel.................................................304
7.7.1 Stream Power Changes Due to Channel Modification..............................................304
7.7.2 Roughness Changes Associated with Channel Modifications...................................308
7.7.3 Channel Management Options.................................................................................. 310
Problems.............................................................................................................................................313
Chapter 8 Hydraulic Control Structures.............................................................................................................. 315

8.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 315
8.2 pecific Energy an Critical Discharge..................................................................................... 316
S
8.3 Riffles, Pools, and Runs (Based on Newbury et al., 2011, with permission from the
American Geophysical Union)�� 319
8.4 Weirs, Flumes, and Culverts....................................................................................................324
8.5 Backwater Analysis................................................................................................................. 330
8.6 Rock Structures....................................................................................................................... 333
8.6.1 NRCS Stream Barbs (Based on Fripp et al. 2012)..................................................... 334
8.6.1.1 Design Guidelines....................................................................................334
8.6.1.2 Depth of Bed Key.....................................................................................338
8.6.2 Bendway Weirs.......................................................................................................... 338
8.6.2 1 Design Guidelines....................................................................................340
8.6.3 Rosgen Vanes and Weirs (Based on Rosgen 2006)................................................... 342
8.6.4 Performance of Rock Structures................................................................................ 345
8.6.5 Scour Pool Depth.......................................................................................................346
8.7 Sizing Rock.............................................................................................................................. 347
8.8 Routing flows through Channels and Rivers........................................................................... 354
8.9 Routing flow through Reservoirs............................................................................................. 357
8.9.1 Determination of Stage–Storage Relationships.........................................................358
8.9.2 Detention or Residence Time....................................................................................359
8.9.3 Spillways.................................................................................................................... 361
Problems.............................................................................................................................................366
Chapter 9 Soil Conservation and Sediment Budgets........................................................................................... 367

9.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 367
9.2 Factors Affecting Erosion by Water........................................................................................368
9.2.1 Climate......................................................................................................................368
9.2.2 Soil.............................................................................................................................368
9.2.3 Vegetation..................................................................................................................368
9.2.4 Topography................................................................................................................369
9.3 Types of Erosion......................................................................................................................369
9.3.1 Interrill Erosion.........................................................................................................369
9.3.2 Rill Erosion................................................................................................................370
9.3.3 Gully Erosion............................................................................................................370
9.3.4 Stream Channel Erosion............................................................................................371
9.4 Estimating Soil Loss and Soil Loss Tolerance........................................................................ 371
9.5 Universal Soil Loss Equation.................................................................................................. 372
9.5.1 Rainfall Erosivity R...................................................................................................372
9.5.2 Soil Erodibility K.......................................................................................................374
9.5.3 Topographic Factor LS..............................................................................................376
Contents xv
9.5.4 Cover Management Factor C................................................................................ 377

9.5.5 Estimating Seasonal C Factors for Agricultural Crops........................................380
9.5.6 Erosion Control Practice P...................................................................................383
9.5.6.1 Contouring..........................................................................................383
9.5.6.2 Strip Cropping....................................................................................384
9.5.6.3 Terracing............................................................................................. 385
9.6 Nonagricultural Applications of the Usle..........................................................................386
9.7 Downstream Sediment Yields..............................................................................................387
9.8 Single-Event Sediment Yields..............................................................................................388
9.9 Sediment Budget Concepts.................................................................................................. 389
9.9.1 Introduction.........................................................................................................389
9.9.2 Sediment Delivery from Slopes...........................................................................389
9.9.3 Sediment in Streams............................................................................................390
9.9.4 Southern Piedmont..............................................................................................393
9.9.5 Hydraulic Mining in California...........................................................................395
9.9.6 Driftless Area of the Upper Midwest...................................................................397
9.9.6.1 Tributaries...........................................................................................399
9.9.6.2 Upper Main Valley..............................................................................403
9.9.6.3 Lower Main Valley.............................................................................406
9.9.7 Urban Streams.....................................................................................................407
9.10 Sediment Storage in Large Reservoirs.................................................................................409
9.10.1 Estimating Sediment Storage in Management Ponds..........................................412
Problems............................................................................................................................................ 415
Chapter 10 Hydrology of Forests, Wetlands, and Cold Climates........................................................................ 417

10.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................417
10.2 How Are Forests Different?.................................................................................................418
10.3 Forest Climates: Rain and Snow..........................................................................................420
10.3.1 Characteristics of Snow.......................................................................................420
10.4 Interception: Rain, Snow, and Fog.......................................................................................422
10.4.1 Rain Interception.................................................................................................422
10.4.2 Snow Interception................................................................................................424
10.4.3 Fog Drip...............................................................................................................424
10.5 Energy Balance in Forests....................................................................................................424
10.6 Evapotranspiration...............................................................................................................426
10.7 Snowmelt.............................................................................................................................427
10.7.1 Snowmelt Modeling over a Watershed................................................................428
10.7.2 Snow Cover Distribution.....................................................................................429
10.7.3 Critical Temperature for Rain–Snow Transition.................................................. 429
10.8 Infiltration............................................................................................................................430
10.9 Subsurface Flow (Interflow)................................................................................................431
10.10 Surface Runoff.....................................................................................................................432
10.11 Streamflow and Watershed Hydrology................................................................................433
10.12 Erosion: Sediment Budget...................................................................................................438
10.12.1 Sheet-and-Rill Erosion........................................................................................438
10.12.2 Gully Erosion.......................................................................................................438
10.12.3 Channel Erosion..................................................................................................439
10.12.4 Mass Wasting.......................................................................................................440
10.13 Deforestation, Fires, and Silviculture..................................................................................442
10.4 Commercial Logging...........................................................................................................442
10.13.1 Deforestation Associated with Agriculture..........................................................442
xvi Contents
10.13.2 Deforestation Associated with Silviculture.........................................................443

10.13.3 Impacts of Deforestation.....................................................................................443
10.13.4 Wildfires..............................................................................................................444
10.14 Rangelands and Grazing......................................................................................................444
10.14.1 Introduction.........................................................................................................444
10.14.2 Upland Slopes......................................................................................................444
10.14.3 Stream Channels..................................................................................................446
10.15 Wetlands...............................................................................................................................448
10.15.1 Definitions and Importance.................................................................................448
10.15.2 Identification of Wetlands....................................................................................449
10.15.3 Wetlands as Water Treatment Systems................................................................ 450
10.15.4 Hydraulics and Treatment Characteristics........................................................... 451
10.15.5 Using Constructed Wetlands to Treat Livestock Wastewater.............................. 452
Problems............................................................................................................................................ 453
Chapter 11 Hydrogeology.................................................................................................................................... 455

11.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................455
11.2 haracterization of Groundwater Flow................................................................................455
C
11.3 Groundwater Flow Patterns and Stream Interaction............................................................463
11.4 Flow to Wells.......................................................................................................................467
11.5 Capture Zones of Wells........................................................................................................470
11.6 Fracture Flow....................................................................................................................... 473
11.6.1 Fracture Flow in Rock.........................................................................................473
11.6.2 Fracture Flow in Unconsolidated Materials......................................................... 474
11.7 Groundwater Vulnerability.................................................................................................. 474
Problems............................................................................................................................................ 474
Chapter 12 Human Impacts on Water Resources: Prevention and Treatment Strategies.................................... 477
12.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 477
12.2 Human Impacts on Stream Health....................................................................................... 478
12.2.1 Biological Assessment Methods.......................................................................... 478
12.3 Flood Forecasting and Management....................................................................................480
12.3.1 Flood Forecasts....................................................................................................480
12.3.2 Flood Zones.........................................................................................................482
12.3.3 Flood Management..............................................................................................483
12.4 Urban Impacts......................................................................................................................484
12.5 Conundrum of Understanding Discharge Frequency...........................................................487
12.6 Reducing Runoff From Urban Areas...................................................................................492
12.7 Detention and Retention Ponds............................................................................................496
12.7.1 Using Detention/Retention Ponds to Improve Water Quality..............................497
12.7.2 Sizing Detention Ponds to Improve Water Quality.............................................. 498
12.7.3 Detention Ponds for Channel Stability................................................................502
12.8 Agricultural Impacts on Water Quality................................................................................505
12.8.1 Freshwater Systems..............................................................................................506
12.8.2 Salt Water and Brackish Systems: The Baltic Sea...............................................507
12.8.3 Salt Water Systems: Gulf of Mexico.................................................................... 512
12.9 Agricultural Water Quality Best Management Practices..................................................... 514
12.9.1 Soil Amendments, Fertilizers, and Soil Conditioners......................................... 515
12.9.2 Phosphorus Index................................................................................................. 518
12.9.3 Tillage Practices.................................................................................................. 519
12.9.4 Cover Crops......................................................................................................... 522
Contents xvii
12.9.5 Precision Agricultural and Variable-Rate Technology Applications................... 523

12.9.6 Subsurface Drainage Water Quality Best Management Practices....................... 524
12.9.7 Filter Strips and Riparian Buffers........................................................................ 526
12.9.8 Two-Stage Ditches, Low-Head Weirs, and Vegetated Ditches............................ 529
12.10 Landfills............................................................................................................................... 532
12.10.1 Introduction......................................................................................................... 532
12.10.2 Landfill Processes................................................................................................ 533
12.10.3 Surface Water Management in Landfills............................................................. 533
12.10.4 Leachate Management in Landfills..................................................................... 534
12.10.4.1 Leachate Collection and Storage.....................................................535
12.10.4.2 Leachate Treatment.........................................................................535
12.10.4.3 Leachate Recirculation.................................................................... 535
12.10.5 Landfill Water Balance........................................................................................ 535
12.10.6 Hydrology and Landfills...................................................................................... 536
Problems............................................................................................................................................ 537
Chapter 13 F
undamentals of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems for Hydrologic
Applications�� 539
13.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 539
13.1.1 What Are Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems?....................539
13.1.2 Mapping Science and Engineering Technologies................................................539
13.1.3 Geographic Information Systems........................................................................539
13.1.4 Remote Sensing...................................................................................................540
13.1.5 Image Interpretation.............................................................................................540
13.1.6 Photogrammetry and LiDAR...............................................................................542
13.1.7 Surveying.............................................................................................................544
13.2 Products...............................................................................................................................544
13.2.1 Images and Photographs......................................................................................544
13.2.2 Historical Maps....................................................................................................544
13.2.3 Digital Images...................................................................................................... 545
13.3 Parts of the Spectrum and Radiation Characteristics.......................................................... 547
13.3.1 Visible, Infrared, and Thermal Infrared...............................................................548
13.3.2 Radar....................................................................................................................550
13.3.3 Radiation..............................................................................................................550
13.3.4 Lambert’s Law.....................................................................................................550
13.3.5 Projected Source Area..........................................................................................551
13.3.6 Isotropic Source...................................................................................................551
13.3.7 Solid Angle..........................................................................................................551
13.3.8 Radiance...............................................................................................................552
13.3.9 Spectral Relative Units......................................................................................... 553
13.4 Data Types and Databases................................................................................................... 554
13.4.1 Data Types............................................................................................................554
13.4.2 Raster...................................................................................................................554
13.4.3 Vector...................................................................................................................554
13.4.4 Attribute Layers...................................................................................................554
13.4.5 Databases.............................................................................................................555
13.4.6 Historical Aerial Photo Databases.......................................................................555
13.4.7 Digital Elevation Model.......................................................................................555
13.4.8 Digital Terrain Model, Digital Line Graph, and
Other Data............................................................................................................555
13.4.9 Continental Land Cover Datasets........................................................................ 556
xviii Contents
13.5 Remote Sensing Characteristics of Water............................................................................ 556

13.6 pplications......................................................................................................................... 557
A
13.6.1 General Characteristics of Applications...............................................................557
13.6.2 Planning...............................................................................................................557
13.6.3 Site Selection Determinations..............................................................................557
13.6.4 Management.........................................................................................................557
13.6.5 Best Management Practices.................................................................................558
13.6.6 Water Resource Applications...............................................................................558
13.6.7 Quantity................................................................................................................558
13.6.8 Quality and Nonpoint Sources.............................................................................559
13.6.9 Erosion and Disaster Studies...............................................................................559
13.6.10 Hazardous Waste..................................................................................................560
13.6.11 Wetlands...............................................................................................................560
13.6.12 Evapotranspiration...............................................................................................560
13.6.13 System of Systems...............................................................................................561
13.6.14 Hyperspectral Studies.......................................................................................... 561
Chapter 14 Practical Exercises on Conducting and Reporting Hydrologic Studies............................................ 563

14.1 I ntroduction.......................................................................................................................... 563
14.2 Conducting a Hydrologic Study........................................................................................... 563
14.2.1 Define the Question..............................................................................................563
14.2.2 Conduct a Preliminary Investigation....................................................................564
14.2.3 Undertaking Detailed Planning............................................................................564
14.2.4 Conducting the Detailed Study............................................................................565
14.3 Reporting a Hydrologic Study..............................................................................................565
14.4 Report Contents...................................................................................................................566
14.5 General Guidelines for Preparing Exercise Reports............................................................568
14.6 Exercise 14.1: Precipitation..................................................................................................568
14.6.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................568
14.6.2 Part I. Time Trends...............................................................................................568
14.6.3 Part II. Frequency and Magnitude........................................................................569
14.6.4 Part III. Spatial Distribution................................................................................. 570
14.7 Exercise 14.2: Evaporation................................................................................................... 570
14.7.1 Part I. Annual Lake Evaporation (Surrogate for Potential Evapotranspiration)..570
14.7.2 Part II. Daily and Monthly Lake Evaporation......................................................571
14.7.3 Part III. Estimating Actual Evapotranspiration Rates.......................................... 571
14.8 Exercise 14.3: Runoff........................................................................................................... 572
14.8.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 572
14.9 Exercise 14.4: Flow Duration............................................................................................... 578
14.9.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 578
14.10 Exercise 14.5: Storm Runoff, Totals, and Peaks..................................................................580
14.11 Exercise 14.6: Erosion and Elementary Sediment Routing.................................................. 581
14.12 Exercise 14.7: Streamflow Measurement in the Field........................................................... 582
14.12.1 Part I. Gaging Streamflow by Instrument............................................................582
14.12.2 Part II. Gaging Streamflow by the Float Method.................................................583
14.12.3 Part III. Stream Gaging Exercise......................................................................... 583
14.13 Exercise 14.8: Watershed or Drainage Basin Morphology................................................... 583
14.13.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 583
14.14 Exercise 14.9: Practical Use of Soil Surveys for Environmental Management.................... 587
14.14.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................587
14.14.2 Practical Use of Soils Maps for Management......................................................587
Contents xix
Appendix A: Unit Conversion Factors................................................................................................................. 591

Appendix B: Glossary............................................................................................................................................ 593
Appendix C: Precipitation Frequency-Magnitude Information for the United States....................................607
Appendix D: Hydrologic Soil Group and Erodibility Factors for the Most Common Soils
in Each State........................................................................................................................................................... 611
Appendix E: Sources of Data and Images........................................................................................................... 619
References............................................................................................................................................................... 623
Index........................................................................................................................................................................ 653
Foreword: For the Student
This is not your ordinary textbook. Environmental Hydrology is indeed a textbook, but five elements often found
separately combine here in one text to make it different. It is eclectic, practical, in places a handbook, a guide to
fieldwork, engagingly personal, and occasionally opinionated.
The material covered includes expected chapters on basic aspects of the hydrologic cycle such as rainfall, runoff,
and evapotranspiration. There is, at the same time, extensive coverage of stream processes, soil erosion and sedi-
mentation, and human impacts on the hydrologic cycle.
Throughout, the authors have chosen to emphasize the practical rather than the theoretical aspects of hydrology.
Many texts do this in hydrology, perhaps too many, but in this book that orientation is enhanced with a content and
style that evidence their commitment to what the authors call a “student-centered” view. Many, if not most of us, in
the academic world profess this centered vision but quickly lodge our teaching on the periphery. Not so here.
Chapters devoted to the application of remote sensing and geographic systems to hydrology and to conducting and
reporting hydrologic studies nicely capture the practical flavor. At the same time, a focus on the practical leads not
only to the inclusion of many approaches to solving specific problems but also to the inclusion in text and appendices
of the vital statistics of hydrology, thus the attribute of a modest handbook.
I hope any student will enjoy and not just profit from the careful advice given to those involved in their first obser-
vations of rivers in the field. For example, the authors “stoop” to telling the student reader how many persons should
be engaged in carrying out a task; perfectly laughable unless you have nearly drowned by failing to do the obvious,
or finished a day’s fieldwork and notes by lantern in the dark.
And, perhaps most engaging to me, in places the authors offer personal views as well as more strongly worded
opinions. The former often relate to evaluation of alternative approaches, or formulations, of specific solutions to
specific hydrologic problems. One or the other of the authors, not the anonymous royal we, states his choice based on
his own experience. More rarely, it is noted that, contrary to the notoriety of some hydrologic findings, the findings
are grossly in error and the resulting policies foolish and misdirected.
This thick book is a labor of love. No doubt it contains errors of commission and perhaps even omission. One
hopes that students, as they struggle with the material in the text, will warm both to what inspires the authors and
through that to the subject—hydrology.
Professor M. Gordon Wolman (deceased)

The Johns Hopkins University
Note from the Authors

Reds Wolman wrote this Foreword for the second edition. In the third edition we have retained all materials from the
second edition but also added a substantial amount of new material that is primarily practical. We have also included
discussion of many published studies during the past decade, some of the work that we have done since the second
edition, and a few more opinions! The reader is encouraged to read our tribute to Reds Wolman.
xxi
Acknowledgments
Preparation of the third edition would not have been possible without the outstanding help from many people.
We regret that it is not possible for us to fully express our gratitude for these efforts or to adequately recognize
every contribution. The third edition builds on the award-winning second edition, so we feel it is appropriate to
recognize the extraordinary efforts of the many people who made that edition possible. They include Dawn Farver
for her extraordinary efforts in coordinating the final preparation of the book materials, contributing to Chapters 1
and 12, and providing many valuable suggestions. Thanks to Chase Langford, Matt Zebrowski, and Diane Yagich,
who brilliantly produced many of the final illustrations in the book. Dan Mecklenburg reviewed Chapter 6 and
parts of Chapter 12, provided technical assistance with several of the Excel illustrations, provided data for several
examples and figures, and provided some photographs of streams for the second and third editions. Several illustra-
tions were prepared by Jeff Blatt and Julie Thomas. Bill Elliot, David Montgomery, and the Center for Watershed
Protection provided several of the photographs. Charles Luce wrote parts of Chapter 10, and E. Scott Bair wrote
most of Chapter 11. Bill Elliot wrote some of the materials on soil erosion (the first part of Chapter 9) and con-
tributed to Chapters 1 and 2. Portions of Chapters 3 and 4 are based on material from the first edition that were
prepared by Jay Dorsey and Sue Nokes. Contributions were also provided by Jan Boles (part of the discussion on
cold climate hydrology in Chapter 9), Anne Christy and Julie Weatherington-Rice (fracture flow, Chapters 5
and 11), Kerry Hughes (landfills, Chapter 12), Tim Lawrence (NEMO, Chapter 12), and Lance Williams (stream
biota, Chapters 6 and 12). Reviews of portions of the book were provided by Felicia Federico, John D. Hewlett,
Anand Jayakaran (several chapters), David Montgomery (classification section of Chapter 6), Frank Parker (part of
Chapter 12), Mike Singer (part of Chapter 3), Terry Stewart (several chapters), Peter Whiting (Chapter 6), Lance
Williams (Chapter 6), and Jon Witter (several chapters). Other important contributions were provided by Jean
Boenish, Jan Boles, Tess Brennan, Ann Chin, Jeff Harvey, John Hewlett, Barbara Hoag, Linda O’Hirok, Norman
Meek, Alex Mendel, Paul Price, Lisa Lindenmann, Ken Schwarz, and Steve Workman. Terry Stewart assisted with
several aspects of the second edition. The help of Anand Jayakaran, Jon Witter, and Jessica D’Ambrosio is greatly
appreciated. Thanks to Erik Powell, who prepared a solution manual for the second edition.
Many of the new illustrations in the third edition were brilliantly produced by Matt Zebrowsky. We are grate-
ful to Jon Fripp, Bob Newbury, Dave Derricks, and Wayne Kinney, who provided materials, images, and many
excellent suggestions on the Rock Structures section in Chapter 8. Jon Fripp also provided helpful suggestions for
other parts of the book. Thanks to Tess Thompson at Virginia Tech, who provided many useful suggestions and
contributed to Chapters 7 and 8. We greatly appreciate the assistance of Martin Hansson and Lars Andersson at
the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. They provided data and images and also helped to draft the
section, in Chapter 12, on hypoxia and harmful algae blooms in the Baltic Sea. Thanks to Trevor Daniell, Gaston
Demaree, Giovanni De Cesare, Patrick Willems, and Daniel Dourte for their assistance in identifying, or providing,
some of the intensity or depth duration-frequency data reported in Chapter 3. Jim Hoorman and Warren Dick at
the Ohio State University kindly provided assistance with the sections on cover crops and soil amendments, respec-
tively (Chapter 12). We are grateful to Larry Brown, Ehsan Ghane, and Serge-Stephan Kpoti Gunn, who provided
assistance on water table management practices, woodchip bioreactors, and phosphorus filters. Thanks to Samantha
Ward for the many hours she spent proofreading chapters. Kailen Akers and Jakob Burckhard each kindly provided
a photograph for the front cover. The authors recognize the valuable support and many sacrifices that were made by
their families and students during the development of the book. The permission that was granted by many people
and organizations to use a diversity of copyrighted materials helped us to produce a book of this quality. We apolo-
gize if we have inadvertently failed to recognize anyone for their contribution. Preparation of this book was made
possible through the support of the Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department at the Ohio State
University, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, and the Department of Geography at UCLA.
xxiii
Authors
Andy D. Ward, PhD, professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological
Engineering, the Ohio State University, and member of the faculty since 1986. As a child,
he lived in Zambia and Zimbabwe. He then spent 2 years in Switzerland before completing
his final 2 years of high school in Southend-on-Sea, England.
In 1971, Andy earned a BSc degree in civil engineering from Imperial College, London,
England. He then worked as an engineer on a construction project in London and as a
schoolteacher in New York City. In 1977 and 1981, he obtained an MS and PhD, respec-
tively, in agricultural engineering from the University of Kentucky. He then worked for
3 years with an international consulting company in South Africa before joining the Ohio
State University.
Dr. Ward is a registered professional engineer and a member of the American Society
of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. He has authored more than 100 manuscripts
and c oauthored, with John Lyon and others, a paper that received the 1994 Autometric Award from the American
Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing for the best interpretation of remote sensing data. He provided
leadership to the two-stage agricultural ditch concept that is used in parts of the United States, Europe, and Asia to
provide water quality benefits and to make ditches more self-sustaining.
Dr. Ward has provided leadership to the development of several hydrologic computer programs, including the
WASHMO storm hydrograph model, the DEPOSITS reservoir sedimentation model, and the ADAPT agricultural
water quality model. He has 35 years of international experience in the areas of watershed hydrology, stream geo-
morphology, reservoir sedimentation, modeling hydrologic systems, drainage, soil erosion, water quality, and the
development and implementation of techniques to prevent or control adverse impacts of land use changes on water
resources, streams, and drainage networks. Together with his graduate students, he has also conducted research on
remote sensing applications in agriculture and hydrology.
Dr. Ward is an advocate of student-centered learning, and in his courses he incorporates teamwork, solving real-
world problems, applying engineering and scientific judgment, and enhancing communication skills. Andy is an avid
recreational jogger and has completed 22 marathons or ultra-marathons, including the 56-mi. Comrades Marathon.
Stanley W. Trimble, PhD, emeritus professor in the Department of Geography at UCLA
has been a member of the faculty since 1975. His interests include historical geography
of the environment and especially human impacts on hydrology, including soil erosion,
stream and valley sedimentation, and stream flow and channel changes. His regional inter-
ests are the humid United States and western and central Europe. In 1963, Stan earned
a BS in chemistry from the University of North Alabama. Taking an Army ROTC com-
mission, he spent 2 years as an Intelligence Research Officer and served with the 101st
Airborne Division 1964–1965. After a year teaching in Europe, he earned an MA (1970)
and PhD (1973) in geography at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Trimble was a research hydrologist (adjunct appointment) with the US Geological
Survey from 1973 to 1984, and a visiting professor at the Universities of Chicago (1978,
1981, 1990), Vienna (1994, 1999), Oxford (1995), London (University College, 1985),
and Durham (1998). During the period 1996–2006, he was the joint editor of CATENA, an Elsevier international
journal of soils, hydrology, and geomorphology. He has also taught courses in environmental geology/hydrology
for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and he is a hydrologic/geomorphologic consultant for several agencies.
His research awards include a Fulbright to the United Kingdom (1995) and the Mel Markus Distinguished Career
Award from the Association of American Geographers (2006). Trimble is the author of Man-Induced Soil Erosion
on the Southern Piedmont (1974, 2nd ed, 2008); Historical Agriculture and Soil Erosion in the Upper Mississippi
Valley Hill Country (2013), which won the G.K. Gilbert Award for excellence in geomorphic research from the
Geomorphology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers; and was editor of The Encyclopedia
xxv
xxvi Authors
of Water Science (2 Vols. 2008). Additionally, he has more than 100 research publications ranging from several in
Science to one in The Journal of Historical Geography, and some of his research work appears in this book. For
the National Research Council, he served on the Committee on Watershed Management and the Committee on the
Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act.
Dr. Trimble believes in giving his students as much hands-on and problem-oriented learning as possible with a lot
of written work. Stan’s outside interests are music, classical and early American architecture, and English landscape
gardens.
Suzette R. Burckhard, PhD, is a professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department in the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering at South Dakota State University
(SDSU). She has been on the faculty since 1997 and currently coordinates the undergradu-
ate and graduate programs within the department. Her teaching varies from materials sci-
ence and engineering to hydrology and water resources topics. When she was a child, she
spent hours watching her mom, Gayle Bennett, draw soil survey maps at the SCS office or
following her uncle, Al Bender, around as he took weather station readings as the South
Dakota State climatologist.
In 1986, Dr. Burckhard earned a BS degree in engineering physics from South Dakota
State University, Brookings, South Dakota. She then attended Kansas State University,
earning an MS in physics, an MS in chemical engineering, and a PhD in civil engineering
with an emphasis in water resources and environmental engineering before returning to SDSU, where she completed
a BS in civil engineering to qualify for licensure as a professional engineer.
Dr. Burckhard is a registered professional engineer in the state of South Dakota and a member of the American
Water Resources Association (AWRA), the American Society of Mining and Reclamation (ASMR), Sigma Xi,
the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the American
Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). She serves on the editorial board for the Journal of the American Society of
Mining and Reclamation as well as the geotechnical technical division chair. She has published and presented over
100 papers, including a coauthored paper that was awarded the 2008 third place award for Best Scientific Paper
in Geographic Information Systems. Her research interests have been on complex nature systems, including fate
and transport of contaminants under the influence of vegetation, modeling of watershed processes, and examining
hydrologic processes and climate variability.
Dr. Burckhard serves on the planning committee for the ASEE Best Practices in Engineering Education
Series that meets monthly. She advises the SDSU Society of Women Engineers chapter and volunteers for
STEM outreach events that involve middle and high school girls and boys, 4-H members, and Boy Scouts
and Girl Scouts. She devotes many hours each year to reviewing manuscripts and proposals in service to the
profession.
Dr. Burckhard teaches courses that are student-centered and involve active learning. She is a mentor for faculty
interested in implementing active learning techniques and has hosted several workshops for faculty to develop and
improve their teaching skills. She also hosts summer workshops for high school science and mathematics teachers
to develop course materials that incorporate engineering into their curriculum. She has recently become the coach
and mentor for a BEST Inc. Robotics team, which made it to regional competition in their first year. When not busy
with all of this, she can be found making wine or jelly or enjoying her gardens.
John G. Lyon has conducted scientific and engineering research and administrative func-
tions throughout his career. He is formerly the senior physical scientist (ST) in the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) and
Office of the Science Advisor in Washington, DC, where he co-led work on the Group
on Earth Observations and the USGEO subcommittee of the Committee on Environment
and Natural Resources, and research on geospatial issues in the agency. For approximately
8 years, John was director of ORD’s Environmental Sciences Division, which conducts
research on remote sensing and GIS technologies as applied to environmental issues,
including landscape characterization and ecology, as well as analytical chemistry of haz-
ardous wastes, sediment, and ground water. He previously served as a professor of civil
engineering and natural resources at Ohio State University (1981–1999).
Authors xxvii
John’s own research has led to authorship or editorship of a number of books on wetlands, watershed and envi-
ronmental applications of GIS, and accuracy assessment of remote sensor technologies. He coauthored, with Andy
Ward and others, a paper that received the 1994 Autometric Award from the American Society of Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing for the best interpretation of remote sensing data. He has worked in the Detroit district as a
guest civil engineer (1985–1988), taught courses for the Huntsville division, participated in the CADD/GIS Technical
Center, and conducted research on navigation in connecting channels and rivers. Lyon was educated at Reed College
in Portland, Oregon, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Introduction
Interest in water and related problems continues to grow markedly throughout all segments of society. An under-
standing of the occurrences, distribution, and movement of water is essential in agriculture, forestry, botany, soil
science, geography, ecology, geology, and geomorphology. In short, water is an important element of the physical
environment. We should all seek knowledge of hydrology as an aid in understanding the physical environment in
which humanity has developed and in which we now live.
Ten years ago, we wrote the second edition of this textbook. At that time we stated that our main motivation for writ-
ing the second edition was that we felt there were topics that needed to be included in the book that were not adequately
addressed in most hydrology books. In addition, we collectively had at that time about 60 years of experience with a
wide range of topics relating to hydrology and believed that society could benefit from the knowledge we had acquired
from our mistakes and successes. We (Andy Ward and Stan Trimble) now have 80 years of experience and we are still
learning! We also now have two new coauthors, Suzette Burkhard and John Lyon, who collectively have an additional
60-plus years of experience. John has been a part of all three editions and in addition to authoring Chapter 13 on
remote sensing has provided valuable assistance with other aspects of the book. Suzette has many years of experience
and has used the second edition in some of her courses. She has helped to enhance more than half of the chapters.
During the past decade, there has been much excellent research, and as a society we face some new challenges
and have several old challenges that still need solutions. Global climate change is an increasing concern, and during
the past decade, many parts of the world have seen extreme excesses or deficits of precipitation. A major concern is
providing potable water, sanitation, and food for a global population that is projected to increase to 9 billion people
within the next 40 years. The need for alternative fuel sources has led to biofuel products that place further pressures
on our land and water resources. In the United States, the long-term impacts of fracking on surface and ground
water resources are unknown. There is growing concern about nutrients in the water resources. There has also been
much societal interest in enhancing, restoring, and better managing water resources. In the second edition, we added
extensive information on stream processes, sediment budgets, land use, and human impacts on the hydrologic cycle,
issues of concern to society, and management strategies. In the third edition, we have built on those topics by adding
information on hypoxia; blue-green algae; agricultural best management practices; sediment transport in streams;
bed armoring; rock structures in streams; and additional information on evapotranspiration, sediment budgets, water
quality, remote sensing, computer applications, and the use of statistics in hydrology. We also address the debate
on how to conduct stream restoration. There is a substantially larger use of SI units in the third edition. Where pos-
sible, we have tried to foster an appreciation for the biology of hydrologic systems. Unlike many scientific texts,
every effort has been made to engage the reader in the discussion of each topic. The book contains many examples,
illustrations, and accounts of personal experiences. Added to this third edition are more than 200 references of work
conducted and published in the last decade. We have also added many historic references that will help the reader
understand the origin of some of the approaches we still use today.
The rest of this introduction presents information on the organization of the book and then a perspective on
hydrology by Andy Ward and Stan Trimble.
Organization of the Book

The purpose of this book is to provide a qualitative understanding of hydrologic processes and an introduction to
methods for quantifying hydrologic parameters and processes. It has been prepared for use in introductory hydrol-
ogy courses taught at universities to environmental science, natural resources, geology, geography, agricultural
engineering, and environmental engineering students. A comprehensive understanding of the presented topics and
problems should provide sufficient knowledge for students to make an assessment of hydrologic processes associated
with environmental systems and to develop initial conceptual evaluations that are part of most assessments. We hope
that the book will also serve as a reference resource.
In the problem sets and especially in the Practical Exercises (Chapter 14), we have attempted to give students a
hands-on feel for the matters at hand. Having actually dealt with data rather than simply having talked about it gives
xxix
xxx Introduction
one a better and more confident perspective. We also highly recommend attaining skills in surveying and field mea-
surements, and some of the Practical Exercises require those skills. We believe it is important to be able to visualize
a liter, or a 1% slope, or an acre-foot, or 10 cfs.
Readers will note that we have frequently used English units of measure in this book. Although the rest of the
world has converted to SI (Systems International, metric) units, most field-level work in the United States is still
done in English units. Moreover, the wealth of hydrologic data produced and held by the United States is mostly
in English units. While most scientific journals use SI units, several U.S. scientific journals have switched back to
English units so that published articles will have more applied impact. In any case, in the United States we need
to know how to use and quickly convert between both systems. It is quite analogous to living in a bilingual nation.
There, one must speak and understand two languages and, by the same token, we must be bimensural or bimetric.
Thus, we have made little effort to convert units and sometimes use both systems in the same sentence. We believe
that it will help prepare students for the real world when they must deal with both systems, often under pressure
where the ability to make conversions in one’s head can show to great advantage. All of the foregoing may be an
unfortunate imposition, but it is a reality. Despite the extensive use of English units in the second edition, we were
pleased to find that the book is used throughout the world. To better address this global interest, we have added
many equations, examples, and problems in SI units or both SI and English units. A table of unit conversion factors
is presented in Appendix A, and we urge students to learn the more salient ones.
The topic of hydrology contains many different terms that may not be familiar to the reader. Therefore, we have
presented a glossary of terms in Appendix B.
A Perspective by Andy Ward

I was a few years old and the heat and humidity were unbearable as we walked stealthily through the parched scrub
land and thorn bushes. A short distance below us was a muddy river. Impala (antelope) were cautiously drinking
and a group of women and children walked along a narrow well-trodden path. There was a sudden commotion and
loud splash as a young impala was dragged into the river by an enormous crocodile. We were in the Luangwa River
Valley in Zambia, a small country in the southern part of Africa, a continent where I spent much of my youth, and
there are only two seasons—dry or rainy. The women and children were walking to the river to bathe, wash their
meager clothes, and take water back to their village that was many miles away. On their return, the women bal-
anced huge open containers of water on their heads—a remarkable feat, as one false step and the precious contents
would be spilt. Many hours of walking and the perils of snakes, lions, elephants, and crocodiles have to be endured
to obtain relatively small amounts of muddy polluted water. Amazingly, hundreds of thousands of other women
throughout Africa still repeat a similar journey daily.
My interest in hydrology was not stirred just by childhood images of drought and food shortages. Following thun-
derstorms, I often saw huge raging rivers, such as the mighty Zambezi, running the color of chocolate with sediment.
I was amazed that any soil remained on the land. However, erosion rates in Africa are lower than in parts of Asia,
South America, Central America, and North America. In the United States, sediment is the main pollutant in surface
water systems, and agricultural activities contribute more than 50% of the nation’s sediment.
In the mid-1960s I spent 2 years in Switzerland, replacing the relatively flat landscape of Africa with huge moun-
tains, lush vegetation, frequent rainfall, and cold snowy winters. In midsummer, the rivers ran full and were icy
cold, for they were fed by snowmelt from the Alps. Snowmelt is the main source of water for great rivers such as the
Rhine, which runs through Germany, France, Belgium, and Holland. I lived near the head waters of the Rhine where
it forms the border between Switzerland and Austria. Farming was a year-round activity in this region and cows
were everywhere. “Honey” wagons seemed to have endless loads of fresh manure to deposit on pastures and crops
already darkened from earlier loads. The Rhine was already being polluted by high discharges of nitrates from the
manure. Manure is still a valuable commodity for many people around the world and has a wide range of uses. Yet,
inadequate storage and over application to the land remain a serious global environmental concern.
Water and hydrologic phenomena have always been a part of my life. I was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex,
England, which has the longest pier in the world because when the tide goes out mud banks stretch from the shore
more than a mile. While studying for a degree in agricultural engineering at the University of Kentucky, I came
face to face with the environmental debate on how to maintain the high standard of living many Americans enjoy
while preserving our environment. The focus of my research was on developing a method to predict how sediment
Introduction xxxi
deposits accumulate in sediment ponds. These ponds are constructed downstream from surface mining operations
to trap soil and spoil materials that rainfall washes away from the mining operations. I worked in the Appalachian
Mountains of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee where enormous machinery reshapes mountains to reach the rich
underlying coal seams. The benefits of this environmental disturbance are affordable electricity, transportation,
food, and manufactured commodities.
Surface mining activities and environmental pollution are global problems. An example of problems associated
with mining can be found in Tasmania, a small island the size of West Virginia, located about 140 mi. southeast of
Australia. The interior of Tasmania is very mountainous and to the west of these mountains there is heavy annual
rainfall and impenetrable rain forests—home of the notorious Tasmanian Devil, a small carnivorous bear. Much of
Tasmania’s mineral wealth of silver, zinc, and gold is located in the northwest. Trees have been removed from the
mountainsides to provide fuel for deep underground mining operations and the mining families. The removal of
trees combined with acid rain from the processing of ore have denuded the area of all vegetation. High rainfall and
steep mountain slopes have resulted in the removal of all soil and thwarted efforts to revegetate the area. This is
perhaps the bleakest, most desolate landscape I have ever seen—it is comparable to scenes from the moon.
During visits to the Kingdom of Swaziland, located on the east side of southern Africa, I have seen stark granite
mountains and rivers and reservoirs choked with sediment. The need to cut wood to provide fuel for domestic use
and overgrazing by cattle have resulted in a gradual denuding of many areas and the formation of huge gullies called
dongas. An example of gully erosion, this time in South Africa, is the main photograph on the cover. Throughout the
world, deforestation is a serious problem (see Chapter 10).
In 1985, Tom Haan (an author of several prominent hydrology books, a friend, mentor, and advisor for my mas-
ter’s degree) and I found ourselves drifting along a small chain of lakes on the northeast coast of South Africa. We
were evaluating the feasibility of growing rice in a nearby wetland area that was virtually untouched by civilization.
If constructed, this project would drain much of the area and convert it into crop land. Suddenly, there was com-
motion all around us and we discovered that we had drifted into a family of hippopotamus. Fortunately, they had
little interest in us and we continued on our way. As we slowly moved from one lake into the next, we saw a wide
variety of birds and an occasional crocodile. We stopped on a small mound of soggy land and watched several native
fishermen catching freshwater fish in crude handmade wooden traps. As we continued toward the sea, the water
became more brackish and the current stronger. Here the fishermen used poles and lines to catch saltwater fish. It
was sad to think that this beautiful chain of lakes, the nearby wetland area, swamps to the south, and the birds and
wildlife might also be destroyed due to political uncertainties and the need to feed a nation—fortunately, this has
not occurred here, but other parts of the world have not been as fortunate.
In 1996, I had the opportunity to visit China (see Chapter 1). This vast nation faces enormous challenges to
provide food and potable water to an expanding population that exceeds 1.35 billion people. China has made great
strides to address their food and water needs but many other countries in Asia and Africa are already experiencing
severe famine and inadequate potable water. We discuss this issue in Chapter 1.
During the past two decades I have focused my professional interests on stream systems. Engineers have con-
structed some amazing dams, bridges, canals, and water control systems. However, historically we have struggled
to adequately manage small stream systems. Many modifications to streams have not been self-sustaining and have
had a severe impact on the ecology and biology of these systems. A desire by society to develop and construct more
natural systems has had mixed success and often has been rather costly. Therefore, much of my recent work has
focused on looking at these issues and at strategies that are low cost and result in a more self-sustaining stream and
watershed system. Extensive information and discussions on stream systems are presented in Chapters 5 through 8.
Since publishing the second edition, much of my work has focused on agricultural drainage ditches and agricul-
tural best management practices to prevent and reduce adverse impacts of nutrient exports to ditches, streams, rivers,
lakes, and oceans. Two-stage ditch concepts are presented in Chapter 7, and nutrient impacts on water resources and
agricultural best management practices are discussed in Chapter 12.
A Perspective by Stan Trimble

Hydrology, as the art and science it is, was a long time coming to me in any formal way. My father, Stanley D.
Trimble, was a power service maintenance foreman for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). As such, he trav-
eled hundreds of miles each week, ranging from the giant Shawnee Steam plant on the Ohio River to the tiny
xxxii Introduction
hydroelectric projects in southwestern Virginia. I grew up hearing long phone conversations about “thrust bearing
number three,” “[turbine] rotor bushings,” or a “failed surge tank.” We often traveled with him in the early days,
and one of my earliest memories is living in Cleveland, Tennessee, and driving up the Ocoee River and seeing the
Ducktown desert created by sulfuric acid fumes from copper smelting. But while all this did not make me a hydrolo-
gist, it did give me a good intuitive idea of the actions and power of running water, especially when under a 100 ft of
head from a reservoir, and that’s probably what planted the hydrology seed, so to speak. After an undergraduate pro-
gram of math and physical science, 2 years of military service, and a year of travel, I entered graduate school (1967)
in geography at the University of Georgia fully intent on working in historical geography with Louis DeVorsey Jr.
My original MA thesis was to be on historical water-powered industry (there’s my dad’s influence!) on the Georgia
Piedmont. The industrial archaeology aspect of this interested me very much and I set out to visit and analyze the
water power technology and arrangement at each of the 50 or so sites that I had identified from archival work.
Imagine my bewilderment when I visited site after site and, in most cases, found only a swampy morass rather than
the dams, flumes, buildings, shafting, penstocks, and water wheels that I had expected. And I positively knew that I
was at the right locations. Finally one day, an old farmer when asked, said, “Son, that mill was buried under the mud
years ago.” The light suddenly came on; I had been looking at the effects of culturally accelerated erosion and sedi-
mentation from the historical farming of corn and cotton. It was a big switch, but from then on my interest was on the
stream processes rather than the mills, and that required some retooling. But the time I had spent studying historical
geography and learning archival and field research techniques was not wasted at all. Indeed, I was often able to use
these same techniques to date the fluvial processes and I have continued to champion this methodology (as one of
many) throughout my career. Moreover, the appreciation of the historical–cultural landscape on which humans have
altered the fluvial system has held me in good stead throughout my career. This interest in fluvial geomorphology
did not make me a hydrologist, but it eventually convinced me that I had to learn hydrology, which I did, much of
it after graduate school. For this learning process, I had three important mentors. One was A.P. Barnett, a research
agricultural engineer with USDA, who taught me about soil erosion processes and prediction and who made sure
that I got to meet erosion scientists on the research frontier, such as George Foster and the late Walt Wischmeier,
both at Purdue University. The second was John D. Hewlett, long generally acknowledged as the world’s foremost
forest hydrologist because of his revolutionary concepts of runoff, and a gentle, thoughtful intellectual. Incredibly, I
never had a course with Hewlett at Georgia, but we spent many productive hours both in the field and talking about
problematic hydrologic processes and fluvial landforms. Our association continued for 35 years and his recent pass-
ing is a great loss to science. But he continues to influence me, as evidenced in the book and acknowledgments.
Among the many things I learned from him was to always be skeptical and to question conventional wisdom, espe-
cially “bandwagons.” The third was the late Stafford C. Happ, an engineering geologist, who had spent his doctoral
time at Columbia University in the company of such people as J. Hoover Mackin, C.F.S. Sharpe, Arthur Strahler,
Louis Peltier, and Douglas Johnson. Although Happ’s written work was limited, it was outstanding. I discovered it
as a graduate student and he became for me a distant personal role model for his work on accelerated sedimentation.
Thanks to A. P. Barnett, I met Happ in 1970 at the USDA Sedimentation Laboratory, where he worked in Oxford
MS, and he became a colleague and then a collaborator when I began the Coon Creek work in 1973 (see Chapter 9).
Happ was simply the best field person (not to mention one of the best writers) I’ve ever known and I’m sure that I
learned only a fraction of what he had to teach. His standards for publication were incredibly high, which is the main
reason he published so little, and he often lamented the “superfluous clutter” in the literature. Happ had a profound
effect on me and even 30 years later, I never close a field survey, or send out a manuscript for publication, without
wondering if Dr. Happ would have approved.
I also owe much to contemporary discipline-wide colleagues and former students, although I would not dare
single any out for fear of slighting someone. But a great influence whom I never met was and is the late Ven Te Chow
of the University of Illinois. His edited Handbook of Hydrology (McGraw-Hill, 1964) was and remains, in my view,
the most important hydrology book ever published. Much of what I know about hydrology came from its more than
1000 pages of small print and beautifully clear diagrams, and I would encourage anyone interested in hydrology to
get access to this book.
Of course, every scientist thinks his or her own field is the Queen of Science, but as a reluctant hydrologist, I can
say that the past 45 years have convinced me that water is the core of, at least, environmental science. Like any late
convert, I’m a proselytizer, and find it difficult to overemphasize hydrology, and I remain convinced that most would-
be environmental scientists need a healthy dose. To that end, I hope that this book contributes something.
1 The Hydrologic Cycle, Water
Resources, and Society
1.1 THE WATER, FOOD, INDUSTRY, POPULATION GROWTH NEXUS

The term hydrology can be divided into two terms: hydro, relating to water, and loge, a Greek word meaning knowl-
edge. Thus, hydrology is the study, or knowledge, of water. Questions we might ask are: Why should we acquire
knowledge of water? How might this knowledge help society? A simple starting point in understanding our societal
need to study water is that, at many points in time, every place in the world will experience an excess or deficit of
water that will have an adverse impact on society or a fragile ecosystem. At each location, the available mean water
resources, the magnitude and frequency of high and low values of these resources, and other prevailing factors will
have an impact on the communities (human and other) that inhabit a location and strategies that might be imple-
mented to help protect these communities. Of particular concern is providing adequate sustainable water resources
and food for an ever-expanding global population. Furthermore, factors like global warming could have a significant
impact on global food and water supplies.
Every minute, the population of the world increases by about 140–150 people. This growth amounts to an annual
increase of more than 70 million people (Table 1.1). While it is anticipated that this annual growth rate will continue to
decline, it is probable that by 2050 the population of the world will exceed 9 billion people. Population increases in devel-
oped countries such as the United States will be offset by declines in other developed countries in Europe. Therefore, the
majority of the global population increase of 2 billion people in the next 40–50 years will occur in developing countries
that already face shortages of potable water and food. Both India and China will face large population increases, and it
is probable that India at some point will have the world’s largest population. It is anticipated that the population of Africa
could double within 40 years and the population of Nigeria could approach that of the United States.
Many developing countries are not self-sufficient and depend on support from developed countries. Many countries are
also dependent on declining water resources to provide sufficient food for their expanding population. For example, it is
now common for lower reaches of the Yellow River to run dry annually, and during each irrigation event, water obtained
from the Yellow River deposits 1–2 m of sediment in irrigation canals (see Chapter 6). Typically, in the Yellow River
Plain one crop annually is primarily rain fed, and one or two other crops depend in part on irrigation. Current water use
for irrigation in this region is not sustainable, yet more food needs to be produced. This problem is not unique to China.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, http://www.fao.org) reports that one in five
developing countries will face water shortages by 2030. Worldwide, from 1980 to 1995, the amount of irrigated land
increased from 209 to 264 million hectares, which is an increase of about 1.4% per year (Table 1.2). However, from
1995 to 2003 the amount of irrigated land only increased from 264 to 277 million hectares, which is an increase of
about 0.6% per year. The reasons for the drop in this rate of increase are because in many countries much of the arable
land is already irrigated or many of the renewable water resources are already in use.
In North America, water use by industry and agriculture is similar, and each accounts for 40%–45% of all
withdrawals (Table 1.3). However, in Africa and Asia, withdrawals for agricultural production account for more
than 80% of water use. In some countries, irrigation withdrawals are more than 95% of all withdrawals. Worldwide
irrigation constitutes about 70% of global water use. Water withdrawal information and water use information in
Table 1.3 is based on data obtained from FAO’s aquastat database (accessed on several occasions between November
11 and 16, 2013) (http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/water_use/index.stm). The FAO report that “the amount of
precipitation falling on land is almost 110,000 km3 per year. Almost two-thirds of this amount evaporates from
the ground or transpires from vegetation (forest, rangeland, cropland). The remaining 40,000 km3 per year is con-
verted to surface runoff (feeding rivers and lakes) and groundwater (feeding aquifers). These are called renewable
freshwater resources. Part of this water is being removed from these rivers or aquifers by installing infrastructure.
This removal of water is called water withdrawal. Most of the withdrawn water is returned to the environment some
period of time later, after it has been used. The quality of the returned water may be less than the quality when it was
1
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI
Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)
The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.
NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.
MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]
MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY
With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER
Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT
SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB
CUTTING THE EDGE

FINISHING THE BOTTOM
LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING
FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE
TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL
NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK
DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG
REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

BEATING THE BARK
WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT
MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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Environmental Hydrology 3rd Edition,

M. Gordon “Reds” Wolman (August 16, 1924–February 24, 2010)

Chapter 1 The Hydrologic Cycle, Water Resources, and Society............................................................................1

2.3 Precipitation Events...................................................................................................................42

Chapter 3 Infiltration and Soil Water Processes....................................................................................................73

3.8.6 Soil Suction and Soil Water Release/Retention Characteristics................................103

Chapter 4 Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration................................................................................................. 111

4.8.3 Time Patterns and Variance...................................................................................... 154

Chapter 5 Runoff and Drainage........................................................................................................................... 161

Chapter 6 Stream Processes................................................................................................................................223

6.6 Stream Stability and Sediment Transport................................................................................ 241

Chapter 7 Uniform Open Channel Flow.............................................................................................................287

7.3 Grassed Waterways..................................................................................................................296

Chapter 8 Hydraulic Control Structures.............................................................................................................. 315

Chapter 9 Soil Conservation and Sediment Budgets........................................................................................... 367

9.5.4 Cover Management Factor C................................................................................ 377

Chapter 10 Hydrology of Forests, Wetlands, and Cold Climates........................................................................ 417

10.13.2 Deforestation Associated with Silviculture.........................................................443

Chapter 11 Hydrogeology.................................................................................................................................... 455

12.9.5 Precision Agricultural and Variable-Rate Technology Applications................... 523

13.5 Remote Sensing Characteristics of Water............................................................................ 556

Chapter 14 Practical Exercises on Conducting and Reporting Hydrologic Studies............................................ 563

Appendix A: Unit Conversion Factors................................................................................................................. 591

Professor M. Gordon Wolman (deceased)

Note from the Authors

Organization of the Book

A Perspective by Andy Ward

A Perspective by Stan Trimble

1.1 THE WATER, FOOD, INDUSTRY, POPULATION GROWTH NEXUS

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

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3.8.6 Soil Suction and Soil Water Release/Retention Characteristics................................103

6.6 Stream Stability and Sediment Transport................................................................................ 241

12.9.5 Precision Agricultural and Variable-Rate Technology Applications................... 523

13.5 Remote Sensing Characteristics of Water............................................................................ 556

1.1 THE WATER, FOOD, INDUSTRY, POPULATION GROWTH NEXUS