Engineering Hydrology

(Fourth Year )
University of Kerbala- College of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department
(Prof. Dr. Musa Habib AlShammari )
2023-2024
Introduction
 1.3 Water Budget Equation
Catchment area

◼ The area of land draining in to a stream

or a water course at a given location is
called catchment area / drainage area /
drainage basin / watershed.
◼ A catchment area is separated from its
neighbouring areas by a ridge called
divide / watershed.
 1.3 Water Budget Equation
Catchment area….
◼ A watershed is a geographical unit in which
the hydrological cycle and its components can
be analyzed. The equation is applied in the
form of water-balance equation to a
geographical region, in order to establish the
basic hydrologic characteristics of the region.
Usually a watershed is defined as the area
that appears, on the basis of topography, to
contribute all the water that passes through a
given cross section of a stream.
 Watershed and watershed divide

Watershed/
catchment
Watershed/
catchment
 Catchment area….
◼ If a permeable soil covers an impermeable substrate,
the topographical division of watershed will not
always correspond to the line that is effectively
delimiting the groundwater.
Watershed characteristics
Water Budget Equation

◼ For a given catchment, in an interval of

time ∆t, the continuity equation for water
in its various phases can be given as:
Mass inflow – Mass outflow = change in mass storage
◼ If the density of the inflow, outflow and
storage volumes are the same:
i − o = S
Vi - Inflow volume in to the catchment, Vo - Outflow volume
from the catchment and ∆S - change in the water
volume
Water Budget Equation…

Therefore, the water budget of a catchment

for a time interval ∆t is written as:
P – R – G – E – T = ∆S
P = Precipitation, R = Surface runoff, G = net
ground water flow out of the catchment, E =
Evaporation,
T = Transpiration, and ∆S = change in storage
The above equation is called the water
budget equation for a catchment

NOTE: All the terms in the equation have

the dimension of volume and these
terms can be expressed as depth over
the catchment area.
 Components of hydrologic cycle

Evapo transpiration
Precipitation

Stream flow

(Runoff)

Inter flow
Infiltration

Base flow

Groundwater flow