PERCOL

ATION
 WHAT IS PERCOLATION?
-Percolation is the water cycle process by
which liquid water flows through the soil due
to the force of gravity. Water loses
gravitational energy when it percolates
through the soil.

-Percolation is defined as the slow movement

of water through the pores in soil or
permeable rock. It is the flow of water through
soil and porous or fractured rock.
‐ -Rainfall seeps underground through a
process called percolation, where water
travels downwards through the tiny
spaces between rocks and soil particles.
The water eventually saturates the
underlying rock much like water fills the
tiny holes of a sponge. This helps to
replenish aquifers under the ground.

‐ -The seepage or filtration of a liquid

through a porous substance.
 Modeling Percolation
‐ There are several factors that determine how that water moves through the soil
— the filtering medium — including the porosity of the soil and how saturated
with water the earth may already be. The water that moves through the soil and
silt strata typically flows underground until it reaches an impermeable rock, when
it stops, becoming stored underground in an aquifer.
‐ If a soil has more sand content than clay, this affects how rapidly water passes
through it. Shale and clay are porous, but they typically restrict the flow of water.
‐ Percolation can be modeled mathematically, which can help determine the siting
of facilities such as septic or sewage treatment facilities. The evaluation method,
known as a percolation or perc test, determines the rate at which water moves
through the soil based on factors including the soil composition and compaction.
 predicting leaching
‐ Percolation can also be used to predict water
transport factors such as the rate of leaching, the
flow of materials into water. This is most often used
in agriculture to determine the movement of
fertilizers or the salt content of soil. Leaching also
refers to the movement of water through substances
such as chemicals disturbed during mining or waste
present in landfills that may affect groundwater
supplies.
‐ The term is also used in water treatment to describe a
technology known as a percolating filter or trickling filter.
Trickling filters are a biological wastewater treatment process —
water is oxidized and purified by the process of trickling through
a filtration media. This form of aerobic wastewater treatment
may be used in lieu of aeration basins in packaged wastewater
treatment plants or larger aeration plants.
‐ The RWL Water blog and website contain a wealth of
information on various water treatment and quality topics, all of
which is updated frequently.
Simulate Infiltration and Percolation
Losses in Hydrologic
Modeling
-Infiltration and percolation are components of hydrologic cycle
and are affected by other components.For example, for areas
with a high groundwater table, the total amount of infiltration
and percolation would be rather low even though the soil matrix
is capable of higher infiltration and percolation rates. A
hydrologic model used for simulating infiltration and percolation
losses must account for all the flows entering, moving within,
and leaving the system, as well as storage changes within the
system. Inflow may constitute infiltration resulting from rainfall
and, if applicable, interflow.
-Outflow may constitute evaporation, transpiration,
percolation and/or deep percolation, and
groundwater outflow. The system may be modeled
as multiple layers of soil extending from the ground
surface to the permanent groundwater table. The
model must perform mass balance calculations to
assure that all water movements are accounted for
and storage changes within the systems reflect the
differences between inflow and outflow.
-It must also show any change in groundwater table
elevation that occurred during the simulation
process and its impact on percolation. It is not
acceptable to simply model the percolation as the
amount of water disappearing from the system. If a
perched groundwater table exists at or near an
impermeable layer, it must be reflected in the
model setup or parameter determination.
-Percolation is a relatively slow process compared to surface
runoff. An event-based model, typically simulating surface
runoff hydrographs for a rainfall duration of 24 hours or
shorter, is usually not sufficient to reflect the impact of
percolation, especially changes of groundwater level. To fully
simulate the impacts of percolation, the simulation period
should be determined by physical conditions such as the
watershed size and soil characteristics. It must be at least 48
hours longer than the surface runoff hydrograph associated
with the design rainfall event.
 percolation test
-A percolation test (colloquially called a perc test) is a test to
determine the water absorption rate of soil (that is, its capacity
for percolation) in preparation for the building of a septic drain
field (leach field) or infiltration basin. The results of a
percolation test are required to properly design a septic
system. In its broadest terms, percolation testing is simply
observing how quickly a known volume of water dissipates into
the subsoil of a drilled hole of known surface area. While every
jurisdiction will have its own laws regarding the exact
calculations for the length of line, depth of pit, etc., the testing
procedures are the same.
 testing method
-A percolation test consists of digging one or more holes in the
soil of the proposed leach field to a specified depth, presoaking
the holes by maintaining a high water level in the holes, then
running the test by filling the holes to a specific level and timing
the drop of the water level as the water percolates into the
surrounding soil. There are various empirical formulae for
determining the required size of a leach field based on the size
of facility, the percolation test results, and other parameters.
-For leach line testing, a minimum of three test holes are drilled,
most commonly six to eight inches in diameter. Ideally, these
should be drilled to different depths from three to six feet below
the surface. For better, more conclusive results, five drill holes
are used in a pattern of one hole at each corner of the proposed
leach field and one test hole in the center. Testing of these holes
will result in a value with units of minutes per inch. This value is
then correlated to a predetermined county health code to
establish the exact size of the leach field.
-Testing for horizontal pits typically requires
five to eight test holes drilled in a straight
line, or along a common contour, from three
to ten feet below the surface. Testing is
identical to leach line testing, though the end
result is a different type of septic system,
established through a different calculation.
-Vertical seepage pits are slightly different in testing
methods due to their large size, but the basic testing
method is essentially the same. A hole, typically
three to four feet in diameter is drilled to a depth of
twenty or thirty feet (depending on the local
groundwater table), and a fire hose is used to fill the
pit as quickly as possible, and then, again, its
dissipation rate is observed. This rate is used to
calculate the size and number of pits necessary for a
viable septic system.
-Finally, for leach line systems and horizontal seepage
pits, a "deep hole" is drilled to find the water table or to
approximately twelve feet (dry). Exact depths will again
depend on local health codes. In the case of a vertical
seepage pit, local groundwater data may be used, or if
the drill hole reaches groundwater, the pit will be
backfilled again according to county health crate.
runo
ff
 WHAT IS RUNOFF?
-Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow
of water that occurs when excess stormwater,
meltwater, or other sources flows over the Earth's
surface. This might occur because soil is saturated to
full capacity, because rain arrives more quickly than
soil can absorb it, or because impervious areas (roofs
and pavement) send their runoff to surrounding soil
that cannot absorb all of it. Surface runoff is a major
component of the water cycle. It is the primary agent in
soil erosion by water.
-Runoff that occurs on the ground surface before reaching a
channel is also called a nonpoint source. If a nonpoint source
contains man-made contaminants, or natural forms of pollution
(such as rotting leaves) the runoff is called nonpoint source
pollution. A land area which produces runoff that drains to a
common point is called a drainage basin. When runoff flows
along the ground, it can pick up soil contaminants including
petroleum, pesticides, or fertilizers that become discharge or
nonpoint source pollution.In addition to causing water erosion
and pollution, surface runoff in urban areas is a primary cause
of urban flooding which can result in property damage, damp
and mold in basements, and street flooding.
-Runoff is a movement of water,
usually from precipitation, across the
earth's surface towards stream
channels, lakes, oceans, or depressions
or low points on earth's surface.
-Runoff is the water cycle process by
which water flows over the soil surface
due to the force of gravity.
-Runoff consists of precipitation that neither
evaporates, transpires nor penetrates the
surface to become ground water. Even the
smallest streams are connected to larger
rivers that carry billions of gallons of water
into oceans worldwide. Excess runoff can
lead to flooding, which occurs when there is
too much precipitation.
 Surface runoff is precipitation runoff
over the landscape.
– Affected by many factors:
‐ Meteorological ‐ Physical factors ‐ Human factors
factors ‐ – Land use ‐ – Urbanization
‐ – Type of rain ‐ – Vegetation ‐ – Impervious
‐ – Rain intensity ‐ – Soil type surfaces
‐ – Rain amount ‐ – Drainage area ‐ – Reservoirs
‐ – Rain duration ‐ – Basin shape
‐ – Rain distribution ‐ – Topography
‐ – Previous ‐ – Ponds, lakes
precipitation
gener
ation
Surface runoff can be generated either by rainfall, snowfall or
by the melting of snow, or glaciers.

Snow and glacier melt occur only in areas cold enough for
these to form permanently. Typically snowmelt will peak in the
spring and glacier melt in the summer, leading to pronounced
flow maxima in rivers affected by them. The determining factor
of the rate of melting of snow or glaciers is both air
temperature and the duration of sunlight. In high mountain
regions, streams frequently rise on sunny days and fall on
cloudy ones for this reason.
In areas where there is no snow, runoff will come from rainfall.
However, not all rainfall will produce runoff because storage
from soils can absorb light showers. On the extremely ancient
soils of Australia and Southern Africa,proteoid roots with their
extremely dense networks of root hairs can absorb so much
rainwater as to prevent runoff even when substantial amounts
of rain fall. In these regions, even on less infertile cracking clay
soils, high amounts of rainfall and potential evaporation are
needed to generate any surface runoff, leading to specialised
adaptations to extremely variable (usually ephemeral) streams.
 Infiltration excess overland
flow
This occurs when the rate of rainfall on a surface
exceeds the rate at which water can infiltrate the
ground, and any depression storage has already been
filled. This is called flooding excess overland flow,
Hortonian overland flow (after Robert E. Horton), or
unsaturated overland flow. This more commonly occurs
in arid and semi-arid regions, where rainfall intensities
are high and the soil infiltration capacity is reduced
because of surface sealing, or in paved areas. This
occurs largely in city areas where pavements prevent
water from flooding.
 Saturation excess overland
flow
When the soil is saturated and the depression storage
filled, and rain continues to fall, the rainfall will
immediately produce surface runoff. The level of
antecedent soil moisture is one factor affecting the time
until soil becomes saturated. This runoff is called
saturation excess overland flow or saturated overland
flow.
 Antecedent soil moisture
Soil retains a degree of moisture after a rainfall. This
residual water moisture affects the soil's infiltration
capacity. During the next rainfall event, the infiltration
capacity will cause the soil to be saturated at a different
rate. The higher the level of antecedent soil moisture,
the more quickly the soil becomes saturated. Once the
soil is saturated, runoff occurs.
 Subsurface return flow
After water infiltrates the soil on an up-slope
portion of a hill, the water may flow laterally
through the soil, and exfiltrate (flow out of
the soil) closer to a channel. This is called
subsurface return flow or throughflow.
As it flows, the amount of runoff may be
reduced in a number of possible ways: a
small portion of it may evapotranspire; water
may become temporarily stored in
microtopographic depressions; and a portion
of it may infiltrate as it flows overland. Any
remaining surface water eventually flows
into a receiving water body such as a river,
lake, estuary or ocean
 Human
influence
Urbanization increases surface runoff by creating more
impervious surfaces such as pavement and buildings that do
not allow percolation of the water down through the soil to
the aquifer. It is instead forced directly into streams or storm
water runoff drains, where erosion and siltation can be major
problems, even when flooding is not. Increased runoff reduces
groundwater recharge, thus lowering the water table and
making droughts worse, especially for farmers and others
who depend on the water wells.
When anthropogenic contaminants are dissolved or
suspended in runoff, the human impact is
expanded to create water pollution. This pollutant
load can reach various receiving waters such as
streams, rivers, lakes, estuaries and oceans with
resultant water chemistry changes to these water
systems and their related ecosystems.
A 2008 report by the United States National Research Council
identified urban stormwater as a leading source of water
quality problems in the U.S.

As humans continue to alter the climate through the addition of

greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, precipitation patterns
are expected to change as the atmospheric capacity for water
vapor increases. This will have direct consequences on runoff
amounts.
 Effects of surface runoff
Erosion and deposition
-Surface runoff can cause erosion of the Earth's
surface; eroded material may be deposited a
considerable distance away. There are four main types of
soil erosion by water: splash erosion, sheet erosion, rill
erosion and gully erosion. Splash erosion is the result of
mechanical collision of raindrops with the soil surface:
soil particles which are dislodged by the impact then
move with the surface runoff.
 -Sheet erosion is the overland transport of sediment
by runoff without a well defined channel. Soil surface
roughness causes may cause runoff to become
concentrated into narrower flow paths: as these incise,
the small but well-defined channels which are formed
are known as rills. These channels can be as small as
one centimeter wide or as large as several meters. If
runoff continue to incise and enlarge rills, they may
eventually grow to become gullies. Gully erosion can
transport large amounts of eroded material in a small
time period.
Environmental effects
-The principal environmental issues associated with
runoff are the impacts to surface water, groundwater and
soil through transport of water pollutants to these
systems. Ultimately these consequences translate into
human health risk, ecosystem disturbance and aesthetic
impact to water resources. Some of the contaminants that
create the greatest impact to surface waters arising from
runoff are petroleum substances, herbicides and
fertilizers.
 - Quantitative uptake by surface runoff of
pesticides and other contaminants has been
studied since the 1960s, and early on contact of
pesticides with water was known to enhance
phytotoxicity. In the case of surface waters, the
impacts translate to water pollution, since the
streams and rivers have received runoff carrying
various chemicals or sediments. When surface
waters are used as potable water supplies, they
can be compromised regarding health risks and
drinking water aesthetics (that is, odor, color and
turbidity effects).
 -Contaminated surface waters risk altering the
metabolic processes of the aquatic species that
they host; these alterations can lead to death, such
as fish kills, or alter the balance of populations
present. Other specific impacts are on animal
mating, spawning, egg and larvae viability, juvenile
survival and plant productivity. Some researches
show surface runoff of pesticides, such as DDT, can
alter the gender of fish species genetically, which
transforms male into female fish.
Agricultural issues
-The other context of agricultural issues involves the
transport of agricultural chemicals (nitrates, phosphates,
pesticides, herbicides etc.) via surface runoff. This result
occurs when chemical use is excessive or poorly timed
with respect to high precipitation. The resulting
contaminated runoff represents not only a waste of
agricultural chemicals, but also an environmental threat
to downstream ecosystems.
Flooding
-Flooding occurs when a watercourse is unable to
convey the quantity of runoff flowing downstream. The
frequency with which this occurs is described by a return
period. Flooding is a natural process, which maintains
ecosystem composition and processes, but it can also be
altered by land use changes such as river engineering.
Floods can be both beneficial to societies or cause
damage. Agriculture along the Nile floodplain took
advantage of the seasonal flooding that deposited
nutrients beneficial for crops.
 -However, as the number and susceptibility of
settlements increase, flooding increasingly becomes a
natural hazard. In urban areas, surface runoff is the
primary cause of urban flooding, known for its repetitive
and costly impact on communities. Adverse impacts
span loss of life, property damage, contamination of
water supplies, loss of crops, and social dislocation and
temporary homelessness. Floods are among the most
devastating of natural disasters.
THANKS!