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Water losses/ Abstractions from

precipitation

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 LOSSES FROM PRECIPITATION
 In engineering hydrology, runoff is
the prime subject of study and
evaporation and transpiration phases
are treated as "losses".

 Evaporation and transpiration are

transferred to the atmosphere as
water vapor.

 Before the rainfall reaches the outlet

of a basin as runoff, certain demands
of the catchment such as
interception, depression storage and
infiltration have to be met.

 The precipitation not available for

surface runoff is defined as "losses"
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 EVAPORATION PROCESS
• Is the process in which a
liquid changes to the
gaseous state at the free
surface below the boiling
point through the transfer
of heat energy.
• When some molecules
possess sufficient kinetic
energy, they may cross
over the water surface.
• The net escape of water
molecules from the liquid
state to the gaseous state
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constitutes evaporation.
 Influencing Factors
1-Vapour pressures at the water surface and air above: the rate of
evaporation is proportional to the difference between the
saturation vapour pressure at the water surface (Dalton’s law)

Where
EL = C (ew – ea)

EL : rate of evaporation (mm/day)

C : a coefficient depend on wind velocity, atmospheric pressure
and other factors
ew : the saturation vapour pressure at the water surface (mm of
mercury)
ea : the actual vapour pressure of air (mm of mercury)

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 Influencing Factors
2. Temperature: the rate of evaporation increases with an increase in
the water temperature.
3. Wind : the rate of evaporation increases with the wind speed up to
critical speed beyond which any further increase in the wind speed
has no influence on the evaporation rate. As the wind blows, it
sweeps away airborne water particles that are in the air. 
4. Atmosphere pressure: a decrease in the barometric pressure ( as in
high altitudes), increases evaporation. The pressure pushing
down on the water makes it difficult for water to escape into
the atmosphere as vapor
5. Quality of water: under identical condition evaporation from sea
water is about 2-3% less that from fresh water. Particles increses
the density of water.

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More Explanations of Factors
 Evaporation Measurement
1. EVAPORIMETER
a. CLASS A Evaporation Pan
- The most widely used method of
finding or monitoring the water body
evaporation.
- The standard National Weather
Bureau Class A pan ( 1.21 m
diameter, 25.5 cm depth, it is placed
on a wooden structure of 15 cm
height).

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 b. ISI Standard Pan
• Specified by IS: 5973 and known as the modified Class A Pan
• A pan of diameter 1220mm and depth 255mm, Copper sheet 0.9mm
thick, tinned inside and painted white outside
• Placed on a square wooden platform of width 1225mm and height
100mm above ground level to allow free air circulation below the pan
• A fixed point gauge indicates the level of water
• Water is added to or removed from the pan to maintain the water level at
a fixed mark using a calibrated cylindrical measure.
• The top of the pan is covered with a hexagonal wire net of GI to protect
water in the pan from birds.
• Presence of the wire mesh makes the temperature of water more uniform
during the day and night.
• Evaporation from this pan is about 14% lower as compared to that from
an unscreened pan
b. ISI Standard Pan
c. Colorado Sunken Pan
 920mm square pan made of
unpainted GI sheet, 460mm
deep, and buried into the
ground within 100mm of the
top
 Main advantage of this pan
 – its aerodynamic and
radiation characteristics are
similar to that of a lake
 Disadvantages – difficult to
detect leaks, expensive to
install, extra care is needed
to keep the surrounding
area free from tall grass,
dust etc
 d. USGS Floating Pan
 A square pan of 900mm sides and
450mm deep
 Supported by drum floats in the
middle of a raft of size 4.25m x
4.87m, it is set a float in a lake
with a view to simulate the
characteristics of a large body of
water
 Water level in the pan is
maintained at the same level as
that in the lake, leaving a rim of
75mm
 Diagonal baffles are provided in
the pan to reduce surging in the
pan due to wave action
 Disadvantages – High cost of
installation and maintenance,
difficulty in making measurements
 Drawbacks of Evaporation pans

Evaporation pans are not exact models of large reservoirs. Their

major drawbacks are the following:
They differ from reservoirs in the heat storage capacity and heat

transfer characteristics from the sides and the bottom (sunken and
floating pans aim to minimize this problem).
Hence evaporation from a pan depends to some extent on its size

(Evaporation from a pan of about 3m dia is almost the same as that

from a large lake whereas that from a pan of about 1m dia is about 20%
in excess of this)..
 Drawbacks of Evaporation pans
The height of the rim in an evaporation pan affects
wind action over the water surface in the pan. Also it
casts a shadow of varying size on the water surface.
The heat transfer characteristics of the pan material are
different from that of a reservoir.
Hence evaporation measured from a pan has to be
corrected to get the evaporation from a large lake
under identical climatic and exposure conditions

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 Pan Coefficient Cp
The actual evaporation from a nearby lake is less than
that of pan evaporation
Why ?
- The sides of the pan is exposed to the sun
- The temperature over the pan is higher that over the
lake

Lake evaporation = Cp x pan evaporation

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Evaporation Stations
WMO recommends the following values of minimum
density of evaporimeters .

Arid Zones – 1 station for every 30,000 sq.km

Humid Temperate Zones – 1 station for every 50,000

sq.km

Cold regions – 1 station for every 1,00,000 sq.km

Typical hydro-meteorological station
 Recording rain gauge and non-recording raingauge
 Stevenson box with maximum, minimum, wet, and
dry bulb thermometers
 Wind anemometer and wind vane
 Pan evaporimeters
 Sunshine Recorder etc
 Evaporation Estimations
1- Empirical Evaporation Equation
Most of empirical formulae are based on the Dalton-type equation:

EL = Kf(u) (ew - ea)

EL = lake evaporation in mm / day,

ew = saturated vapour pressure at the water-surface temperature in
mm of mercury,
ea = actual vapour pressure of over­lying air at a specified height in
mm of mercury,
f(u) = wind-speed correction function and

K = a coefficient.

-19 The term ea is measured at the same height at which wind speed in
measured.
 Evaporation Estimations
a- Meyer's Formula (1915):

EL = KM (ew - ea) ( I + u9/16 )

u9 = monthly mean wind velocity about 9 m above ground

KM = coefficient of 0.36 for large deep waters and 0.50 for small,
shallow waters

The limitations of the formula that at best be

expected to give an approximate magnitude of
the evaporation.

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Evaporation Estimations
b- Rohwer’s Formula
 Wind Velocity

 In the lower part of the atmosphere, up to a height of

about 500m above the ground level, wind velocity
follows the one-seventh power law as
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 Evaporation Estimation

2- Analytical methods
The analytical methods for the determination of lake
evaporation can be broadly classified into three
categories as :

I. Water-budget method,
2. energy-balance method, and
3. mass-transfer method

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 a. Water-budget method,
Thus considering the daily average
values for a lake, the
continuity equation is written
as:
 All quantities are in units of
volume (m3) or depth (mm)
over a reference
 If the unit of time is kept
large, say weeks or months,
better accuracy in the estimate
of EL is possible.
 In view of the various
uncertainties in estimated
values and the possibilities of
errors in measured variables,
the water-budget method
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very accurate results.
 b. Energy Budget Method
 It involves application
of the law of
conservation of energy
 Energy available for
evaporation is
determined by
considering the
incoming energy,
outgoing energy, and
the energy stored in the
water body over a
known time interval
 Estimation of
evaporation from a
lake by this method has
been found to give
satisfactory results,
with errors of the
order of 5%, when
applied to periods less
than a week
 b. Energy Budget Method

• This is the energy balance

in a period of 1 day. All
energy terms are in
calories/ sq.mm/day.
• If time periods are short
Hs , Hi can be neglected
as they are negligibly
small .
• All terms except Ha, can
either be measured or
evaluated indirectly .
• Ha is estimated using
Bowen’s ratio
 C- Mass transfer method

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 Comparison Of Methods
 Analytical methods can provide good results. However, they
involve parameters that are difficult to assess.

 Empirical equations can at best give approximate values of

the correct order of magnitude.

 In view of the above, pan measurements find wide

acceptance in practice.
Methods to Reduce Evaporation

The annual evaporation from water bodies, in Pakistan, can

range from 1- 2 meters .The bigger the surface more evaporation.
It can be reduced by one or more of the following :
 Reduction of surface area of reservoir.

 Wind breakers. Trees are planted on the windward side of

the reservoir. This is useful & effective for small reservoirs
 Mechanical covers. The reservoirs are totally covered with
cover. This is effective but very expensive.
 Monomolecular Films. A thin film of chemical is spread,
which reduces the evaporation.
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