Cagayan State University–Carig Campus

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

HYDROLOGY LECTURE MODULE 1

In a general sense engineering hydrology deals with estimation of water resources, the study of
processes such as precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration and their interaction and the study of problems
such as floods and droughts, and strategies to combat them.

At the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

1. Define the what is hydrology.
2. State the fundamental equation of hydrology.
3. Understand the importance of hydrology and the hydrologic cycle.
4. Demonstrate how the hydrologic processes can be applied to supplement decision support systems for
water management.

1.1 What is hydrology?

Hydrology is that branch of physical geography which is concerned with the origin, distribution, and
properties of the waters of the earth. Engineering hydrology includes those segments of the very broad field
of hydrology pertinent to the design and operation of engineering projects for the control and use of water.
(Linsley, R.K., M.A. Kohler and J.L.H. Paulhus, 1988)

Hydrology which treats all phases of the earth’s water, is a subject of great importance for people and their
environment. Practical applications of hydrology are found in such tasks as the design and operation of
hydraulic structures, water supply, wastewater treatment and disposal, irrigation, drainage, hydropower
generation, flood control, navigation, erosion and sediment control, salinity control, pollution abatement,
recreational use of water, and fish and wildlife protection. The role of applied hydrology is to help analyze
the problems involved in theses tasks and to provide guidance for the planning and management of water
resources.
(VenTe Chow, David Maidment and Larry Mays, 1988)

Hydrology is the science that treats the waters of the Earth, occurrence, circulation, and distribution, their
chemical and physical properties, and their reaction with the environment, including the relation to living
things. The domain of hydrology embraces the full life history of water on Earth.
(U.S. National Research Council, 1991)

Hydrology as the engineering science that analyzes the various components of hydrologic cycle which the
concept of water as a renewable resource stems from, recognizes that the natural cycle can be altered by
human and natural activities.
(Hydrology Handbook, 1996)

Hydrology is an earth science. It encompasses the occurrence, distribution, movement, and properties of
the waters of the earth. A knowledge of hydrology is fundamental to decision making processes where water
is a component of the system of concern. Water and environmental issues are inextricably linked, and it is
important to clearly understand how water is affected by and how water affects ecosystem manipulations.
(W.Viessman and G.Lewis, 1996)

Hydrology means the science of water. It is the science that deals with the occurrence, circulation and
distribution of water of the earth and earth’s atmosphere. As a branch of earth science, it is concerned with

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the water in streams and lakes, rainfall and snowfall, snow and ice on the land and water occurring below
the earth’s surface in the pores of the soil and rocks. In a general sense, hydrology is a very broad subject
of an inter-disciplinary nature drawing support from allied sciences, such as meteorology, geology,
statistics, chemistry, physics and fluid mechanics.
(K.Subramanya, 2008)

1.2 The Hydrologic Cycle

Water occurs on the earth in all its three states: liquid, solid and gaseous and in various degrees of motion.
Evaporation of water from water bodies such as oceans and lakes, formation and movement of clouds, rain
and snowfall, streamflow and groundwater movement are some examples of dynamic aspects of water. The
various aspects of water related to the earth can be explained in terms of a cycle known as the hydrologic
cycle.

Figure 1 The Hydrologic Cycle

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of the hydrologic cycle. A convenient starting point to describe the
cycle in the oceans. Water in the oceans evaporate due to the heat energy provided by solar radiation. The
water vapour moves upwards and forms clouds. While much of the clouds condense and fall back to the
oceans as rain, a part of the clouds is driven to the land areas by winds. There they condense and precipitate
onto the land mass as rain, snow, hail, sleet, etc. A part of the precipitation may evaporate back to the
atmosphere even while falling. Another part may be intercepted by vegetation, structures and other such
surface modifications from which it may be either evaporated back to atmosphere or move down to the
ground surface.

A portion of the water that reaches the ground enters the earth’s surface through infiltration, enhance the
moisture content of the soil and reach the groundwater body. Vegetation sends a portion of the water from
under the ground surface back to the atmosphere through the process of transpiration. The precipitation
reaching the ground surface after meeting the needs of infiltration and evaporation moves down the natural
slope over the surface and through a network of gullies, streams and rivers to reach the ocean. The
groundwater may come to the surface through springs and other outlets after spending a considerably
longer time than the surface flow. The portion of the precipitation which by a variety of paths above and
below the surface of the earth reaches the stream channel is called runoff. Once it enters a stream channel,
runoff becomes stream flow.

The main components of the hydrologic cycle can be broadly classified as transportation (flow) components
and storage components as below:

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Figure 2 is a schematic representation of the interdependency of the transportation components.

Figure 2 Transportation Components of the Hydrologic Cycle

The quantities of water going through various individual paths of the hydrological cycle in a given system
can be described by the continuity equation principle known as water budget equation or hydrologic
equation.

It is important to note that the total water resources of the earth are constant and the sun is the source of
energy for the hydrologic cycle. Also, one realizes that man can interfere with virtually any part of the
hydrologic cycle example through artificial rain, evaporation suppression, change of vegetal cover and
land use, extraction of groundwater, etc. Interference at one stage can cause serious repercussions at
some other stage of the cycle.

1.3 Water Budget Equation

Catchment Area is the area of land draining into a stream or a water course at a given location. It is also
called as drainage area or drainage basin. In USA, it is known as watershed. It is separated from its
neighbouring areas by a ridge called divide. The areal extent of the catchment is obtained by tracing the
ridge on a topographic map to delineate the catchment and measuring the area by planimeter. It is
obvious that for a river while mentioning the catchment area the station to which it pertains must also be
mentioned (Figure 3). It is normal to assume the groundwater divide to coincide with the surface divide.
Thus, the catchment area affords a logical and convenient unit to study various aspects relating to the
hydrology and water resources of a region. Further it is probably the singlemost important drainage
characteristic used in hydrological analysis and design.

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Figure 3 Schematic Sketch of Catchment of River A at Station M

Water Budget Equation

For a given problem area, say a catchment, in an interval of time ∆𝑡, the continuity equation for water in
its various phases is written as
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 − 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒
If the density of the inflow, outflow and storage volumes are the same
𝑉̅ 𝑖 − 𝑉̅ 𝑜 = ∆𝑆 (1.1)
where: 𝑉̅ 𝑖 = 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑
𝑉̅ 𝑜 = 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑
∆𝑆 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑
In hydrological calculations, the volumes are often expressed as average depths over the catchment area
(ex.10km2 catchment corresponds to 100 cm). Rainfall, evaporation and often runoff volumes are
expressed in units of depth over the catchment.
An expression for the water budget of a catchment for a time interval ∆𝑡 is written as
𝑃 − 𝑅 − 𝐺 − 𝐸 − 𝑇 = ∆𝑆 (1.2𝑎)
where: 𝑃 = 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑅 = 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓
𝐺 = 𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝐸 = 𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑇 = 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
∆𝑆 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒
The storage S consists of three components as
𝑆 = 𝑆𝑠 + 𝑆𝑠𝑚 + 𝑆𝑔
where: 𝑆 = 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒
𝑆𝑠𝑚 = 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒
𝑆𝑔 = 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝑅 =𝑃−𝐿 (1.2𝑏)
where:
𝐿 = 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 =
𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒),
𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒
Note: In eqs. (1.2a and b) the net import of water into the catchment, from sources outside the catchment,
by action of man is assumed to be zero.

Example 1 A lake had a water surface elevation of 103.200 𝑚 above datum at the beginning of a certain
month. In that month the lake received an average inflow of 6.0 𝑚3 /s from surface runoff sources. In the
same period the outflow from the lake had an average value of 6.5 𝑚3 /s. Further, in that month, the lake
received a rainfall of 145 mm and the evaporation from the lake surface was estimated as 6.10 𝑐𝑚. Write
the water budget equation for the lake and calculate the water surface elevation of the lake at the end of

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the month. The average lake surface area can be taken as 5000 ℎ𝑎. Assume that there is no contribution
to or from the groundwater storage.
Solution:
In a time interval ∆𝑡 the water budget for the lake can be written as
𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 − 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑘𝑒
̅ 𝑡 + 𝑃𝐴) − (𝑄̅ ∆𝑡 + 𝐸𝐴) = ∆𝑆
(𝐼 ∆
Where: 𝐼 = 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑘𝑒
̅
𝑄̅ = 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑘𝑒
𝑃 = 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐸 = 𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐴 = 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑘𝑒
∆𝑆 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑘𝑒
30𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 24 ℎ𝑟𝑠 60𝑚𝑖𝑛 60𝑠
Here ∆𝑡 = 1 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ = = = = = 2.592 × 106 𝑠 = 2.592𝑀𝑠
1 𝑚𝑜 1𝑑𝑎𝑦 1ℎ𝑟 1𝑚𝑖𝑛
In 1 month:
3
̅ 𝑡 = 6.0 𝑚 × 2.592𝑀𝑠 = 15.552𝑀 𝑚3
𝐼𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 = 𝐼 ∆ 𝑠
𝑚 3
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 = 𝑄̅ ∆𝑡 = 6.5 𝑠 × 2.592𝑀𝑠 = 16.848𝑀𝑚3
10000𝑚2
𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝑃𝐴 = 0.145𝑚 × 5000ℎ𝑎 × = 7.250𝑀𝑚3
1ℎ𝑎
10000𝑚2
𝑂𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝐸𝐴 = 0.061𝑚 × 5000ℎ𝑎 × 1ℎ𝑎 = 3.050𝑀𝑚3
Hence
∆𝑆 = 15.552 + 7.250 − 16.848 − 3.050 = 2.904𝑀𝑚3
Change in elevation
∆𝑆 2.904×106
∆𝑧 = 𝐴
= 10000𝑚2
= 0.058𝑚
5000ℎ𝑎×
1ℎ𝑎
𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ = 103.200𝑚 + 0.058𝑚 = 103.258𝑚 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑚

Example 2. A small catchment area 150 ha received a rainfall of 10.5 cm in 90 minutes due to a storm. At
the outlet of the catchment, the stream draining the catchment was dry before the storm and experiences
a runoff lasting for 10 hours with an average discharge of 1.5 𝑚3 /s. The stream was again dry after the
runoff event.
a. What is the amount of water which was not available to runoff due to combined effect of
infiltraton, evaporation and transpiration? What is the ratio of runoff to precipitation?
Solution:
The water budget equation for the catchment in a time ∆𝑡 is 𝑅 = 𝑃 − 𝐿 (1.2𝑏)
where:
𝐿 = 𝐿𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 =
𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒),
𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒

In the present case ∆𝑡 = 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓 = 10 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 .

Note that the rainfall occurres in the first 90 minutes and the rest 8.5 hours the precipitation was zero.
a. 𝑃 = 𝐼𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 10 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠
10000𝑚2 1𝑚
= (150ℎ𝑎)( 1ℎ𝑎
)(10.5𝑐𝑚) (100𝑐𝑚) = 157500 𝑚3

𝑅 = 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 = 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛 10 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠

𝑚3 60𝑚𝑖𝑛 60𝑠
= (1.5 𝑠
) (10ℎ𝑟𝑠) ( 1ℎ𝑟 𝑥 1𝑚𝑖𝑛) = 54000 𝑚3

𝑅𝑢𝑛𝑜𝑓𝑓 54000 𝑚3
b. 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙
= 157500 𝑚3 = 0.343

This ratio is known as runoff coefficient.

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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

HYDROLOGY LECTURE MODULE 1

1.4 World Water Balance

Figure 4 Estimated World Water Quantities

Figure 5 Global Annual Water Balance

Figure 6 Water Balance of Continents

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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

HYDROLOGY LECTURE MODULE 1

Figure 7 Water Balance of Oceans

An estimated distribution of water on the earth is given in Figure 4. The total quantity of water in the
world is estimated to be about 1386 million cubic kilometers (M km3). About 96.5% of this water is
contained in the oceans as saline water. Some of the water on the land amounting to about 1% of the total
water is also saline. Thus only 35.0 M km3 of fresh water is available. Out of this about 10.6 M km3 is
both liquid and fresh and the remaining 24.4 M km3 is contained in frozen state as ice in the polar regions
and on mountain tops and glaciers.

The global annual water balance is shown in Figure 5. It is seen that the annual evaporation from the
world’s oceans and inland areas are 0.505 and 0.702 M km3 respectively. Thus, over the oceans about 9%
more water evaporates than that falls back as precipitation. Correspondingly, there will be excess
precipitation over evaporation on the land mass. The differential which is about 0.047 M km3 is the runoff
from land mass to oceans and groundwater outflow to oceans. Less than 4% of this total river flow is used
for irrigation and the rest flows down to sea. These estimates are only approximate and the results from
different studies vary.

The volume in various phases of the hydrologic cycle (Fig.4) and the rate of flow in that phase (Fig.5) vary
considerably. Residence time is the average duration of a particle of water to pass through a phase of the
hydrologic cycle. It could be calculated by dividing the volume of water in the phase by the average flow
rate in that phase.
Example: Assuming that all the surface runoff to the oceans comes from the rivers,
From Fig.4 the volume of water in the rivers of the world = 0.00212 M km3
From Fig.5 the average flow rate of water in global rivers = 44700 km3/year
Hence residence time of global rivers, Tr = 2120/44700=0.0474year=17.3days

Similarly, the residence time for other phases of the hydrological cycle can be calculated. It will be found
that the value Tr varies from phase to phase. In a general sense the shorter the residence time the greater
the difficulty in predicting the behavior of that phase of the hydrologic cycle.

The water balance of the continental land mass is shown in Figure 6. It is interesting to see that Africa in
spite of its equatorial forest zones is the driest continent in the world with only 20% of the precipitation
going as runoff. On the other hand, North America and Europe emerge as continents with the highest
runoff.

Water balance studies on the oceans indicate that there is considerable transfer of water between the
oceans and the evaporation and precipitation values vary from one ocean to another (Figure 7).

Each year the rivers of the world discharge about 44700 km3 of water into the oceans. This amounts to an
average flow of 1.417 Mm3/s. The world’s largest river, Amazon, has an annual average discharge of
200000 m3/s, one-seventh of the world’s annual average value.

1.5 Applications in Engineering

Application of Hydrology is manifested in the design and operation of water resources engineering
projects such as water supply, irrigation, flood control, water power and navigation. These projects needs
hydrological investigations for the proper assessment of the following factors:

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DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

HYDROLOGY LECTURE MODULE 1

1. The capacity of storage structures such as reservoirs

2. The magnitude of flood flows to enable safe disposal of the excess flow.
3. The minimum flow and quantity of flow available at various seasons.
4. The interaction of the flood wave and hydraulic structures.

1. Estimate the constant rate of withdrawal from a 1375 ha reservoir in a month of 30 days during
which the reservoir level dropped by 0.75 m in spite of an average inflow into the reservoir of 0.5
Mm3/day. During the month the average seepage loss from the reservoir was 2.5 cm, total
precipitation on the reservoir was 18.5 cm and the total evaporation was 9.5 cm.

2. Estimate the residence time of

a. Global atmospheric moisture
b. Global groundwater by assuming that only the fresh groundwater runs off to the oceans
c. Ocean water

1. Describe the Hydrologic cycle. Briefly explain the man’s interference in various parts of this cycle.
2. Discuss the hydrological water budget with the aid of examples.
3. What are the significant features of global water balance studies?
4. List the major activities in which hydrological studies are important.

Bedient, P.B., Huber W.C. and Vieux, B.E. (2010). Hydrology and Floodplain Analysis. (4th Edition). Pearson.

David Chin. (2013). Water Resources Engineering. (3rd Edition). Pearson.

McCuen, R.H. (1989). Hydrologic Analysis and Design. Prentice Hall.

Linsley, R.K., M.A. Kohler and J.L.H. Paulhus. (1988). Hydrology for Engineers. McGraw-Hill.

VenTe Chow, David Maidment and Larry Mays. (1988). Applied Hydrology. (Internation Edition). McGraw-
Hill.

ASCE. (1996). Hydrology Handbook. (2nd Edition).

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