LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHOLOGY

MODULE IN CE-370 HYDROLOGY

Module No. 1

I. Title: HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

II. Topic:

1. Definition of Hydrology
2. Water Distribution on Earth
3. The Hydrologic Cycle
4. The Water Budget
5. A Brief History of Hydrology

III. Time Frame: 6 Hours

IV. Introduction: This module discusses all about the definition of hydrology, water
distribution on earth, hydrologic cycle, the water budget a brief
history of hydrology.

V. Objectives: After reading this module, the student will be able to.

1. Define hydrology and the hydrologic cycle

2. Present the distribution of water on Earth
3. Describe the hydrologic budget
4. Give a brief history of the evolution of hydrology

VI. Pre-Test:
Directions: Please answer questions below. Write your answer on your paper.

1. What does Hydrology, as a water science, study?

LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHOLOGY

MODULE IN CE-370 HYDROLOGY

2. What is the main quality of the Hydrologic cycle?

3. Is the water budget equation generally applied in hydrology? Are there any
limitations?
4. When was hydrology established as a modern science?

VI. Learning Activities:

Definition of Hydrology
Water is vital for all living organisms on Earth. For centuries, people have been
investigating where water comes from and where it goes, why some of it is salty and some
is fresh, why sometimes there is not enough and sometimes too much. All questions and
answers related to water have been grouped together into a discipline. The name of the
discipline is hydrology and is formed by two Greek words: "hydro" and "logos" meaning
"water" and "science". Hydrology is the science concerned with the occurrence,
distribution, movement and properties of all the waters of the Earth.

A good understanding of the hydrologic processes is important for the assessment of the
water resources, their management and conservation on global and regional scales.

Water Distribution on Earth

The "Blue Planet", as the Earth is called, is easily identified in the solar system due to its
distinctive element: water.

Oceans and seas cover 71% of the planet's surface. The remaining 29% are land, but water
can be found here as well in lakes and rivers, in the soil cover, underground and bound
up in the composition of minerals of the Earth's crust and core. The biosphere contains
water and cannot exist without it. Water is held in the atmosphere together with other
gases.

Water exists in three states: liquid, solid (ice and snow) and gas (water vapor). Due to the
energy supplied by the sun it is in permanent transformation from one state to another,
and in constant motion between oceans, land, atmosphere and biosphere.

A reliable assessment of the water storage on Earth considers the amount of water as an
average over a long period of time, contained in the hydrosphere. Current estimations
LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHOLOGY

MODULE IN CE-370 HYDROLOGY

weigh up to 1386 million cubic kilometres of water that are divided as shown in Figure 1.1
and Table 1.1.

Figure 1.1. Distribution of water on Earth

Table 1.1. Distribution of freshwater on Earth

Component of % of the hydrosphere

freshwater content
Glaciers and Permanent
1.74 %
Snow Cover
Groundwater 0.75 %
Freshwater Lakes 0.0066 %
Rivers 0.0002 %
Atmosphere 0.0009 %
Biosphere 0.0001 %

Freshwater is only 2.5% from the total, yet most of it is out of human reach. Freshwater
usable by humans represents 0.3% of all water on Earth and is drawn from underground,
lakes and rivers (Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2. Freshwater available for human use (0.3 % of Earth's water)
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MODULE IN CE-370 HYDROLOGY

Groundwater is the second largest storage of freshwater and the most used by humans.
People in the arid and semi-arid regions, use groundwater exclusively for all their needs.
Still, groundwater is not always within easy reach. The withdrawal of groundwater
becomes difficult and expensive when it is confined over 800m depth.

The surface water bodies, as lakes and rivers, hold a very small amount of freshwater.
Unlike groundwater it is easily accessible, but liable to pollution. At the same time, it is
unevenly distributed with regard to continent surfaces and population. For example, 30
% of the world freshwater storage and 6 % of runoff are located in Canada alone.

The Hydrologic Cycle

The total amount of water on Earth is invariable. At the same time water is continuously
renewed while circulating between oceans, land and atmosphere. All processes
like evaporation, condensation, precipitation, interception, transpiration, infiltration, st
orage, runoff, groundwater flow, which keep water in motion constitute the hydrologic
cycle. Those processes are stimulated by solar energy. They take place simultaneously
and, except for precipitation, continuously. Consider Figure 1.3.

Figure 1.3. The hydrologic cycle (Musy, 2001)

LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHOLOGY

MODULE IN CE-370 HYDROLOGY

Water from rivers is replenished every year. Simultaneously the quality of water is
restored. The assessment of water resources availability or deficiency for a specific region
is based on the volume of runoff in that region. The water volume of each water body in
the hydrosphere is fully replenished during the hydrologic cycle, but the time period
required varies as is shown in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2. Period of renewal of water in the hydrosphere (UNESCO, 2004)

Water body Period of renewal

Polar ice 9700 years

Oceans 2500 years

Mountain glaciers 1600 years

Groundwater 1400 years

Lakes 17 years

Rivers 16 days

Atmospheric moisture 8 days

Water in the biosphere Several hours

Water from rivers is completely renewed every year. Simultaneously its quality is
restored.
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The Water Budget

The water budget represents the inventory of water for a specific water body (or
hydrologic region) during a certain time interval.

It can be estimated using the continuity equation, which expresses the balance between
the inflows, outflows and change of storage in any water body / hydrologic region over a
period of time:

P - R - G - E - T = ΔS (1.1)

where:
P precipitation, [unit of height] or [unit of volume / unit of time]
R runoff, [unit of height] or [unit of volume / unit of time]
R = Rout - Rin
Rout = runoff as outflow from the water body / hydrologic region
Rin = runoff as influx into the water body / hydrologic region
G groundwater flow, [unit of height] or [unit of volume / unit of time]
G = Gout - Gin
Gout = groundwater as outflow from the water body / hydrologic region
Gin = groundwater as influx into the water body / hydrologic region
E evaporation, [unit of height] or [unit of volume / unit of time]
T transpiration, [unit of height] or [unit of volume / unit of time]
ΔS change in storage, [unit of height] or [unit of volume / unit of time]

Equation 1.1 is the basic equation of hydrology. In practice it is successfully applied for
local studies when the various hydrologic terms can be properly measured or estimated.
Nevertheless, estimation is usually rough on a global scale.
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Annual water budget of the Earth

Every year approximately 577'000 km 3 are transported through the hydrosphere. The
annual water budget is displayed on Figure 1.4.

Figure 1.4. Annual water budget of the Earth

Annual budget of some hydrologic regions

Table 1.3. Annual water budget of Switzerland (Musy, 2001)

Precipitation 1546 mm / year

Total runoff Runoff 978 mm / year 1296 mm / year

Influx into Switzerland 318 mm / year

evaporation 484 mm / year

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Table 1.4. Annual water budget of Romania (National Institute

of Meteorology and Hydrology, Regional Office, Timisoara)

Precipitation 850 mm / year

Runoff 300 mm / year

evaporation 550 mm / year

Table 1.5. Annual water budget of Bulgaria (Geography of

Bulgaria, monograph, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences , 1989)

Precipitation 690 mm / year

Runoff 176 mm / year

evaporation 514 mm / year

Table 1.6. Annual water budget of Ukraine

Precipitation 625 mm / year

Runoff 86.8 mm / year

evaporation 538 mm / year

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A Brief History of Hydrology

In ancient times various hydrologic principles were successfully applied in practice. Early
Chinese irrigation and flood control works and Greek and Roman aqueducts are worth
mentioning. On the other hand, ancient science was based only on logic and intuition,
without measurements and observations, and the theories were faulty most of the time.

Homer (8th century B.C.) believed in the existence of large subterranean reservoirs that
supplied rivers, seas, springs and wells. The Roman engineer Marcus Vitruvius (1st
century B.C.) developed an early theory of the hydrologic cycle in his treatise 'On
Architecture'. According to his theory the rain and snow falling in mountains infiltrated
into the ground and later appeared in the lowland as streams and springs. During the
Middle Ages, Vitruvius's work was the standard reference book on Hydrology.

In the late 15th century Leonardo da Vinci and Bernard Palissy gave, independently of
each other, an accurate explanation of the hydrologic cycle. The theories were based on
observations of hydrologic phenomena. In the 17th century the modern science of
hydrology was established by Perrault, Mariotte and Halley. Perrault measured the
rainfall and runoff in the Seine River and proved that rainfall contributes significantly to
river flow. He also measured evaporation and capillarity. Mariotte recorded the velocity
of flow in the Seine River and made measurements of the cross section, estimating the
discharge. Halley measured evaporation of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Bernoulli piezometer and theorem, the Pitot tube and Chezy's formula are
representative achievements of the 18th century. During 19th century experimental
hydrology made considerable progress: Darcy's law of flow in porous media and Dupuit-
Thiem's well formula was elaborated.

Early 20th-century governmental agencies developed their own programs of hydrologic

research. Sherman's unit hydrograph, Horton's infiltration theory and Theis's non-
equilibrium approach to well hydraulics was based on their analyses and were the results
of research programs. After 1950 the progress in sciences and the high-speed digital
computers opened new perspectives in hydrology.
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VII. Post test

Directions: Please answer the following problems.

1) The annual water budget of each continent is given in the table below.

Table 1 Annual Water Budget, by continent (A. Musy, A.Ward, W.Elliot,

Environmental Hydrology, Lewis Publishers, 1995)*

The average annual rate

Continent Surface(106 km2) Precipitation evaporation Total
(mm) (mm) runoff (mm)
Europe 9.9 734 414 320
Asia 45.0 726 432 294
Africa 30.3 686 546 140
North
24.7 670 383 287
America
South
17.8 1648 1064 584
America
Australia 8.8 737 511 226
Average = Average =
Total = 136.6 Average = 867
558 309

Questions:

1. Convert the annual water budget to km3 over Europe, which has a surface area of
9.9*106 km2.
2. Determine the annual water budget in km 3 over all continents.
3. Determine the evaporation rate as percentage of precipitation in each continent.
Where is recorded the highest rate?