HYDROLOGY

CHAPTER 1.0

Hydrology is a multidisciplinary subject that deals with the occurrence, circulation storage, and distribution of surface
and ground water on the earth. The domain of hydrology includes the physical, chemical, and biological reactions of
water in natural and man-made environments. Because of the complex nature of the hydrologic cycle and its relation to
weather inputs and climatic patterns, soil types, topography, geomorphology, and other related factors, the boundary
between hydrology and other earth sciences (i.e., meteorology, geology, oceanography, and ecology) is not distinct.

Gravel

Sand

Clay
 Silt

Topography

Geomorphology is the study of landforms, their processes, form and sediments at the surface of the Earth
(and sometimes on other planets). Study includes looking at landscapes to work out how the earth surface
processes, such as air, water and ice, can mould the landscape.

(Geomorphology)

Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and
forecasting. Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events which illuminate and are explained by
the science of meteorology. Those events are bound by the variables that exist in Earth's atmosphere.

(Meteorology)
Geology is the study of the Earth, the materials of which it is made, the structure of those materials, and the
processes acting upon them. It includes the study of organisms that have inhabited our planet.

(Geology)

Oceanography is the study of the physical, chemical, and biological features of the ocean, including the
ocean's ancient history, its current condition, and its future.

(Oceanography)

Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical
environment; it seeks to understand the vital connections between plants and animals and the world around
them.

(Ecology)
The study of hydrology also includes topics from traditional fluid mechanics, hydrodynamics, and water resources
engineering (Maidment, 1993; Mays, 2001). In addition, many modern hydrologic problems include considerations of
water quantity, and contaminant transport. Water quality topics, though important, are not included in this text due to
space limitations; they have been covered in a number of modern sources on surface water quality (Huber, 1993; Chapra,
1997; Martin and McCutcheon, 1999) and ground water hydrology and contamination (Bedient et al., 1999; Fetter,
1999; Charbeneau, 2000).

Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the
forces on them.

(Fluid Mechanics)

Hydrodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with the motion of fluids and the forces acting on solid bodies immersed
in fluids and in motion relative to them.

(Hydrodynamics)

Water Resource Engineering is a specific kind of civil engineering that involves the design of new systems and
equipment that help manage human water resources.

(Water Resources Engineering)

The hydrologic cycle is a continuous process in which water is evaporated from water surfaces and the oceans, moves
inland as moist air masses, and produces precipitation if the correct vertical lifting conditions exist. The precipitation
that falls from clouds onto the land surface of the earth is dispersed to the hydrologic cycle via several pathways. (Fig. 1-
1). A portion of the precipitation P, or rainfall, is retained on the soil near where it falls and returns to the atmosphere
via evaporation E, the conversion of water to water vapor from a water surface, and transpiration T, the loss of water
vapor through plants tissue and leaves. The combined loss, called evapotranspiration ET, is a maximum value if the
water supply in the soil is adequate at all times. These parameters are further discussed in subsequent section of this
chapter and Section 2.6.

(Precipitation)

(Evaporation)

(Transpitation)
 (Evapotranspiration)

Some water enters the soil system as infiltration F, which is a function of soil moisture conditions and soil type, and may
reenter channels later as interflow or may percolate to recharge the shallow ground water. Groundwater G flows in
porous media in the subsurface in either shallow or deeper aquifer systems that can be pumped for water supply to
agricultural and municipal water systems.

(Infiltration)

(Ground Water)

The remaining portion of precipitation becomes overland flow or direct runoff R, which flows generally in a down-
gradient direction to accumulate in local streams that then flow to rivers. Hydrologic analysis to determine runoff
response from a watershed area is covered in Chapter 2. Evaporation and infiltration are both complex losses from input
rainfall and are difficult to measure or compute from theoretical methods, covered in detail in Sections 2.6, 2.7, and 2.8.
 (Runoff)

Surface and ground water flow from higher elevations toward lower elevations and may eventually discharge into the
ocean, especially after large rainfall events (Fig. 1-1a). However, large quantities of surface water and portions of ground
water return to the atmosphere by evaporation or ET, thus completing the natural hydrologic cycle (Fig. 1-1b).
Precipitation from the atmosphere is a major force that drives the hydrologic cycle, and understanding major weather
parameters and systems is important for the prediction of precipitation events (see Section 1.3).
Ancient History

Biswas (1972), in a concise treatment of the history of hydrology, describes the early water management practices of the
Sumerians and Egyptians in the Middle East and the Chinese along the banks of the Huang He (Yellow River).
Archeological evidence exists for hydraulic structures that were built for irrigation and other water control activities. A
dam was built across the Nile about 4000 B.C., and later a canal for fresh water was constructed between Cairo and Suez.

Huang He (Yellow River)

The Greek philosophers were the first serious students of hydrology, with Aristotle proposing the conversion of moist air
into water deep inside mountains as the source of springs and streams. Homer suggested the idea of an underground
sea as the source of all surface waters. The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to serve large cities as well as
small towns and industrial sites. The Romans had the largest collection with water being supplied by 11 aqueducts
constructed over a period of about 500 years. Figure 1-2 shows one of the famous aqueducts built in France during that
early period. They served potable water and supplied the numerous baths and fountains in the city, as well as finally
being emptied into the sewers, where the once-used gray water performed their last function in removing wastes. The
construction of the Roman aqueducts is considered one of the most important engineering feats in history.
An aqueduct is a watercourse constructed to carry water from a source to a distribution point far away. In
modern engineering, the term aqueduct is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other
structures used for this purpose.

Streamflow measurement techniques were first attempted in the water system of Rome (A. D. 97) based on the cross-
sectional area of flow. It remained for Leonardo da Vinci to discover the proper relationship between area, velocity, and
flow rate during the Italian Rennaissance. The first recorded measurement of rainfall and surface flow was made in the
seventeenth century by Perrault. He compared measured rainfall to the estimated flow of the Seine River to show the
two were related. Perrault’s findings were published in 1694. Halley, the English astronomer (1656 – 1742), used a small
pan to estimate evaporation from the Medditerranean Sea and concluded that it was enough to account for tributary
flows. Mariotte gaged the velocity of flow in the Seine River in Paris. These early beginnings of the science of hydrology
provided the foundation for numerous advances in the eighteenth century, including Bernoulli’s theorem, the Pitot tube
for measuring velocity, and the Chezy (1769) formula, which form the basis for modern hydraulics and fluid
measurement.

(Streamflow Measurement)

During the nineteenth century, significant advances in ground water hydrology and hydraulics occurred. Darcy’s law for
flow porous media was a major advance, as well as the Dupuit-Thiem well flow formula. In addition, the Hagen-
Poiseuille capillary flow equation was developed describe flow in small channels. The Darcy-Weisbach equation for pipe
flow was also developed during this same period in the 1850s. In surface water hydrology, many flow formulas and
measuring instruments were developed that allowed for the beginning of systematic stream gaging. In 1867, discharge
measurement were organized on the Rhine River at Basel and quickly expanded throughout Europe.
The U.S. Geological Survey set up the first systematic program of flow measurement in the United States on the
Mississippi in 1888. During this same period, the United States founded a number of hydrologic agencies, including the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1802), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS, 1879), the Weather Bureau (1891), and the
Mississippi River Commission (1893). The Price current meter was invented in 1885, and Manning’s formula was
introduced in 1889 (Manning, 1889). The Weather Bureau is now called the National Weather Service (NWS) and is one
of six organizations underneath the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA is the agency
responsible for weather data collection and severe-storm, river, and hurricane forecasting for the United States, and
many of its websites are listed throughout the textbook. The USGS gaging network for rainfall, streamflow, and water
quantity is one of the most extensive in the world.

(Price Current Meter)

Early History (1930s – 1950s)

The period from 1930 to 1950, which Chow (1964) called the Period of Rationalization, produced a significant step
forward for the field of hydrology, as government agencies began to develop their own programs of hydrologic research.
Sherman’s unit hydrograph (1932). Horton’s infiltration theory (1993), and Thei’s non-equilibrium equation (1935) in
well hydraulics advanced the state of hydrology in very significant ways. Gumbel (1958) proposed the use of extreme-
value distributions for frequency analysis of hydrologic data, thus forming the basis for modern statistical hydrology. In
this period, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), the NWS within NOAA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),
and the USGS made significant contributions in hydrologic theory and the development of a national networks of gages
for precipitation, evaporation, and streamflow measurements. The NWS is still largely responsible for rainfall
measurements, reporting and forecasting of severe storms, and other related hydrologic investigations.

The U.S. ACOE and the USDA Soil Conversation Service (now called the Natural Resources Conversation Service – NRCS)
made significant contributions to the field of hydrology in relation to flood control, reservoir development, irrigation,
and soil conservation during this period. More recently, the USGS has taken significant strides to set up a national
network of stream gages and rainfall gages for both quantity and quality data. Their water supply publications and
special investigations have done much to advance the field of hydrology by presenting the analysis of complex
hydrologic data to develop relationships and explain hydrologic processes. The logic data to develop relationships and
explain hydrologic processes. The NWS and USGS both support numerous websites for the dissemination of watershed
information and precipitation and streamflow data from thousands of gages around the country.

A streamgage contains instruments that measure and record the amount of water flowing in the river or stream, or its
discharge. Generally, these measurements occur automatically every 15 minutes or more frequently in times of flooding.

A rain gauge (also known as an udometer, pluviometer, or an ombrometer) is an instrument used by meteorologists and
hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of liquid precipitation over an area in a predefined period of time.

A watershed is an area of land that drains or “sheds” water into a specific waterbody. Every body of water has
a watershed. Watersheds drain rainfall and snowmelt into streams and rivers. These smaller bodies of water flow into
larger ones, including lakes, bays, and oceans.
 (Stream Gage)

(Rail Gauge)

(Watersheds)

The government agencies in the United States have long performed vital research themselves, providing funding for
private and university research in the hydrologic area. Many of the water resources studies and large dam, reservoir,
and flood control projects in the 1930s and 1940s were a direct result of advances in the fields of fluid mechanics,
hydrologic systems, statistical hydrology, evaporation analysis, and flood routing, and operation research. Many of the
advances from that era continue to this day as the methods to predict runoff, infiltration, and evaporation, have not
changed much in over 50 years. Major contributions from Horton (1933, 1940, 1941) and from Penman (1948) in
understanding hydrologic losses were related to the water and irrigation needs to the agricultural sector in the United
States following the devastation of the dust bowl era of the 1930s.
Major water resources projects built during the 1930s were a direct result of major floods on the Mississippi River and
the economic depression across the nation. The building of the massive Hoover Dam on the Colorado River for flood and
sediment control and water supply in the early 1930s provided employment for over 40,000 and was the largest
construction project ever conceived to that point.

(Hoover Dam)

Modern History

In the 1950s and 1960s, the tremendous increase of urbanization following the World War II in the United States and
Europe led to better methods for predicting peak flows from floods, for understanding impacts from urban expansion,
and for addressing variations in storage in water supply reservoirs. Major expansion of cities and water systems within
the United States during the 1950s led to a need for better understanding of floods and droughts especially in urban
areas. Water resource studies become an everyday occurrence in many rapidly developing areas of the United States,
tied to the expansion of population centers in the southern, southwestern, and western states. Hydrologic analyses
presented in detain in Chapter 2 through 9 in the text were a major component of many of these studies.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the evaluation and delineation of floodplain boundaries became a major function of
hydrologists, as required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and local flood control drainage
districts. In order for communities to be eligible for flood insurance administered by FEMA, they are required to
delineate floodplain boundaries using hydrologic analysis and models. Floodplain analysis is covered in Chapters 5, 7, 9,
and 12. This function has taken on a vital role in many urban areas, as damages from severe floods and hurricanes
continue to plague the United States, especially in coastal and low-lying areas. The period from 2004 to 2010 accounted
for numerous hurricanes that caused massive damages and deaths in several areas, especially along the coastlines of
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The Massive Mississippi flood of 1993 wreaked havoc within the
central United States, and was repeated in 2011 with major devastation to states from Illinois south to Louisiana.

In recent years, the traditional approaches to flood control have been reassessed. A study titled “Higher Ground” from
the National Wildlife Federation (1998) found a number of communities with large numbers of repetitive flood losses,
such as New Orleans, and Houston. Since the great Midwestern flood of 1993, there has been a significant shift in
national flood policy away from using only structural solutions, such as levee and channel construction. Flood damage
from Tropical Storm Allison in Houston in 2001 was a major wake-up call for better protection and warning systems in
critical urban areas. The massive devastation from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in August 2005 and Hurricane Ike in
2008 in Houston-Galvenston will provide long-lasting incentive to improve our ability to warn for and recover from
severe storms. Modern methods for structural flood control, as well as nonstructural approaches, better management of
flood-prone areas, and voluntary property buyouts, must be considered in any overall flood management plan (Chapter
12). Chapter 13 explores several major water resources projects across the United States and Asia in terms of
engineering significance as well as associated environmental and policy impacts on the nation.
Computer Advances

The introduction of the digital computer into hydrology during the 1960s and 1970s allowed complex water problems to
be simulated as complete systems for the first time. Large computer models can now be used to match historical data
and help answer difficult hydrologic questions (Singh and Frevert, 2006). The development of these tools over the past
few decades has helped direct the collection of the hydrologic data to calibrate, or “match,” the models against
observation. In the process, the understanding of the hydrologic system has been greatly advanced. Hydrologic
computer models developed in the 1970s have been applied to areas previously unstudied or only empirically defined.
For example, urban stormwater, floodplain and watershed hydrology, drainage design, reservoir design and operation,
flood frequency analysis, and large-river basin management have all benefited from the application of computer models.

Hydrologic simulation models applied to watershed analysis are described in detail in Chapter 5. Single-event models
such as HEC-HMS are used to simulate or calculate the resulting storm hydrograph (discharge vs time) from a well-
defined watershed area for a given pattern of rainfall intensity. Continuous models such as the Hydrographical
Simulation Program – Fortran (HSPF) and the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) can account for soil moisture
storage, evapotranspiration, and antecedent rainfall over long time periods. Statistical models can be used to generate a
time series of rainfall or streamflow data, which can then be analyzed with flood frequency methods.

Newer distributed hydrologic models (i.e., VFLO and the MIKE series of models) can handle input, output, and data
manipulation at the watershed level (see Chapter 5, 10, 11, and 12). Unquestionably new digital approaches combined
with distributed terrain modeling have revolutionized hydrology in recent years, just as the original wave of models did
in the decade of the 1970s. Also faster computers and available datasets have been instrumental in advancing the field.

The data revolution in hydrology and geographical information systems (GIS) have made available newer and more
accurate datasets on topography, slope, rainfall, soils, land use, and channel characteristics for many areas. Moreover,
most hydrological and meteorological data may be retrieved online from agencies such as the USGS and NWS, and
various country and municipal sources. These datasets, combined with existing simulation models in hydrology, if
applied correctly, provide the most accurate approach to understanding complex water resources systems, and a new
era in the science of hydrology has begun this decade. New design and operating policies are being advanced and
implemented that could not have been realized or tested before without the aid of sophisticated computer models
linked with digital data.