UNIT- I:

Introduction: Hydrologic cycle, water budgeting, scenario of water

resources in India, hydrology applications in engineering.
Precipitation: forms, characteristics and measurement of
precipitation, rain gauge network, mean precipitation over an area,
depth-area-duration relationships, depth-duration-frequency
relationship, Probable Maximum Precipitation.
Infiltration, infiltration capacity, infiltration indices, factors affecting
infiltration, evaporation, and evapotranspiration
Hydrology & Hydrologic cycle:
Water is one of our most precious natural resources. Without it, there
would be no life on earth. Hydrology has evolved as a science in
response to the need to understand the complex water system of the
earth and help solve water problems.
Hydrology is the science that encompasses the occurrence,
distribution, movement and properties of the waters of the earth and
their relationship with the environment within each phase of the
hydrologic cycle. The water cycle, or hydrologic cycle, is a
continuous process by which water is purified by evaporation and
transported from the earth's surface (including the oceans) to the
atmosphere and back to the land and oceans.
Hydrologic cycle:

• Hydrologic CYCLE has no beginning and no end

• Water evaporates from surface of the ocean, land, plants.
• Evaporated water is pure (salts are left behind).
• When atmospheric conditions are suitable, water vapor
condenses and forms droplets.

Precipitation falling on land surface enters into a number of different

pathways of the hydrologic cycle:
 some temporarily stored on land surface as ice and snow or
 depression storage.
 some will drain across land to a stream channel (overland flow).
 If surface soil is porous, some water will seep into the ground by
a process called infiltration (ultimate source of recharge to
groundwater).

 Top of saturated zone is called the water table.

 Water stored in the saturated zone is known as ground water
(groundwater)
 Groundwater contribution to a stream is called baseflow
 Total f low in a stream is runoff
 Water stored on the surface of the earth in ponds, lakes, rivers is
called surface water
 Precipitation intercepted by plant leaves can evaporate to
atmosphere
Groundwater components:
Vadose zone = unsaturated zone
Phreatic zone = saturated zone
Intermediate zone (separates phreatic zone from soil water)
Water table marks bottom of capillary water and beginning of
saturated zone.
Hydrologic Equation:
Hydrologic cycle is a network of inflows and outflows, expressed as
Input - Output = Change in Storage (1)

On a global scale
atmosphere gains moisture from oceans and land areas E
releases it back in the form of precipitation P.
P is disposed of by evaporation to the atmosphere E,
overland flow to the channel network of streams Qo/Ro,
Infiltration through the soil F.
Water in the soil is subject to transpiration T, outflow to the channel
network Qo, and recharge to the groundwater RN.
Water balance equation:
The groundwater reservoir may receive water Qi and release water Qo
to the channel network of streams and atmosphere.
Streams receiving water from groundwater aquifers by base flow are
termed effluent or gaining streams.
Streams losing water to groundwater are called influent or losing
streams
A basin scale hydrologic subsystem is connected to the global scale
through P, Ro , equation (1) may be reformulated as
P - E - T -Ro = ΔS (2)
Equation (2) may be expanded or abbreviated depending on what part
of the cycle we are interested in. for example, for groundwater
component, equation (2) may be written as
RN + Qi - T -Qo =ΔS (3)

Over long periods of time, provided basin is in its natural state and no
groundwater pumping taking place, RN and Qi are balanced by T and
Qo, so change in storage is zero. This gives:
RN + Qi = T + Q0 (4)

=> groundwater is hydrologically in a steady state.

If pumping included, equation (4) becomes
RN + Qi - T -Qo - Qp =ΔS (5)
Qp= added withdrawal (pumping).
If pumping exceeds these values, water is continually
removed from storage and water level will continue to fall over time.
Here, the steady state has been replaced by a transient or
unsteady state.

Water balance equation:

Water input from precipitation – evapotranspiration of precipitation –
evapotranspiration of groundwater – stream flow discharging to the
sea – groundwater discharging to the sea – spring flow = change in
storage
P –ETp – ETgw –Qswo – Qgwo –Qso = ∆S
 Example:

Inflows ft3/s Outflows ft3/s

1. Precipitation 2475 2. E & T 1175

3. GW discharge to 725
sea/any other use

4. Streamflow to 525
sea/any other use

5. ET of gw 25

6. Spring flow 25

2475 – 1175 -25 -525 -25 = ∆S

Scenario of Water Resources in India:
Rivers in India:

Major Dams in India:

Bhavani Sagar dam/Tamil Nadu/Bhavani
Tungabhadra Dam/Karnataka/Tungabhadra
Rihand Dam/Uttar Pradesh/Rihand
Maithon Dam/Jharkhand/Barakar
Koyna Dam/Maharashtra/Koyna
Bisalpur Dam/Rajasthan/Banas
Mettur Dam Tamil Nadu Kaveri
Krishnarajasagar Dam/Karnataka/Kaveri
Indira Sagar Dam/Madhya Pradesh/Narmada
Cheruthoni Dam/Kerala/Cheruthoni
Sardar Sarovar Dam/Gujarat/Narmada
Nagarjuna Sagar Dam/Telangana/Krishna
Srisailam dam/AP/Krishna
Hirakud dam/Odisha/Mahanadi
Bhakra Nangal Dam/Punjab-Himachal Pradesh Border/Sutlej
Tehri Dam/Uttarakhand/Bhagirathi
Water Availability:

India possesses only 4% of the world's renewable water resources, it

is home to roughly 18% of the world's population.
India has an average annual precipitation of 4,000 billion cubic meters
(BCM), making it the country's primary source of freshwater.
The demand of water from various water users, namely, domestic,
municipal, agricultural, horticultural, recreation, power and industrial
sectors are increasing, and this has put tremendous pressure on the
water resources systems. The growing water pollution problems for
both surface water as well as groundwater have aggravated the water
availability problem.

Water Availability in Indian Scenario The geographical area of India

is about 329 million hectares (2.45 % of the earth’s land mass) and its
population is 139.34 crores (2021).

The annual rainfall varies from more than 10,000 mm in parts of

Meghalaya in the north-east to less than 500 mm in semi-arid parts of
Rajasthan and Gujarat.
In arid regions, it is even less than 100 mm.

India is basically an agricultural country and greater share of

population lives in rural areas. Drought and flood are the two opposite
phenomena affecting different parts of the country simultaneously.

The growing concern on availability of freshwater resources is raising

many questions pertaining to not only the economic development of
the nation, but also on the socioeconomic development as well as
sustainability of lives of mankind and biodiversity.

TBecause of uneven distribution of water resources in space (between

regions, states, or nations) and time (between years and between
seasons within a year), attempts have been made to distribute
freshwater resources as evenly as possible in many parts of the world
by engineering interventions. The concept of interbasin transfer of
water was emerged as an important strategy in the overall scenario of
development of water resources in the country.

The Indian programme for linking of rivers and transferring huge

volumes of water from one basin to other basin also is a step in this
direction, although order of the magnitude in this case is gigantic. The
interlinking project dealing with linking of national rivers is based on
the national perspective plan for water resources development
prepared by the Ministry of Water Resources in 1980.

Water Resources of India can be classified into:

 Surface water Resources
 Groundwater Resources

Surface Water Resources

In India, there are four significant surface water resources. They are
rivers, lakes, ponds, and tanks.
In India, there are around 400 rivers.
The total yearly flow in India's river basins is estimated to be 1,869
cubic kilometers. However, only roughly 690 cubics (37%)
kilometers of accessible surface water can be used.
Groundwater Resources
The country's total replenishable groundwater resources are around
432 cubic kilometers.
About 46% of the total replenishable groundwater resources are found
in the Ganga and Brahmaputra basins.
Usage of Water
Irrigation is by far the biggest consumer of India's water reserves,
accounting for 78 percent of total water reserves, followed by the
household sector(6%), and the industrial sector (5%).
In both urban and rural India, groundwater is a key supply of drinking
water. Groundwater reserves provide 45 percent of total irrigation and
80 percent of household water.
In some states, overuse of groundwater has led to a major scarcity of
water.
Hydrology applications in Engineering:
 Estimation of water resources.
 Study the components of the hydrological cycle like
precipitation, runoff, transpiration, and their interactions.
 Study the problems of floods and droughts and preventive
actions.
 Designing bridges, sewers, irrigation schemes, and urban
drainage systems.
 Designing dams for hydroelectric power irrigation or water
supply.
 Determination of Maximum Probable Flood
 Determination of Water yield from a basin
 It determines the water balance for a particular region.
 It mitigates and predicts flood, landslide and drought risk in the
region.
 Enables real-time flood forecasting and flood warning.

Precipitation
Precipitation is any form of solid or liquid water that falls from the
atmosphere to the earth‟s surface. Rain, drizzle, hail and snow are
examples of precipitation.
Evapotranspiration is the process which returns water to the
atmosphere and thus completes the hydrologic cycle.
Evapotranspiration consists of two parts, Evaporation and
Transpiration.
Evaporation is the loss of water molecules from soil masses and
water bodies. Transpiration is the loss of water from plants in the
form of vapour.
Precipitation types
1. Cyclonic precipitation (frontal & non frontal precipitation)
 Cyclonic activity causes cyclonic rain and it occurs along the
fronts of the cyclone.
 When two masses of air of unlike density, temperature, and
humidity meet then it is formed.
 The layer that separates them is known as the front.
 A warm front and the cold front are the two parts of the front.
 At the warm front, the warm lighter wind increases slightly over
the heavier cold air.
 As the warm air rises, it cools, and the moisture present in it
condenses to form clouds
 This rain falls gradually for a few hours to a few days.
2. Convective precipitation
 The air on getting heated becomes light and rises in
convection currents.
 As the air rises, it expands and drops the temperature
and subsequently, condensation takes place and
cumulus clouds are formed.
 Heavy rainfall with lightning and thunder takes place
which does not last long.
 Such rain is usually in the summer or the hotter part of
the day.
 This type of rainfall generally takes place in the
equatorial regions and internal parts of the continents,
predominantly in the northern hemisphere.
 This rainfall is usually associated with hail and graupel
3. Orographic precipitation
Precipitation caused by the air masses which strike the mountain
barriers and rise up, causing condensation and precipitation. The
greatest amount of precipitation will fall on the windward side of the
barrier and little amount of precipitation will fall on leave ward side.
Forms of Precipitation
1.Rain
Rain is a form of precipitation which is in the form of water drops of a
size that is larger than 0.5mm.
2. Snow
• Snow consists of ice crystals in a flaky form, having an average
density of 0.1g/cc. It is also an important form of precipitation that
usually forms in colder climates and higher altitudes.
3. Drizzle
• Drizzle is a fine sprinkle of tiny water droplets that have a size
less than 0.5mm and intensity greater than 1mm/h. The tiny drops that
form a drizzle appear floating in the air.
4. Glaze or Freezing Rain
• The glaze is formed when rain or drizzle comes in direct contact
with the cold ground at around 0 degrees celsius. This water drops
freeze to form an ice coating known as glaze.
5. Sleet
• Sleet is frozen raindrops that are formed when rainfall passes
through the air in the atmosphere at subfreezing temperatures.
6. Hail
• Hail is a kind of showery precipitation in the form of pellets or
lumps that have a size greater than 8mm. Hail occurs during the
violent thunderstorms.
Characteristics of precipitation in India
• Regions receiving heavy rainfall (more than 200 cm)
1. Slopes of the Western Ghats and the Western Coastal Plains.
2. Meghalaya Hills (Garo, Khasi and
Jaintia), the southern slopes of the Eastern Himalayas, Assam,
Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal.
• Regions receiving moderate rainfall (100-200 cm)
1.The southern part of Tamil Nadu and the northern parts of Andhra
Pradesh. 2.Middle Ganges Valley, some parts of the Western Ghats,
Eastern Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
• Regions receiving low rainfall (50-100 cm)
1. Parts of the Deccan plateau consisting of the regions of
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
2. Eastern Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Kashmir.
• Regions receiving scanty rainfall (5o cm and less)
1. Northern parts of Kashmir, southern Punjab and western
Rajasthan.
2. The rain shadow regions of the Western Ghats lying in the
Deccan Plateau.

Measurement of Precipitation:
One can measure the rain falling at a place by placing a measuring
cylinder graduated in a length scale, commonly in mm. In this way,
we are not measuring the volume of water that is stored in the
cylinder, but the depth of rainfall.
The cylinder can be of any diameter, and we would expect the same
depth even for large diameter cylinders provided the rain that is
falling is uniformly distributed in space.
Variation of rainfall
A catchment of a river is shown with four rain gauges, for which an
assumed recorded value of rainfall depth have been shown in the
table. It is on the basis of these discrete measurements of rainfall that
an estimation of the average amount of rainfall that has probably
fallen over a catchment has to be made. Three methods are commonly
used, which are discussed in the following section.

Average rainfall depth

The time of rainfall record can vary and may typically range from 1
minute to 1 day for non – recording gauges, recording gauges, on the
other hand, continuously record the rainfall and may do so from 1 day
1 week, depending on the make of instrument. For any time duration,
the average depth of rainfall falling over a catchment can be found by
the following three methods.
1) The Arithmetic Mean Method
2) The Thiessen Polygon Method
3) The Isohyetal Method

Arithmetic Mean Method

The simplest of all is the Arithmetic Mean Method, which taken an
average of all the rainfall depths. Average rainfall as the arithmetic
mean of all the records of the four rain gauges, as show in below:
Thiessen Polygon or weighted average method:
1. Joining the rain gauge station locations by straight lines to form
triangles
2. Bisecting the sides of the triangles to form the so-called
“Thiessen polygons”
3. Calculate the area enclosed around each rain gauge station
bounded by the polygon edges (and the catchment boundary,
wherever appropriate) to find the area of influence corresponding to
the rain gauge.
Ave depth of rain fall:

The Isohyetal method

This is considered as one of the most accurate methods, but it is
dependent on the skill and experience of the analyst. The method
requires the plotting of isohyets as shown in the figure and calculating
the areas enclosed either between the isohyets or between an isohyet
and the catchment boundary.
Isohyets: Lines drawn on a map passing through places having equal
amount of rainfall recorded during the same period at these places
(these lines are drawn after giving consideration to the topography of
the region).
Types of type Rain gauges:
1. Non recording type Rain gauge
2. Recording type Rain gauge

1. Non recording type Rain gauge

These rain gauges which do not record the depth of rainfall, but only
collect rainfall.
Symon‘s rain gauge is the usual non recording type of rain gauge. It
gives the total rainfall that has occurred at a particular period.
It essentially consists of a circular collecting area 127 mm in diameter
connected to a funnel.
The funnel discharges the rainfall into a receiving vessel. The funnel
and the receiving vessel are housed in a metallic container.
The water collected in the receiving bottle is measured by a graduated
measuring jar with an accuracy of 0.1 ml.
During heavy rains, measurement is done 3 to 4 times a day.
 Symon‘s rain gauge
Recording type Rain gauge
These are rain gauges which can give a permanent, automatic rainfall
record (without any bottle recording) in the form of a pen mounted on
a clock driven chart.
1. Weighing bucket rain gauge
2. Tipping bucket
3. Siphon or float type rain gauge

Advantages of recording rain gauges:

1. Necessity of an attendant does not arise
2. Intensity of rainfall at anytime as well as total rainfall is
obtained, where as non recording gauge gives only total rainfall.
3. Data from in accessible places (hilly regions) can be
continuously obtained once gauge is established.
4. Human errors are eliminated.
5. Time intervals are also recorded.
Disadvantages of recording rain gauges:
1. High initial investment cost.
2. Recording is not reliable when faults in gauge arise (mechanical
or electrical) till faults are corrected.
Weighing bucket rain gauge
• It consists of a receiving bucket supported by a spring or lever.
• The receiving bucket is pushed down due to the increase in
weight
(due to accumulating rain fall).
• The pen attached to the arm continuously records the weight on
a clock driven chart.
• From the mass curve the average intensity of rainfall (cm/hr)
can be obtained by calculating the slope of the curve at any instant of
time.
Tipping bucket
• This consists of receiver draining into a funnel of 30 cm
diameter.
• The catch (rainfall) from funnel falls into one of the pair of
small
buckets (tipping buckets).
• These buckets are so balanced that when 0.25 mm of rainfall
collects in one bucket, it tips and brings the other bucket into position.
• The tipping of the bucket is transmitted to an electricity driven
pen or to an electronic counter. This is useful in remote areas.

Siphon or float type rain gauge

A receiver and funnel arrangement drain the rainfall into a container,
in which a float mechanism at the bottom is provided. As water
accumulates, the float rises. A pen arm attached to the float
mechanism continuously records the rainfall on a clock driven chart
and also produces a mass curve of rain fall. When the water level rises
above the crest of the siphon, the accumulated water in the container
will be drained off by siphonic action. The rain gauge is ready to
receive the new rainfall.
Factors governing selection of site for rain gauge stations:
1. The site for rain gauge station should be an open space without the
presence of trees or any covering.
2. The rain gauge should be properly secured by fencing.
3. The site for rain gauge station should be a true representation of the
area which is supposed to give rainfall data.
4. The distance of any object or fence from the rain gauge should not
be less than twice the height of the object or fence and in no case less
than 30 m.
5. The rain gauge should not be set upon the peak or sides of a hill,
but on a nearby fairly level ground
6. The rain gauge should be protected from high winds.
7. The rain gauge should be easily accessible to the observers at all
times.
Rain gauge Density:
• The catchment area of a rain gauge is very small compared to
the areal extent of a storm.
• It becomes obvious that to get a representative picture of a storm
over a catchment, the number of rain gauges should be as many as
possible.
• On the other hand topographic conditions and accessibility
restrict the number of rain gauges to be set up. Hence one aims at
optimum number of rain gauges from which accurate information can
be obtained.
• From practical considerations IMD as per IS 4987 has
recommended the following rain gauge densities depending upon the
type of area.
a. Plain areas – 1 station per 520 km2
b. Areas with 1000 m average elevation - 1 station per 260 to 350km2
c. Predominantly hilly areas with heavy rainfall - 1 station per 130
km2
Estimation of Missing Rainfall data:
Graphical Representation of Rainfall data:
Mass curve:
Double mass curve – Rainfall correction:
Depth-Area-Duration Relationships:
• Depth-Area-Duration Relationships
• The areal distribution characteristics of a storm of given
duration is reflected in its depth-area-relationship.
• Depth-Area Relation
• For a rainfall of a given duration, the average depth decreases
with the area in an exponential fashion given by
Where , is average depth in cms over an area A km²,
P0 is highest amount of rainfall in cm at the storm centre
and K and n are constant for a given region.

Construct maximum depth-area- duration curve for the data given

below:

DAD curve-Solution:
The Depth-Duration-Frequency (DDF):
DF models, which are often referred to as intensity–duration–
frequency models, can then serve two purposes:
 to estimate the rainfall depth of a hypothetical event with a
given duration and rarity, and
 to assess the rarity of a storm event with known rainfall depth
and duration.
Problem:
a)

b)

b,c)
d)

Probable Maximum Precipitation:

Losses of Precipitation:
The hydrological equation states that Runoff = Rainfall – Losses.
Hence the runoff from a watershed resulting due to a storm is
dependent on the losses.

Losses may occur due to the following reasons

1. Evaporation
2. Evapotranspiration
3. Infiltration
4. Interception

Evaporation:
It is the process by which a liquid changes to gaseous state at the free
surface through transfer of heat energy.
In an exposed water body like lakes or ponds, water molecules are in
continuous motion with arrange of velocities (faster at the top and
slower at the bottom). Additional heat on water body increases the
velocities. When some water molecules possess ‘sufficient kinetic
energy they may cross over the water surface.
Factors affecting the Evaporation:
1. Vapour pressure difference: The number of molecules leaving or
entering a water body depends on the vapour pressure of water body
at the surface and also the vapour pressure of air. Higher water
temperature leads to high vapour pressure at surface and tends to
increase the rate of evaporation. High humidity in air tends to increase
vapour pressure in air and in turn reduces rate of evaporation.
2. Temperature of air and water: The rate of emission of molecules
from a water body is a function of its temperature. At higher
temperature molecules of water have greater energy to escape. Hence
maximum evaporation from water bodies takes place in summer. It
has been estimated that for every 1o C rise in atmospheric
temperature increases 5 cm of evaporation annually.
3. Wind Velocity: When wind velocity is more the saturated air
(humid air) is drifted away and dry air comes in contact with water
surface which is ready to absorb moisture. Hence rate of evaporation
is dependent on wind velocity. It has been estimated that 10%
increase in wind velocity increases 2
– 3% of evaporation.
4. Quality of water: The rate of evaporation of fresh water is greater
than saline water. (Specific gravity of saline water is greater than that
of fresh water. It is established that saline water has lesser vapour
pressure and it is observed that evaporation from fresh water is 3 –
4% more than sea water.
5. Atmospheric pressure and Altitude: Evaporation decreases with
increase in atmospheric pressure as the rate of diffusion from water
body into the air is suppressed. At higher altitude the atmospheric
pressure is usually lesser and there by evaporation rate is higher.
6. Depth of water body: Evaporation shallow water bodies is greater
when compared to deep water bodies as the water at lower levels in
deep water bodies is not heated much and vapour pressure at lower
levels is also reduced.
Measurement of Evaporation:
  US Class A Evaporation pan
 ISI Standard pan
 Colorado Sunken pan
 US Geological survey Floating pan

Evaporation pan

US Class A Evaporation pan:

ISI Standard pan:

Colorado Sunken pan:

US Geological survey Floating pan:
INFILTRATION: