The document discusses ecohydrology and its importance for sustainable construction. It promotes using green infrastructure like wetlands to restore natural hydrological processes. It also discusses hydrogeology, the study of groundwater properties and flow through geological formations. It explains key concepts like porosity, specific yield, water table levels and how they are impacted by seasonal variations and human activities.
The document discusses ecohydrology and its importance for sustainable construction. It promotes using green infrastructure like wetlands to restore natural hydrological processes. It also discusses hydrogeology, the study of groundwater properties and flow through geological formations. It explains key concepts like porosity, specific yield, water table levels and how they are impacted by seasonal variations and human activities.
The document discusses ecohydrology and its importance for sustainable construction. It promotes using green infrastructure like wetlands to restore natural hydrological processes. It also discusses hydrogeology, the study of groundwater properties and flow through geological formations. It explains key concepts like porosity, specific yield, water table levels and how they are impacted by seasonal variations and human activities.
The document discusses ecohydrology and its importance for sustainable construction. It promotes using green infrastructure like wetlands to restore natural hydrological processes. It also discusses hydrogeology, the study of groundwater properties and flow through geological formations. It explains key concepts like porosity, specific yield, water table levels and how they are impacted by seasonal variations and human activities.
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ECOHYDROLOGY
Ecohydrology Relating to construction
- In building projects, ecohydrology is especially important for land development, infrastructure, and water resource management. It supports efficient water resource management through the use of drainage systems, stormwater runoff, erosion control, and flood mitigation. In addition, ecohydrology provides strategies for assessing and mitigating environmental impacts, taking into account elements such as changes in the aquatic environment, changes in the hydrological regime, and pollution of water sources.
Ecohydrology minimizes adverse effects on ecosystems and water resources, hence
promoting sustainable construction techniques. This involves imitating natural hydrological processes with green infrastructure, such as wetlands and permeable pavements. Efforts to restore and conserve habitat, such as riparian buffers, wetlands restoration, reuniting split water bodies, and restoring natural hydrological regimes, are guided by ecohydrological concepts.
Water-efficient design strategies, such as low-impact development methods, irrigation
system optimization, and water recycling, are encouraged by ecohydrology. It is essential for resilience planning, climate change adaption, and building projects. Ecohydrology ensures resilient infrastructure design by including natural buffers to reduce the danger of erosion and floods.
HYDROGEOLOGY o The study of groundwater hydrology is based on the fundamental properties of both water and the media through which it flows. Groundwater is present in many kinds of rocks. Groundwater occurrence, origin, and dispersion are determined by the type and content of geological formations. It's critical to identify the groundwater regulation parameters. When discussing the existence of groundwater, some of the most important factors to take into account are the features of the surface, the types of rock formations, the structures, and how they react in space and depth. o Most of the rocks existing near the Earth's surface are composed of both solids and voids. The solid part is much more obvious than the voids. But, without the voids, there would be no groundwater to supply to the wells and springs. The presences of voids are responsible for the occurrence of water in the subsurface. o Storage Properties: o The important storage properties of aquifers are: a) Porosity b) Specific yield c) And specific retention.
o Presence of Voids in rocks:
There are different kinds of voids(open spaces) in rocks. These are called as pore spaces. If the voids were formed at the same time as the rock, they are referred to as primary openings. The pores in sand and gravel and in other unconsolidated deposits are primary opening 1. Porosity: The total number of pore spaces in a unit volume of rock is referred to as porosity. The quantity of vacant spaces or interstices in a substance, such as rock or soil, is measured as its porosity. Porosity is a dimensionless quantity that can be expressed as a percentage or as a decimal fraction. Put differently, the quantity of water that may be retained in a specific volume of rock or soil is known as porosity. Vv a. Formula, n= V
Kinds of porosity: Hard rocks which are very compact in nature have very little or negligible intergranular porosity. However, processes like weathering, fracturing, etc. convert these impervious hard rocks into quite pervious formations. Porosity is of two major types as Primary porosity- Primary porosity is the porosity that forms when the sediment is deposited, whereas secondary porosity is formed after the sediment was deposited
Secondary porosity - Secondary porosity includes cavities produced by the suctioning of
carbonates and by fractures.
2. Specific yield (SY): Porosity, as we all know, is the capacity of an aquifer to retain or store water. It is unable to predict how much water a porous substance would release. Saturated materials only release a portion of the entire volume contained in their pores when water is drained from them by gravity. Its Specific Yield is the amount of water that a unit volume of the substance will release (Sy).
3. Specific retention (Sr): Specific retention (Sr) is the ratio of the volume of water that cannot be drained out to the total volume of the saturated aquifer. Since the specific yield represents the volume of water that a rock will yield by gravity drainage, the specific retention is the balance water available inside the rock.
Water Table o The water table is an underground boundary between the soil surface and the area where groundwater saturates spaces between sediments and cracks in rock. Water pressure and atmospheric pressure are equal at this boundary.
o The soil surface above the water table is called the unsaturated zone, where both oxygen and water fill the spaces between sediments. The unsaturated zone is also called the zone of aeration due to the presence of oxygen in the soil. Underneath the water table is the saturated zone, where water fills all spaces between sediments. The saturated zone is bounded at the bottom by impenetrable rock.
There may be differences in the water table level even within the same area. Seasonal and annual variations in precipitation are the cause of variations in the water table level. In other country the water table rises in winter and spring when there is a lot of precipitation and snowmelt. However, there is a delay between the rising water table and the point at which precipitation enters the saturated zone. This is due to the fact that, despite gravity's assistance, water must gradually seep through the gaps between sediments in order to reach the saturated zone and during the summer season plants absorb water from the soil surface before it reaches the water table, the water table tends to drop. Groundwater is pumped out of wells for agricultural irrigation and drinking water, which has an impact on the level of the water table. Existing wells can be used to assess the water table's depth to ascertain how groundwater is affected by the seasons, the climate, and human activity.
