HYDROLOGIC CYCLE AND THE WATER BUDGET

HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
Hydrologic cycle is the constant cyclic movement of water from the ground to the
atmosphere and back to the ground.

The hydrologic cycle is by no means a simple link but a group of numerous paths
through which the water
in nature circulates and
transformed.

The hydrologic cycle has

important influences in a
variety of fields including
agriculture, forestry,
geography, economics,
sociology and politics.

Engineering applications
of the knowledge of the
hydrologic cycle, and
hence the subjects of
hydrology, are found in
the design operation of
projects dealing with
water supply, irrigation
and drainage, water
power, flood control,
navigation, coastal
works, salinity control,
management of
droughts and
recreational uses of
water.

COMPONENTS

The main components of the hydrologic cycle can be broadly classified as

transportation (flow) components and storage components.

TRANSPORTATION COMPONENTS STORAGE COMPONENTS

Precipitation Storage on the land surface
Evaporation (depression storage, ponds, lakes,
Transpiration reservoirs, etc.)
Infiltration Soil moisture storage
Runoff Groundwater storage

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 1. Evaporation – the process by which liquid water is converted into water vapor as
water is heated by the sun and it’s surface molecules become sufficiently energized to
break free of the attractive force binding them together.
2. Transpiration – the process by which water vapor is emitted into the atmosphere
from plant surfaces.
3. Evapotranspiration – is the combination of water release to the atmosphere by
evaporation and transpiration.
4. Condensation – the process by which water vapor condenses back into liquid after
it rises and cools in the atmosphere. When condensation occurs at the ground level,
the resulting water droplets are called dew.
5. Precipitation – the discharge of water out of the atmosphere, generally onto land or
water surface. It is also commonly used to designate the quantity of water that is
precipitated and is the primary input quantity to the hydrologic cycle.
6. Interception – the process by which precipitation is caught and held by foliage,
twigs, and branches of trees, shrubs, and other vegetation, and lost by evaporation,
never reaching the surface of the ground.
7. Infiltration – the movement of water through the soil surface into the soil which is
controlled by soil texture, soil structure, vegetation and soil moisture status.
8. Surface Runoff – the portion of water which does not infiltrate the soil but flows over
the surface of the ground to a stream channel. It is also known as overland flow.

9. Percolation – precipitation that moves downward, percolates or infiltrates through

cracks, joints and pores in soil and rocks until it reaches the water table where it
becomes groundwater.
10. Interflow – lateral movement of percolated water. Some water that is precipitated
seeps through soil and continues to follow the slope. This water is eventually
discharged into rivers, streams, and lakes.
11. Groundwater flow – a body of water found in a deep aquifer zone that flows
laterally and eventually merges with rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans.

PROBLEMS IN HYDROLOGY

Extreme weather and rainfall variation

Streamflow and major flood devastation
River routing and hydraulic conditions Over-all
water supply – local and global scales
Flow and hydraulics in pipes, streams, and
channels
Flood control and drought measures
Watershed management for urban
development

Flooding: Excess Water that Inundates

Causes:

Highly developed (urbanized) area

Intensity and duration of rainfall
Flat topography with little storage
Poor building practices in flood prone areas
No replacement of lost storage as area grows

Where do we get data?

Topographic Data (NAMRIA)

Rainfall and Evaporation Data (PAGASA)

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 Environmental Data (EMB)
Soils (BSWM) Stream flow
Data (BRS)
UNIT OF MEASUREMENT

Rainfall volume is normally measure in inches or cm

Rainfall rate or intensity in in/hr or cm/hr
Infiltration is measured in in/hr or cm/hr
Evaporation is measured in in/hr or cm/hr
Streamflow is measured in cfs or 𝑚³/𝑠
One acre-ft of volume is 43,560 𝑓𝑡³ of water
1 ac-in/hr is approximately equal to 1.008 cfs
1 mile is 5,280 ft
1 𝑓𝑡³ is 7.48052 gallons
Ground water flows are measures as 𝑓𝑡³/𝑑𝑎𝑦 or 𝑚 ³ / 𝑑 𝑎 𝑦

GLOBAL FRESH WATER RESOURCES

1. Glaciers and Permanent Ice Caps – they are located in about 10% of the world’s
land mass. It is estimated that Greenland and Antarctica account for most of this
category of water.
2. Groundwater – groundwater represents the second-most abundantly available
freshwater resource and constitute about 30% of freshwater resources of the globe.

3. Freshwater lakes – natural freshwater lakes account about 0.26% of the freshwater
resources. More than 50% of these lakes are found in Canada.
4. Reservoirs – are artificial lakes created by humans through construction of dams
across rivers. Most of the water in these reservoirs, estimated to be of the order if 4300
𝑘𝑚3 are used for beneficial purposes such as irrigation, drinking water, hydropower
generation and industrial use.
5. Wetlands – a part of the freshwater resource amounting to about 0.04% is
distributed in the globe as wetlands, marshes, lagoons, swamps, bogs, and mires.
These water-bearing bodies play a very important role in maintaining the freshwater
ecology as well as in the recharge of groundwater.
6. Rivers – flowing water in rivers forms one of the most important part of freshwater
resources sustaining human activity and ecology in the world. It accounts 0.006% of
freshwater resource.

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THE WATERSHED OR BASIN
Catchment Area

The area of land draining into a stream or a water course at a given location is known
as the catchment area. It is also known as drainage area or drainage basin. In the USA,
it is known as watershed. The catchment area affords a logical and convenient unit to

study various aspects

relating to the hydrology and water resources of a region. It is probably the single most
important drainage characteristic used in hydrologic analysis and design. Watershed

Characteristics
Size
Slope
Shape
Soil type
Storage capacity

Watershed Shapes

Important hydrologic
characteristic
Elongated or
concentrated shape
Affects timing and
peak flow
Created by
morphology of stream

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 THE WATER BUDGET
GLOBAL ANNUAL WATER BALANCE

ITEM OCEAN LAND

1. Area (M 𝑘𝑚²) 361.30 148.8

2. Precipitation (𝑘𝑚³⁄𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟) 458,000 119,000

1270 800
(𝑚𝑚⁄𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟)

3. Evaporation (𝑘𝑚³⁄𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟) 505,000 72,000

(𝑚𝑚⁄𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟) 1400 484

4. Runoff to ocean
(i) Rivers (𝑘𝑚³/𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟) 44,700
(ii) Groundwater (𝑘𝑚³⁄𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟) 2,200

Total runoff (𝑘𝑚³⁄𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟) 47,000

(𝑚𝑚⁄𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟) 316
Table from World Water Balance and Water Resources of the Earth, UNESCO, 1975

WATER BALANCE OF CONTINENTS IN mm/year

WATER BALANCE OF OCEANS IN mm/year

WATER-BUDGET EQUATION
Water Budget is the accounting or allocation of water to each of the component of
the hydrologic cycle.

The hydrologic continuity equation for any

system is:

Where:
I = inflow in vol/time
Q = outflow in vol/time

dS/dt = change in storage in vol/time

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Applying the continuity equation to a basin or watershed for a given period of time,
the overall water budget, in units of depth (mm or cm) over the watershed will be:

𝑃−𝑅−𝐺−𝐸−𝑇=∆𝑆
where:

P – precipitation R –
runoff or outflow
G – groundwater flow
E – evaporation
T – transpiration
∆𝑆 – change in storage

In terms of rainfall-runoff relationship, the equation can be represented as

𝑅=𝑃−𝐿
Where L = losses = water not available to runoff due to infiltration (causing additional
soil moisture and groundwater storage), evaporation, transpiration, and surface
storage. A runoff coefficient can be defined as the ratio of R/P for any watershed.

Note that
infiltration I is a loss from the surface and a gain to groundwater and thus cancels out
of the overall budget above.

The storage S consists of three components as

Where:

Example 1:

A lake had a water surface elevation of 103.200 m above datum at the beginning of a
𝑚
certain month. In that month, the lake receive an average inflow of 6.03 from surface
𝑠
runoff sources. In the same period, the outflow from the lake had an average value of
6 3𝑠 . Further, in that month, the lake received a rainfall f 145mm and the evaporation
𝑚
.
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from the lake surface was estimated as 6.10cm. Write the water-budget equation for
the lake and calculate the water surface elevation of the lake at the end of the month.
The average lake-surface area can be taken as 5,000 ha. Assume that there is no
contribution to or from the groundwater storage.

Solution:
Given:

𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 103.200 𝑚

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 ACTIVITY

Answer the following questions. Show your complete solutions. Round off to 3 decimal
places.

1.

2.

REFERENCES: Subramanya, K., Engineering Hydrology, McGraw Hill, Allapakkam, Porur, Chennal, India,

2021. Srivasstava, R., et.al, Engineering Hydrology, McGraw Hill, Allapakkam, Porur, Chennal, India,

2017. Chin, D., Water-Resource Engineering, Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River New Jersey,

2013.