Introduction Hydrology
Introduction Hydrology
(CE – 424)
– Civil Engineering
(Prepared by JOHN F. QUILLOPE CE
1. Basic Hydrology Concept
1.1. Introduction
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".
What is Hydrology?
– It is a science of water.
– It is the science that deals with the
occurrence, circulation and distribution of
water of the earth and earth’s atmosphere.
Watershed/
catchment
Watershed/
catchment
Wa
ter
s hed
div
ide
Catchment area….
If a permeable soil covers an impermeable substrate,
the topographical division of watershed will not
always correspond to the line that is effectively
delimiting the groundwater.
Watershed characteristics
Water Budget Equation
Evapo transpiration
Precipitation
Stream flow
(Runoff)
Inter flow
Infiltration
Base flow
Groundwater flow
1.3 World Water Budget
Total quantity of water in the world is
estimated as 1386 M km3
– 1337.5 M km3 of water is contained in
oceans as saline water
– The rest 48.5 M km3 is land water
13.8 M km3 is again saline
34.7 M km3 is fresh water
– 10.6 M km3 is both liquid and fresh
– 24.1 M km3 is a frozen ice and glaciers in the
polar regions and mountain tops
Global annual water balance
SN Item Ocean Land
1 Area (km2) 361.3 148.8
2 Precipitation (km3/year) 458,000 119,000
(mm/year) 1270 800
3 Evaporation (km3/year) 505,000 72,000
(mm/year) 1400 484
4 Runoff to ocean
Rivers (km3/year) 44,700
Groundwater (km3/year) 2,200