HYDROLOGY

Dr. Rachid Mohamed Mouhoumed

[email protected]

University of Djibouti
Week Topics
1 Definition of hydrology, role and significance of hydrology in civil engineering,
hydrologic cycle, fundamental equations of hydrology
2 Formation of precipitation , precipitation measurement, analysis of precipitation records

3 Mechanism of Evaporation, Evaporation from Water Surface, Evaporation from Soil and
Snow Surface, Transpiration and Interception, Evapotranspiration Losses
4 Infiltration capacity, infiltration velocity, infiltration indices

5 Ground Water Zones, Unsaturated Zone, Saturated Zone, Feeding and Losses of Ground
Water
6 Ground Water Flow, Flow in the Unsaturated Zone, Abstraction of Ground Water by
Wells, Measurement of Hydraulic Conductivity
7 Level and Water Surface Slope Measurements, Cross-Section measurements, Discharge
Measurements, Flow Rating Curve, Analysis of Streamflow Records
8 Characteristics of a River Basin, Runoff Separation, Rainfall-Runoff relationships,
Rational Method
9 Elements of a hydrograph, separation of direct runoff and base flow, unit hydrograph
theory, synthetic unit hydrograph
INTRODUCTION TO
HYDROLOGY
• Human beings have been interested
in water since the beginning of
history because water is necessary
for living beings to survive, and also
it needs to be controlled to prevent
damages.
• The science that studies the motion
of water is called hydromechanics,
and its applications in technology is
known as hydraulics.
• Hydrology, on the other hand,
studies the distribution and
properties of water in the earth.
U S Panel on Hydrology of the Federal Council for Science and Technology
recommended the following broad description in 1962 :

“Hydrology is the science that treats of the waters of the earth, their
occurrence, circulation and distribution, their chemical and physical
properties, and their reaction with their environment, including their relation to
living things”
Role and significance of Hydrology in civil engineering

• Use of water: water supply, irrigation,

hydropower, river navigation.

• Control of water quantity: flood

control, stormwater drainage, sewerage,
etc.

• Control of water quality: prevention of

water pollution, etc.
Which Methods can be adopted?

• Field measurements: Hydrologists use instruments to measure various

properties of water, such as streamflow, water level, water temperature, and
water quality.
• Remote sensing: Satellite and airborne remote
sensing techniques can provide information on water
related parameters such as precipitation, snow cover,
soil moisture, and surface water extent.

«The satellite will help the country access

country-wide, real-time data from climatological
and seismic stations, such as temperature,
rainfall, river depth and hydrometry across the
country. With the new nanosatellite,
policymakers can access relevant high-definition
spectral information to enhance Agriculture and
better track environmental changes nationwide.»

SPACE IN AFRICA
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS): is a powerful tool used to store,
manage, and analyze spatial data related to hydrology, such as digital elevation
models, land use/land cover, soil types, and hydrological networks.
• Hydrological models: are
mathematical representations of the
hydrological cycle, which simulate the
movement and storage of water in a
particular area.

• Statistical analysis: are used to

analyze hydrological data, such as
streamflow records, to identify trends,
patterns, and relationships between
different hydrological variables.
Hydrology Cycle

• Water exists on Earth in liquid, solid,

and gas forms, and is constantly
circulating.

• All the paths of this circulation as a

whole are called the hydrologic cycle,
also known as the water cycle.

• The hydrologic cycle is a complex

system that involves many different
processes and interactions between the
Earth's surface, atmosphere, and
subsurface.

• We can start studying this cycle at any

point.
 Components of the Hydrologic Cycle

• Starting from the atmosphere Water is present as

vapor in the atmosphere, condenses and falls on

the surface of the earth as precipitation.

• 60-75% of the precipitation returns to the

atmosphere as evaporation from the soil and

water, or as transpiration from the vegetation

without reaching the ocean.

 Components of the Hydrologic Cycle

• The vegetation retains a part of the precipitation

(it is called interception) , some of it infiltrates to

the ground (infiltration).

• The remaining water moves by gravity and

reaches to the streams/rivers and is transported by

the streams/rivers to the oceans (surface flow or

runoff).

• Infiltrated water moves as groundwater flow until

it reaches the surface of the earth to join the

surface flow.
 Evapotranspiration

• Evaporation is the process by which water changes

from a liquid state to a gaseous state, such as when

water on the surface of oceans, lakes, or rivers is

heated by the sun and turns into water vapor

Evaporation can also occur from wet surfaces, such as

soil or plants, but the primary source of evaporation is

water bodies.

• Transpiration, on the other hand, is the process by

which water is actively taken up by plants through their

roots, transported up through the stems and leaves, and

released into the atmosphere through small pores called

Hydrologic cycle from the viewpoint of engineering hydrology
 Human Influence

The influence of human beings on the hydrologic cycle:

• The destruction of forests causes the volume of surface

runoff and the flood discharge to increase.

• Urbanization reduces the infiltration losses, and thus has

an effect on the surface flow and groundwater storage

system.

• Man pollutes the streams by discharging the sewerage into

them and lowers the water quality.

• Large reservoirs constructed by man changes the flow

regime in rivers. They also cause large evaporation losses.

 Water Balance of Earth

The influence of human beings on the hydrologic cycle:

• A large percentage of global (96.5%) water is in the

oceans

• 2.5% of Earth’s water is fresh and might be used for

drinking or watering crops.

• However, nearly half of the Earth's freshwater is locked

in glaciers, ice caps, and permanent snow packs, making

it challenging to access and utilize as a water resource.

• The most abundant source of freshwater is what’s known

as groundwater.
 Fundamental Equations of Hydrology

What is a system?
The system concept is a great importance in hydrologic studies. The system is defined as a set of components
that are interrelated, and are separated from its environment by a certain boundary.

The inputs x of a storage system are waters entering the

system from the environment its outputs y are waters

exiting from the system to the environment The state of the
system at an instant of time t is determined by S the amount
of water stored in the system. The system transforms its
inputs into the outputs as:
Principles of “conservation of mass” and “conservation of
energy” that hold for all physical phenomena can be applied
y (t) = f(x(t))
to any portion of the hydrologic cycle
Conservation of mass (continuity equation)
• States that water in any part of the hydrologic cycle neither appears nor disappears.

• The amount of a conservative quantity entering a control volume during a defined time period ( x), minus the

amount of the quantity leaving the volume during the time period ( y), equals the change in the amount of the

quantity stored in the volume during the time period (dS/dt ).

Amount In – Amount Out = Change in Storage

x-y = dS/dt
The Water Balance Equation
Davie, T. (2008). Fundamentals of hydrology. Taylor & Francis.

Two of the more common ways of expressing the water balance are shown in equations:

P – Q – ET – S = 0 Q = P – ET - S

Precipitation (P) in the water balance equation represents the main input of water to a surface (e.g. a catchment).
Precipitation is a flux of both rainfall and snowfall. Evapotranspiration (ET) is output from open water bodies
(lakes, ponds, rivers), the soil surface and vegetation (including both interception and transpiration from plants)
The storage (S) term includes soil moisture, deep groundwater, water in lakes, glaciers, seasonal snow cover. The
runoff flux (Q) is also an output. It is the movement of liquid water above and below the surface of the earth.
Example 1.1

495.5 million m3 of water is stored in the reservoir of demirkopru dam in the beginning of June 1971. In this
month Gediz River transmits an average discharge of 15.8m3/s. Monthly evaporation from the lake is 8.5
million m3, no precipitation has occurred. 50.5 million m3 of water is extracted from the reservoir for energy
production. Storage is 476.4 million m3 at the end of June. How much water has infiltrated from the lake in
this month?
Example 1.2

The water surface elevation above the mean sea level in a lake having a surface area of 8 km² is 100 m at a certain
time. A precipitation event with a uniform intensity of 10 mm/h occurred during the next 24 hours and the
evaporation rate from the lake surface was calculated as 0 20 mm/h. The average inflow into the lake is at a rate of
25 m³/s and the outflow from the lake at a rate of 28 m³/s during this period The water surface elevation after the
cessation of the precipitation event is 100.2 m. Determine the amount of groundwater seepage during this period.