ECW 331

WATER & WASTEWATER

ENGINEERING
Basic Hydrology
Water Supply
Wastewater Engineering
 CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Hydrology

Hydrological Cycle
Catchment & Water Budget
Global Water Budget
Applications of Hydrology
 COVERAGE

• Introduction to hydrology, hydrological

cycle and water cycle.
 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY

• Hydrology means
– the science of water, its properties and different
HYDROLOGY

manifestation (appearance) on and below the

surface of the earth
– the science that deals with occurrence, circulation
and distribution of water of the earth and earth’s
atmosphere
• Engages in the connections and
interrelations between manifestation of
water, surrounding, hydrologic cycle,
the distribution of water on the surface
of the earth and its changes caused by
human impact
 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY

HYDROLOGY
HYDROLOGY

SURFACE WATER GROUNDWATER

HYDROLOGY HYDROLOGY

Tackles the area between

Tackles the subsurface
the atmosphere and
portion of the earth
the surface of the earth
 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY

• Water occurs on the earth in all its

HYDROLOGY

three states in various degrees of

motion:
– Liquid
– Solid
– Gaseous
 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Hydrological cycle
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

– continuous process of water movement in

various forms, phases and places
between atmosphere, the land and the
oceans
– sun driven process whereby water is
transported from natural water bodies to
atmosphere to land and back to water
bodies
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Evaporation releases water vapor carried over the
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

land by wind
• Air & water rise due to mountain ranges, frontal
activity and uneven heating of air
• Then it cools, condenses and fall back as
precipitation – rain, snow, etc
• Precipitation may evaporate as it falls through air
• Or intercepted by vegetation which usually
evaporates back to atmosphere
• Initial part of precipitation reaches grounds –
depression storage
• Some of this depression storage may evaporate or
infiltrate through ground surfaces
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Main component of hydrological cycle
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

– PRECIPITATION
– EVAPORATION
– EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
– INFILTRATION
– TRANSPIRATION
– CONDENSATION
– GROUNDWATER FLOW
– SURFACE RUNOFF
– STREAM FLOW
– BASE FLOW
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Can be seen that the hydrological cycle –
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

very vast and complicated cycle

• Large number of paths of varying time scales
• Example surface runoff are faster
• Neither a beginning not an end or a pause
• Hydrology cycle path involves one or more
aspects
– Transportation of water
– Temporary storage
– Change of state
– Process of rainfall has the change of state and
transportation
– Groundwater path has storage and
transportation aspects
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Quantities of water going through
various, individual paths of the
hydrological cycle describe by
continuity equation:-
CATCHMENT AND WATER BUDGET
EQUATION
or
HYDROLOGICAL EQUATION
BACK
HYDROLOGICAL BUDGET INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Catchment area is portion of the earth’s
surface that collects runoff (excess) and
concentrates it at the furthest downstream
point, known as catchment outlet.
– Terms watershed and basin used to refer
catchment
– Also called as drainage basin or drainage area
– Watershed refers to small catchment – stream
watershed
– Basin used for larger catchment – river basin
HYDROLOGICAL BUDGET
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
Watershed/Divide

Tributary

S
Gauging station
HYDROLOGICAL BUDGET
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Confinement of catchment leads to
the concept of hydrological budget or
water budget.
• Area of land draining to stream/water
course at given location, catchment
area
• Catchment area separated from
nearby areas by a ridge call watershed
or divide
HYDROLOGICAL BUDGET
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
HYDROLOGICAL BUDGET
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Water Budget or also called water
balance is the accounting of water for
a particular catchment
• Input of the cycle/Inflow is precipitation
• Precipitation is distributed as the
outflow of the system in terms of
surface runoff, evaporation, infiltration
to the unsaturated zone, changing its
storage and deep percolation to the
saturated zones to form groundwater
HYDROLOGICAL BUDGET
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• The difference between the inflow, I and the outflow, O
of a catchment to the rate of change of storage, ∆S
within the catchment for a specified period of time, ∆t
will form the basic of water budget.
• Change in mass storage = Mass inflow - mass inflow
• If the density of the inflow, outflow and storage and
storage volume are same;
V1 – VO = ∆S
• Where,
– V1= inflow volume of water into the catchment area during the
time period
– VO = outflow volume of water into the catchment area during
the time period
– ∆S = change in the storage of the water volume over and
under the catchment area during the time period
HYDROLOGICAL BUDGET
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• The water budget can also be written in terms of both
surface water and groundwater as:
S
I −O=
t
I = inflow
O = outflow
Δ = rate of change of storage
• The water budget can also be written in terms of both
surface water and groundwater
ΔS = P − (E + T + G + R)
where,
P = precipitat ion
E = evaporatio n
T = transpirat ion
G = groundwate r flow out of the catchment
R = surface runoff
HYDROLOGICAL BUDGET
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• If there is no change in storage in a given time
span, then

R =P−L
– Where,
• L is the losses or hydrological abstractions which equal to
the sum of evaporation, transpiration and infiltration

• Water budget equation are expressed in units of

water depth, meaning a water volume uniformly
distributed over the catchment area
• Ration (portion) of runoff and precipitation (rainfall)
is called runoff coefficient
C = R/P
 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
HYDROLOGICAL BUDGET
The storage in a river at a particular time is 20x103 m3. At that time, the
recorded inflow and outflow of the reach are 10.0m3/s and 15.0m3/s. An
hour later the inflow is 15.0m3/s and the outflow is 16.0m3/s. Calculate
the change of storage and the new storage of the reach at the end of
EXAMPLE 1.1

one hour.
SOLUTION
I1 = 10.0m3/s ; I2 = 15.0m3/s
O1 = 15.0m3/s ; O2 = 16.0m3/s
S1 = 20x103 m3 ; ∆t = 1 hour = 3600s
∆S = {(I1 + I2)/2 – (O1 + O2)/2} ∆t
= {(10.0 +15.0)/2 – (15.0 + 16.0)/2}3600
= 10,800m3
New Storage, S2 = S1 - ∆S = 20000 – 10800 = 9200m3
 INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Total global water resources is estimated
GLOBAL WATER BUDGET

1.36 x 109km3 unevenly distributed over the

earth’s surface
• Huge amount of water contained in ocean –
97% saline water
• 2.5% freshwater
• Biggest share of fresh water is frozen ice
caps, glaciers and snow; amounting more
than 77% whereas 22% is stored
underground
• The rest stored in rivers, lakes, soils and
atmosphere – important although in small
amount
GLOBAL WATER BUDGET
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY

• Annual evaporation from oceans and

land areas are about 0.505 x 106km3
and 0.072 x 106km3 respectively
• More water evaporated over the
oceans than the land
• More precipitation than evaporation on
the land compared to the oceans
• Table 1.1, Table 1.2 & Table 1.3
BACK
APPLICATIONS OF HYDROLOGY
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
• Hydrology applications in water
resources projects
• Provide solutions for many practical
problems
– Maximum probable flood at a proposed
dam site
– Catchment’s total inflow yield vary from
year to year
– Natural variability of stream flows –
appropriate size of storage reservoir
APPLICATIONS OF HYDROLOGY
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY

• Hydrology uses analysis and measurement

• Hydrological analysis – developing a
methodology to quantify certain phase of
hydrological cycle – unit hydrograph method
• Field measurements – stream gauging
complement and verify analysis
• Measurements & information – weather
records, rainfall and evaporation data,
infiltration and groundwater characteristics
APPLICATIONS OF HYDROLOGY
INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY
Data Characteristics Units of Measurement
Precipitation Depth cm or mm
Intensity cm/h or mm/h
Duration Hours
Evaporation Rate cm per day, month or
year
Infiltration Rate cm per hour
Depth cm or mm
Runoff Discharge m3/s or cumecs
Volume hectare-cm or m3
Equivalent equivalent cm over
Depth catchment area
CHAPTER 2
Universiti Teknologi
MARA Pulau Pinang
ECW311 Water &