cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng.

, NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

Chapter 8

SURFACE WATER HYDROLOGY

Runoff
The water which flow over the land surfaces. The overland and groundwater
contributes to stream flow (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Distribution of precipitation input

Catchment area
Entire area of a river basin whose surface runoff drains into the river (watershed)

Characteristics of a Catchment area which affect runoff

Drainage divide
A boundary line along a topographical ridge, separating two adjacent catchment
areas.

Mainstream length
Distance from gauging station or catchment outfall.

Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

Slope
Provides the gradient for water flow in the catchment area. On steep slopes
there is more:
• surface runoff
• concentration time short
• flood peaks high
• infiltration low

Concentration point
Single point or location at which all surface drainage from a catchment area
comes together.

Concentration time
Time required for the rain falling at the most distant point in the catchment are to
reach the concentration point.

Stream density
Number of streams per unit area

NS
DS =
Area

Drainage density
Total length of all stream channels per unit area of basin

LS
Dd =
Area

A high value indicates a well developed network, with torrential runoff which may
cause intensive floods.

Average stream slope

Total fall of the longest water course divided by the length of the longest water
course. The average slope can be determined from Horton’s method.

Horton’s method to determine the average slope

1.5(CI )NC
Slope =
∑L
Where:
CI =contour interval in the basin
NC =number of contours crossed by all subdividing lines (vertical and
horizontal)
∑ L =total length of subdividing lines (vertical and horizontal)
Equation becomes:
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Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

1.5(CI )( NC vertical + NC horizontal )

Slope =
∑ Lvertical + ∑ Lhorizontal
STREAM GAUGING
The most satisfactory method to determinate runoff from a catchment is by
measuring the discharge of the stream at gauge stations. A rating curve will be
produced.

Rating curve
A graph that shows the connection between the water level elevation (stage) of
river channel at a certain cross-section and the corresponding discharge at that
section (Fig. 2).
Stage (elevation), m

Discharge (Q), m3

Fig. 2: Stage-discharge relationship

Methods of stream gauging

• area-velocity methods
• flow measuring structures
• dilution gauging
• slope-area methods

Area-velocity methods
• surface floats e.g. wooden discs, organs, balloons
• canisters submerged mass(cylindrical) suspended by a cord
from the surface (Fig. 3).
• rod floats
• current meters

The mean velocity measured from the first three methods will be multiplied by a
correction factor (c). The accuracy of the above methods range from ± 1 0% to
20% and the correction factor, c=0.84-0.9 (Herschy, 1978).

Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

Current meters
The device has a rotating element and the speed of revolution has a definite
relation with the velocity of flow. It is measured through a cable automatically or
through a rating curve. The method is suitable for medium to large rivers. On
small streams they may be held by someone standing in the flow, but on wider or
deep streams they may be suspended from boats, bridges or overhead cable-
ways.

Procedure
• cross-section of stream at gauge station is divided into equal strips of
equal with
• the current meter is lowered to a depth of:
(a) 0.6d below water surface for shallow depths (one point method)
(b) 0.2d and 0.8d below water surface for deep waters (two-point
method). The average velocity is obtained from the two measured
points.

Rod
Canister
Float

.
Fig. 3

1
( d)
b 1 1 6
( d) ( d)
2 8

Fig. 4

Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

• The discharge in each element strip (Fig. 4) is determined and the

discharge of the stream is the sum of the elemental discharges.

∆Q = (b × d )
[V0.2 D + V0.8 D ] or ∆Q = b × d × V0.6 d
2

Q = ∑ ∆Q

Dilution method
It requires the edition of a tracer of known concentration to the flow and taking
samples to determine the diluted concentration after the tracer has been mixed
with the flow. They are useful in turbulent rivers and rock-strewn shallow rivers,
and have been used within pipelines. Generally the method is used for spot
checks rather than for regular flow measurement because of costs of analysis.
The method can provide very accurate results given a suitable reach. Its
advantage is that it is an absolute method because of the discharge computed
from volume and time only. The main disadvantage is the difficulty in obtaining
complete mixing of the tracer without loss of tracer and the environmental
concerns with some tracers. Also well trained personnel are required. There are
mainly two methods:

• gulp
• constant-rate

Gulp
A known volume of tracer is added and samples taken over a long period of time
to determine how the tracer concentration varies with time

t2

C1V = Q ∫ (C 2 − C 0 )dt
t1

Q =stream discharge
C0 =background concentration of tracer chemical, mg/l
C1 =tracer concentration at injection, mg/l
C2 =downstream concentration, mg/l
V =volume injected, litres
t1; t2 =time when tracer pass first and last sampling points respectively

Constant rate
A tracer is added steadily over a long period of time so that the concentration if
tracer sampled from the downstream achieve constant values. The stream flow
discharge is obtained from a mass balance:

QC O + qC1 = (Q + q )C 2

Q =discharged of stream, l/s

q =rate of trace injection, l/s
Co =background concentration, mg/l
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Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

C1 =trace concentration, mg/l

C2 -downstream concentration, mg/l

q; C1

Q; C0 Q+q; C2

Permanent structures
These include flumes and weirs and are simple to use but are not suitable for
wide or deep rivers and may create an obstruction to river transport and traffic.
Sediments max accumulate upstream of the structures and hence need for
continuous correction of the rating curve.

Examples include
• Vee-notch
• Crump weirs
• Rectangular weir
• Triangular weir
• Cipoletti weir

Slope area method

These methods use standard equations to estimate the average flow velocity in
a stream by treating the stream as an open channel. The equations that are
used require measurement of either the slope of the water surface or the slope
of the stream bed and common equations are Chezy-Kutter equation or
Manning’s equation.

Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

Fig. Vee notch

Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

ESTIMATION OF RUNOFF
Runoff measurements are always not available compared to the rainfall data. As
a result Engineers and Hydrologist have no option but to estimate or predict the
runoffs which are necessary for any design of a hydraulic structure. When there
is no runoff data, the following methods can be used to estimate runoff:
• Empirical formulae
• Rational method (outlined in the drainage topic)
• Unit hydrograph (outlined in the hydrograph analysis)
• Infiltration outlined (already outlined in infiltration and net rainfall)
• SCS method

Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

Empirical formulae
A relationship can be developed between rainfall and runoff e.g. regression
analysis, which can produce a linear relationship:

R = mP + c

A best estimate of m is given by the equation, where N is the number of data

point of x and y values. x is the mean of x values and y the mean of y values.
The values of m and are calculated such that sum of the errors between the line
and data points is minimised.

∑ (x )( )
n= N

n − x yn − y
m=
∑ (x )
n= N
2
n −x
1

The best estimate of c is given by the equation:

c = y − mx

The good fit of best fit line is found from the correlation coefficient Cc is given as:

∑ (x )( )
n= N

n − x yn − y
cc =
∑ (x ) ( )
n=n n= N
− x × ∑ yn − y
2 2
n
1 1

Cc=1 is a best fit and all points lie on a straight line

Cc=Over 0.95 indicates a good relationship
Cc=0.8, suggest usable but not an accurate relationship
Cc=0 no relationship

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Chapter 8 Surface runoff

cmutsvangwa Engineering Hydrology Dept. of Civil and Water Eng., NUST, 03/05/2007 14:30:36

y
Line of best fit

dy
m=
dx
Point error
c

Cc=1 Cc=0
C C = −1
y

y y

x x x

Non linear regression of y = mx + c can be undertaken by taking log10 of c and y

values calculating m and c values with these log 10 values. This will give the
equation:

y = cx m

References

1. Herschy R.W., (1978), Stream flow measurement, Elaevier, UK

2. Herschy R.W., (1978), Hydrometry, John Wiley and Sons, UK
3. Raghunath H. M., (1991), Hydrology, Wiley Eastern, Bombay.
4. Shaw E. M., (1988), Hydrology in Practice, Van Nostrand Reinhold,
Wokingham
5. Viessman J.R., Lewis G. L., and Knapp J.W., (1989), Introduction to
hydrology, Harper Collins, USA
6. Wanielista M., (1990), Hydrology and Water Quality Control, John Wiley,
Canada
7. Wilson E.M., (1990), Engineering Hydrology, Macmillan Education, UK

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Chapter 8 Surface runoff