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Unit 1: Introduction To Hydrology: Module 1: Hydrologic Principles
Unit 1: Introduction To Hydrology: Module 1: Hydrologic Principles
Unit 1: Introduction To Hydrology: Module 1: Hydrologic Principles
Accomplish the pre-assessment quiz. Identify the processes that make-up the water
cycle as shown.
1. _______________
2. _______________
3. _______________
4. _______________
5. _______________
6. _______________
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9. _______________
Explore hydrological parameters that are regularly measured and monitored in the
Philippines by browsing the link below:
http://bagong.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/about-us/national-meteorological-and-hydrological-services
This leads you to the website of PAG-ASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration), the National Meteorological and Hydrological
Services (NMHS) agency of the Philippines. You will also find links to similar agencies in
other countries of the world such as Japan, China, and India.
Try to browse over a few and look at the similarities of monitored data between these
agencies. Reflect on the significance of hydrological data in applications in civil
engineering, specifically in water resources projects.
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Hydrology is a branch of Earth Science. It is defined as a multidisciplinary subject that
deals with the endless occurrence, circulation, storage, and distribution of surface and
ground water on the earth.
When knowledge of hydrology is used to assess, develop, utilize and manage water
resources, it may be referred to as Applied Hydrology. This includes applications in civil
engineering such as, the design and operation of hydraulic structures, water supply,
wastewater treatment and disposal, irrigation, drainage, hydropower generation, flood
control, navigation, erosion and sediment control. But as it specifically deals with
surface water movement and distribution in space and time, it is likewise referred to as
Surface Water Hydrology; in contrast to Groundwater Hydrology that deals
with water below the surface of the Earth.
(Watch the videos on the hydrologic cycle posted on your Google Classroom or saved in
your USB-OTG learning packet. Take down notes on the pertinent processes mentioned
and visualize their occurrence)
As shown in these videos, water is evaporated from water (lakes, rivers, oceans) and
land (vegetation, soil) surfaces; these moist air masses moves inland until it condenses
to produce precipitation. The precipitation falls from clouds and is dispersed over the
land surface that may be intercepted by vegetation, become overland flow over the
ground surface, infiltrate into the ground and flow through the soil as subsurface flow,
percolate deeper into the soil and flow as ground water, or move in a downward-
gradient direction to accumulate in local streams or rivers discharge into streams as
surface runoff. All these flows eventually emerge in springs or re-enter streams that finally
flow out to the sea where the hydrologic cycle continues.
The sequence of processes may seem simple but it is quite a complex cycle. It is not
one large cycle but a large number of interrelated paths of varying time scales within
continental, regional and local extent. And although the global water content remains
constant, water distribution within these smaller units gradually change due to factors
such as change in land use, climate change and intervention of human activities.
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The figure below provides some insight on the dynamics of the hydrologic cycle of the
annual global water balance relative to an annual land precipitation of 100 units. It can
be seen that 61 percent of this precipitation is lost to evaporation and the remaining 39
percent to surface runoff; and about 90 percent of atmospheric moisture comes from
the oceans.
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Here’s one that you may want to try out! Do you see the mountain ridges? These are the highest
elevations on the topography. Can you trace out the catchment area that drains to the river?
Do you see other catchment?
Formulas developed to relate peak flow to watershed area will be discussed in later
sections of this Module.
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Another expression for the water budget in a watershed for a time interval may be
written as:
𝑷 − 𝑹 − 𝑮 − 𝑬 − 𝑻 = ∆𝑺
Note that infiltration 𝐹 cancels out in the equation since it is lost from the surface but
gained back in the groundwater. A runoff coefficient may be defined by the ratio of
runoff and precipitation over any watershed.
Illustrative example 1. For a given month, a 300-acre lake has 15 cfs of inflow, 13 cfs of
outflow, and a total storage increase of 16 ac-ft. A USGS gage next to the lake
recorded a total of 1.3 in. precipitation for the lake for the month. Assuming that
infiltration loss is insignificant for the lake, determine the evaporation loss, in inches, over
the lake for the month.
𝑑𝑆
𝐼−𝑄 = → 𝑷 + 𝑰 − 𝑸 − 𝑬 = ∆𝑺
𝑑𝑡
Since we are looking for evaporation loss in inches, we may as well adopt this as the
unit to be used across the equation. Thus, precipitation remains 𝑃 = 1.3" the other
parameters still need to be converted.
For inflow and outflow which are given in cfs, we divide these by the lake’s surface area
to convert it to depth per month.
*Note that a month is taken as having 30 days and since this is the set time interval, all
answers are relative to this month.
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𝑓𝑡 12𝑖𝑛 60𝑠 60𝑚𝑖𝑛 24ℎ𝑟 30𝑑
13 × × × × ×
𝑠 𝑓𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑟 𝑑 𝑚𝑜
𝑄= = 30.9421 𝑖𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠
43560𝑓𝑡 12𝑖𝑛
300𝑎𝑐 × ×
𝑎𝑐 𝑓𝑡
For total storage increase, the unit is given as acre-ft. Since acre represents area and ft
represents depth, their product gives acre-ft, a common way of indicating volume in
hydrology. To convert this to depth per month, we simply divide the volume by the area
of the lake surface,
16 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑡 12𝑖𝑛
∆𝑆 = × = 0.64 𝑖𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠
300𝑎𝑐 𝑓𝑡
𝑃 + 𝐼 − 𝑄 − 𝐸 = ∆𝑆
To determine the change in the water surface elevation of the lake, we need to
determine the change in volume storage in the lake that transpired over the given
month. In this case, we will use volume as our unit of measurement.
To convert inflow and outflow given as discharge rates, we simply multiply the time
interval which is one month.
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𝑚 30𝑑 24ℎ𝑟 60𝑚𝑖𝑛 60𝑠
𝑄 = 6.5 × 1𝑚𝑜 × × × × = 16848000 𝑚
𝑠 𝑚𝑜 𝑑 ℎ𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛
To convert rainfall and evaporation to their equivalent volumes for that month, we
multiply the depth by the lake area and the time interval,
145𝑚𝑚 𝑚 10000𝑚
𝑃= × 5000ℎ𝑎 × = 7250000 𝑚
𝑚𝑜 1000𝑚𝑚 1ℎ𝑎
6.10𝑐𝑚 𝑚 10000𝑚
𝐸= × 5000ℎ𝑎 × = 3050000 𝑚
𝑚𝑜 100𝑐𝑚 1ℎ𝑎
Substituting in 𝑃 + 𝐼 − 𝑄 − 𝐸 = ∆𝑆,
7250000 + 1552000 − 16848000 − 3050000 = ∆𝑆 ∆𝑺 = 𝟐𝟗𝟎𝟒𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒎𝟑
The answer indicates that there was an increase in the volume of water stored in the
lake over the month, thus, an increase in the water surface elevation. To determine this
change in elevation, we divide the volume by the surface area of the lake,
To determine the lake’s water surface elevation at the end of the month,
1. A swimming pool (20 ft X 20 ft X 5 ft) has a small leak at the bottom. You are
given measurements of rainfall, evaporation, and water level on a daily basis for
10 days. As an engineer, use the water balance to determine the average daily
leakage out of the swimming pool in ft3/day. Assume the pool is exactly 5 ft (60
inches) deep at the end of day 1.
DAY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Evaporation, in 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
Rainfall, inches 1.0 2.0 4.0
Measured Water level, in 60 52
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Accomplish the self-evaluation checklist for Unit 1.
Individual Coursework:
Journal Paper Review in CE 3141 Hydrology
Look for a journal article published within year 2006 to present. The journal paper/ article
should be on case studies of engineering projects that failed due to improper
assessment of hydrologic aspects such as failure of hydraulic structures: dams, levees,
dikes; flooding, water shortage, saline intrusion, etc.
Browse on open access journal internet sites or on e-sources from the SLU library on the
topic you chose. Download the journal/ research article. Please do not purchase the
journal/ research article, it is not necessary.
Make sure that you are not reviewing the same paper as any of your classmates. To
facilitate this, an enlistment will be posted on the Google classroom to collect your
name and the title of the journal you intend to review. The sooner you have one, the
better.
The requirement is to critique and review the journal article. Below is a suggested step-
by-step procedure on how you could accomplish this successfully.
This is usually a short read. Start by just reading the abstract, introductory statements of
each paragraph and then the conclusions.
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2. Read the article again.
This time, read the entire article, reread it several times until you get the gist of the
paper. When you are ready, start taking down notes on the essential parts and
highlights. You may need to do additional research and reading to understand these as
you are required to comment and have your own opinions on the article and the topic.
Do not copy the article verbatim. Review your notes and delete items you deem
unnecessary.
4. Compose your journal review. Check the assignment guide for the content of
your paper.
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