2/19/2023

Integrated Watershed Management

(Lecture 5)

Runoff:
Runoff relationships:

 Water Balance
 Rating Curve method .
 Rational method.
 Soil Conservation Service (SCS) method.
 Others

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Water Balance

𝑃−𝐸−𝐼−𝑄±𝑆 =0

Where:
P: Precipitation
E: Evapotranspiration
I : Infiltration
Q: Runoff
S : Storage

Rating Curve method

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Rational method

Where:
i: Rainfall Intensity (mm/h)
A: Catchment Area (km2)
C : Runoff Coefficient

b
I
(t c  d ) e

Soil Conservation Service (SCS) method

Where:
Pe: Surface Runoff (in)
P: Precipitation (in)
CN : Curve Number

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Systems Concept:

The Hydrologic System:

• A significant aspect of flood hydrology is the estimation of the
magnitude of streamflow at various locations in a watershed resulting
from a given precipitation input.
• The hydrologic system embodies all of the physical processes that are
involved in the conversion of precipitation to streamflow, as well as
physical characteristics of the watershed and atmosphere that
influence the runoff generation.
• The use of computer models to simulate the hydrologic system is of
major significance in the performance of many rainfall-runoff
analyses.

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The Hydrologic Processes:

• The behavior of each process is controlled by its own characteristics
as well as by its interaction with other processes active in the
watershed.
• The predominant hydrologic processes include:
• Rainfall interception.
• Evapotranspiration.
• Infiltration.
• Percolation.
• Subsurface flow.
• Surface runoff.

Hydrological Modelling in arid & Semi-Arid Regions:

• The complexity of the hydrological processes seen in semi-arid

regions makes it difficult to predict the spatial and temporal variation
of the processes that occur within these regions.
• The lack of data is a major obstacle for the application of hydrological
models for complex semi-arid catchments.
• Often lumped and conceptual catchment models based on simple
and semi-empirical relationships are used and only the hydrological
processes of interest are included in the model.

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Frequency Analysis of Rainfall Data:

• The hydraulic design and management of water systems are not
based on the long-term average of rainfall records but on particular
rainfall depths that can be expected for a specific probability or return
period. These rainfall depths can only be obtained by a thorough
analysis of long time series of historic rainfall data.

• Frequency analysis is used to predict how often certain values of a

variable phenomenon may occur and to assess the reliability of the
prediction. It is a statistical technique to estimate rainfall depths that
can be expected for selected probabilities or return periods. The
estimates are required for determining design rainfalls and design
discharges for the hydraulic design and management.

Frequency Analysis of Rainfall Data:

• Statistical Distributions:
• Normal, 2 and 3 Parameters Log Normal, Person type 3, Log Person type 3 and
Gumbel.
• Parameter Estimation:
• Method of Moment.
• Method of Maximum Likelihood.
• Goodness of fit criteria:
• Standard Error.
• Kolmogorov Smirnov.
• Chi Square.