What is a water balance analysis?

A water balance assessment is estimated for

each catchment to understand surface
water and groundwater split. The
assessment consists of a calculation that
accounts for all significant inputs and outputs
of water to and from the surface water and
groundwater systems and any interactions
between them.

What are the types of water balance?

This means that there are two types of water systems: Water Resource System (WRS) and Water Use
System (WUS). A WRS, such as a river, an aquifer or a lake, must obey water balance.
What factors affect the water balance?
Determining a water balance requires looking at the following components: Total Precipitation.
Surface Detention and Infiltration – how much precipitation stayed in a given area.

Flooding and Droughts

Hydrology in Forests.
The Hydrologic Cycle.
Watersheds and Forests.
Teleconnections.
Radiative Forcing.

Water balance
A water balance assessment is estimated for each catchment to understand surface water and
groundwater split. The assessment consists of a calculation that accounts for all significant inputs and
outputs of water to and from the surface water and groundwater systems and any interactions
between them.
The water balance uses long term average records. The water balance allows us to test the integrity of
the data used for the catchment assessment and to identify possible data gaps.
The process for developing the water balance assessment follows the European Commission Guidance on
the application of water balances for supporting the implementation of the WFD, Version 6.1 (EU
Commission, 2015).
 Com
ponents of the water balance assessment

1. INPUTS

Effective Rainfall (or precipitation) is a difference between total rainfall and actual evapotranspiration.
Surface water runoff, where effective rainfall joins the surface water system directly by overland flow
and rejected recharge from an aquifer.
Groundwater recharge is the proportion of rainfall that effectively enters the phreatic (saturated) zone
of the (bedrock) aquifer.
Surface water imports from other catchments, e.g. the import of surface water through a pipeline to a
reservoir.
Groundwater inflows from other catchment through the topographical divides that form the catchment
boundaries, e.g. through karst conduits, faults, etc.
Anthropogenic discharges to surface water and groundwater, e.g. discharge of public and industrial
waste water, storm water, leakage from pipe, etc.

2. GROUNDWATER – SURFACE WATER INTERACTIONS

Surface water discharge to groundwater through e.g. losing streams or swallow holes.
Groundwater discharge to surface water through seeps and springs (base flow component of surface
water flows).

3. OUTPUTS
Groundwater outflow to other aquifers through the topographical divides that set the catchment
boundaries, e.g. through karst conduits, faults, etc.
Surface water and groundwater abstractions including abstractions for drinking water, irrigation,
industrial activities, etc.
Surface water outputs from catchment represents the natural outflow of all surface water and
groundwater and groundwater discharges to surface water (as baseflow) from the catchment.
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