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ESTIMATION OF POTENTIAL WATER RESOURCES AT DAM

SITE .

1.1 OBJECTIVE
 To estimate total net in flow of water available at dam site .
 To find the frequency of occurrence of specific net flow .
 To find flow duration curve at a dam site

1.2 RELATIVE THEORY

1.2.1 Water resources

Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful to humans..
It is important because it is needed for life to exist. Many uses of water include
agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities.

 Surface water.
 Frozen water.
 Desalination.
 Under river flow.
 Groundwater.

1.2.1.1 Salt water resources

As mentioned, saltwater is abundant in the surface of the planet. However, saltwater is

currently not particularly useful when it comes to potable water supplies. Desalination
plants, while they do exist, are scarce because the energy required for desalination makes
the process extremely expensive. That said, there are saltwater resources from which
humans benefit, aside from beautiful ocean views. Saltwater fish are a staple in much of
the world's diet (although overfishing and pollution has put much of the marine life
population at risk). Furthermore, tidal waters are being used as a source of hydroelectric
energy. So, while saltwater is not helpful in dealing with scarce water supplies, it does
provide resources that humans rely on.

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1.2.1.2 Ground water resources

Groundwater is the most plentiful of all freshwater resources. As water percolates into the
ground through layers of soil, clay, and rock, some of it adheres to the topmost layers to
provide water to plants. This water is in what is called the unsaturated, or vadose, zone.
Most of the pores in the vadose zone are filled with air, rather than water.

1.2.1.3 Surface water resources

Surface water is the water that exists in streams and lakes. This water is primarily used
for potable water supply, recreation, irrigation, industry, livestock, transportation and
hydroelectric energy. Over 63 percent of the public water supply is withdrawn from
surface water. Irrigation gets 58 percent of its water supply from surface water. Industry
gets almost 98 percent of its water from surface water systems. Therefore, surface water
conservation and quality is of the utmost importance.

1.2.2 Sources of water from watershed

Water shed is an area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers,
basins, or seas.
There can be different sources of water from watershed like rivers , basins and seas that
can further divide into canals and other little resources of water and these all came from
watershed after division .

1.2.3 Catchment area and watershed

A catchment area is a hydrological unit. Each drop of precipitation that falls into a
catchment area eventually ends up in the same river
going to the sea if it doesn’t evaporate. However, it can
take a very long time. Catchment areas are separated
from each other by watersheds. A watershed is natural
division line along the highest points in an area.
Catchments are divided into sub catchments, also along Figure 1 Catchment and watershed
the lines of elevation.

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Watershed

A watershed is the land area that drains into a stream; the

watershed for a major river can encompass smaller watersheds
that ultimately combine at a common point. A watershed

includes all surface water and groundwater, soils, vegetation and Figure 2 Sources of
water in Watersheds
animals, and human activities contained within its area.

1.2.4 Draining Basin

A drainage basin is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a
common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of
water. The drainage basin includes all the surface
water from rain runoff, snowmelt, and nearby streams that
run downslope towards the shared outlet, as well as
the groundwater underneath the earth's surface. Drainage
basins connect into other drainage basins at lower
elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-
drainage basins, which in turn drain into another common Figure 3 Major Draining Basin

outlet .

1.2.5 Physical characteristics of watershed :

The physiographical characteristics of a watershed influence to a large degree its

hydrological responses and especially the flow regime during floods and periods of
drought. The concentration time, which characterizes the speed and intensity of the
watershed's reaction to stress (rainfall), is influenced by the different morphological
characteristics.

1. Size of Watershed:

Regarding size of watershed, if all other factors including the depth and intensity of
rainfall are same, then two watersheds irrespective of their size will produce about the

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same amount of runoff. However, a large watershed takes longer time for draining the
runoff to the outlet, as result the peak flow expressed as depth becomes smaller and vice-
versa.

2. Shape of Watershed:

The shape of watershed has a great effect on runoff. The watershed shape is generally
expressed by the terms “form factor” and “compactness coefficient”.

3. Slope of Watershed:

The slope of watershed has an important role over runoff, however its effect is complex.
It controls the time of overland flow and time of concentration of drainage basin which
provide a cumulative effect on resulting peak runoff. For example, in case of a sloppy
watershed, the time to reach the flow at outlet is less, because of greater runoff velocity,
which results into formation of peak runoff very soon; and vice-versa.

5. Land Use:

The land use pattern and land management practices used have significant effect on the
runoff yield. For example, an area which is under forest cover, where a thick layer of
mulch of leaves and grasses etc. has been accumulated, there forms a little surface runoff
due to the fact that more rain water is absorbed by the soil. While in a barren field, where
no any cover is available, a reverse effect is obtained.

6. Soil Moisture:

The magnitude of runoff yield depends on the amount of moisture present in the soil at
the time of rainfall. If rain occurs over the soil which has more moisture, then infiltration
rate becomes very less, which results into more runoff yield.

7. Watershed Surface

A watershed is the area of reception of the rainfalls and of supplying the watercourse; the
outlet flows depending thus on its surface. The surface of a watershed can be measured

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using a variety of methods: superposing a grid over the watershed map, using a plan
meter or digitalizing methods.

8. Watershed Shape

The shape of a watershed influences the shape of its characteristic hydrograph. For
example, a long shape watershed generates, for the same rainfall, a lower outlet flow, as
the concentration time is higher. A watershed having a fan-shape presents a lower
concentration time, and it generates higher flow.

9. Watershed orientation

The orientation of a watershed influences the melting speed of snow. Watersheds

developed especially in North-South direction have an alternative exposure to sunrays;
the melting speed of snow thus being smaller than in cases of watersheds developed
towards East-West.

1.2.6 Hydrological process occurring over water shed

There are different hydrological processes occurring over watershed .

Evapotranspiration

Evapotranspiration is the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from

the Earth's land and ocean surface to the atmosphere. Evaporation
accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the
soil, canopy interception, and water bodies.

Figure 4 Evapotranspiration

Transpiration

Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and

its evaporation from aerial parts, such as leaves, stems and flowers.
Water is necessary for plants but only a small amount of water
taken up by the roots is used for growth and metabolism. The

Figure 5 Evaporation

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remaining 97–99.5% is lost by transpiration and guttation.

Infiltration

Infiltration is the process by which water on the ground surface

enters the soil. It is commonly used in both hydrology and soil
sciences. The infiltration capacity is defined as the maximum rate
of infiltration.

Figure 6 Infiltration

1.2.7 Precipitation and what do we measure

Precipitation is the water that falls from the atmosphere in either liquid or solid form. It
results from the condensation of moisture in the atmosphere due to the cooling of a parcel
of air. The most common cause of cooling is dynamic or adiabatic lifting of the air.

We measure different things for precipitation like

 Depth

The standard instrument for the measurement of rainfall is the 203mm (8inch) rain gauge.
This is essentially a circular funnel with a diameter of 203mm which collects the rain into
a graduated and calibrated cylinder. The measuring cylinder can record up to 25mm
of precipitation.

 Area

A rain gauge (also known as an udometer, pluviometer, or an ombrometer) is an

instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of
liquid precipitation over an area in a predefined period of time.

 Depth

A rain gauge (also known as an udometer, pluviometer, or an ombrometer) is an

instrument used by meteorologists and hydrologists to gather and measure the amount of
liquid precipitation over an area in a predefined period of time.

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1.2.8 Methods of measurement of precipitation :

Rainfall catch is affected by the exposure conditions of the rain gauge. Rain gauges may
be broadly classified into 2 categories:

Non-recording rain gauges

Recording rain gauges

 Non-recording Rain gauge

These rain gauges just collect the rainwater but do not record the quantity of rainfall. The
most extensively used non-recording rain gauge is Symon’s gauge. Circular collecting
area of 12.7 cm diameter connected to a funnel. The rim of the collector is set in a
horizontal plane at a height of 30.5cm above the GL.The funnel discharges the rainfall
catch into a receiving vessel. The funnel and collecting vessel (bottle) are housed
in a metallic container. Water collected in the bottle is measured using a suitably
graduated measuring jar with 0.1mm accuracy. Rainfall is measured in mm or cm
of water depth

 Recording rain gauges :

It give a permanent automatic record of rainfall. It has a mechanical arrangement by

which the total amount of rainfall since the start of record gets automatically recorded on
a graph paper. It produces a plot of cumulative rainfall vs time (mass curve of rainfall).
These rain gauges are also called integrating raingauges since they record cumulative
rainfall.

There are different types of recording rain gauges :

 Tipping bucket type

 Weighing bucket type
 Natural Syphone type

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 Radar Measurements

In an integrated system for measurement of rainfall, rain gauges are used for measuring
the total amount as well as intensity of a rainstorm and a microwave radar (wavelength ~
3 to 10 cm) is used for determining the areal extent, location, and movement of
rainstorms. Also the amount of rainfall over large areas can be determined using radars
with a good degree of accuracy.

 The hydrological range of radar is about 200km.

 Heavy rains – 10 cm radar
 Light rains and snow – 5cm radar
 Doppler type radars are used for measuring the velocity and distribution of
raindrops.

1.2.9 Average precipitation over watershed

Average annual precipitation is a vital piece of climatic data - one that is recorded
through a variety of methods. Precipitation (which is most commonly rainfall but also
includes snow, hail, sleet, and other forms of water falling to the ground) is measured in
units over a given time period. In the United States, precipitation is commonly
represented in inches per 24-hour period. This means that if one inch of rain fell in a 24-
hour period and water wasn't absorbed by the ground nor did it flow downhill, after the
storm there would be a layer of one inch of water covering the ground.

1.2.10 Losses

1.2.10.1 Evaporation

Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes

into the gas phase. The surrounding gas must not be saturated with the evaporating
substance. When the molecules of the liquid collide, they transfer energy to each other
based on how they collide with each other.

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 Factors effecting evaporation

 Temperature: The rate of evaporation increases with an increase in temperature.

 Surface area: The rate of evaporation increases with an increase in surface area.
 Humidity: The amount of water vapour present in the air is called humidity. The rate
of evaporation decreases with an increase in humidity.
 Wind speed: Evaporation increases with an increase in wind speed.
 Methods of estimation of evaporation :
 Evaporimeter
 Pan coefficient
 Evaporation station
 Empirical Equations
 Water budget and Energy budget method

1.2.10.2 Transpiration

Transpiration is the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from
aerial parts, such as leaves, stems and flowers. Water is necessary for plants but only a
small amount of water taken up by the roots is used for growth and metabolism. The
remaining 97–99.5% is lost by transpiration and guttation

1.2.10.3 Evapotranspiration

Evapotranspiration is the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land
and ocean surface to the atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to
the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and water bodies.

1.2.10.4 Infiltration

Infiltration is the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil. It is
commonly used in both hydrology and soil sciences. The infiltration capacity is defined
as the maximum rate of infiltration.

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 Factors effecting infiltration

 The soil type (texture, structure, hydrodynamic characteristics). The soil

characteristics influence capillary forces and adsorption;
 The soil coverage. Vegetation has positive influence on infiltration by increasing the
time of water penetration in soil;
 The topography and morphology of slopes;
 The flow supply (rain intensity, irrigation flow);
 The initial condition of soil humidity. Soil humidity is an important factor of
infiltration regime. The infiltration regime evolves differently in time for dry or wet
soils;
 Soil compaction due to rain drop impact and other effects. The use of hard
agricultural equipment can have consequences on the surface layer of soil.

 Methods for measuring infiltration :

 Flooding of basins or furrows

 Sprinkling (to simulate rain)
 Measuring water entry from cylinders

 Instruments to measure infiltration :

An infiltrometer is a device used to measure the rate of water infiltration into soil or other
porous media. Commonly used infiltrometers are single-ring and double-ring
infiltrometers, and also disc permeameters.

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1.2.11 Surface runoff and types :

Surface runoff is water, from rain, snowmelt, or other sources, that flows over the
land surface, and is a major component of the water cycle. Runoff that occurs
on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called overland flow. A land area which
produces runoff draining to a common point is called a watershed.

Figure 7 Surface runoff and types

 Types of surface runoff

1. Surface Runoff

It is that portion of rainfall, which enters the stream immediately after the rainfall. It
occurs, when all losses are satisfied and if rain is still continued with the rate greater than
the infiltration rate; then excess water makes a head over the ground surface (surface
detention), which tends to move from one place to another following land gradient, is
known as overland flow. As soon as the overland flow joins to the streams, channels or
oceans, is termed as surface runoff.

2. Sub-Surface Runoff

That part of rainfall, which first enters into the soil and moves laterally without joining
the water-table to the streams, rivers or oceans, is known as sub-surface runoff or inter
flow. Sometimes sub-surface runoff is also treated under surface runoff due to reason that
it takes very little time to reach the river or channel in comparison to ground water. The
sub-surface runoff is usually referred as interflow.

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3. Base Flow

It is delayed flow, defined as that part of rainfall, which after falling on the ground
surface, infiltrates into the soil and meets to the water-table; and flow to the streams,
oceans etc. The movement of water in this type of runoff is very slow, that is why it is
also referred as delayed runoff. It takes a long time to join the rivers or oceans, say for as
years. Sometimes, base flow is also known as ground water flow.

 Methods of estimation of surface runoff

 Measurement of soil loss

 Predicting soil loss
 Sediment transport
 Measure Sediment
 Predicting sediment movement

1.2.12 Sub surface runoff

Subsurface runoff is the water that infiltrates in the vadose zone (unsaturated zone), from
rain, snowmelt, or other sources, and moves laterally towards the streams. Vadose zone
extends from the top of the ground surface to the water table. It is one of the major
components in the water cycle.

1.2.13 Stream flow

Stream flow or discharge is the volume of water that moves through a specific point in
a stream during a given period of time. Discharge is usually measured in units of cubic
feet per second (cfs). To determine discharge, a cross-sectional area of the stream or river
is measured.

 Calculation of discharge in stream

 Volumetric gauging
 Float gauging
 Current metering
 Dilution gauging
 Structural method

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1.2.13.1 Stage
In hydrology, stage refers to the water level in a river or stream with respect to a chosen
reference height. Stage is important because direct measurements of river discharge are
very difficult while water surface elevation measurements are comparatively easy.

Measurement of stage

Stage is simply the height of the water surface relative to the height of a reference marker
that doesn't change. Stage is measured with a staff gage. The simplest staff gage is
essentially a meter stick placed in the stream. When a stream gauger measures discharge,
he/she records the stage

1.2.14 Water shed modeling

The term “watershed modeling” implicitly. describes a category of

geographical models that simulate movement of water and associated. processes that
change the quantity and quality of water.

 Types

1.2.14.1 Rainfall runoff modeling

A runoff model is a mathematical model describing the rainfall–runoff relations of

a rainfall catchment area, drainage basin or watershed. More precisely, it produces a
surface runoff hydrograph in response to a rainfall event, represented by and input as a
hyetograph.

Software’s

The WEAP (Water Evaluation And Planning) software platform models runoff and
percolation from climate and land use data, using a choice of linear and non-linear
reservoir models.

The RS MINERVE software platform simulates the formation of free surface run-off flow
and its propagation in rivers or channels. The software is based on object-oriented
programming and allows hydrologic and hydraulic modeling according to a semi-

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distributed conceptual scheme with different rainfall-runoff model such as HBV, GR4J,
SAC-SMA or SOCONT.

1.2.14.2 Snowmelt simulation

Snowmelt-Runoff Model (SRM) SRM is a conceptual, deterministic, degree day

hydrologic model used to simulate daily runoff resulting from snowmelt and rainfall in
mountainous regions. ... The model was run for snowmelt season in 2001 (April to
September 2001) to simulate the daily discharges in the Kaidu Watershed.

Software’s :

Different software are used for the Snowmelt runoff simulation like :

1. SRM
2. UBC

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1.3 Observation and Calculations :

Table # 1
Cumulative Snowmelt River Direct Volume of
Sr. No. Months Days time time Avg.ppt Runoff Losses stage Runoff water Net flow

Sec sec m m m m m m3 m3/s

1 January 31 2678400 2678400 0.1 0 0.03 3.2 0.07 842.1 0.000314404

2 February 28 2419200 5097600 0.12 0 0.05 3.5 0.07 842.1 0.00034809

3 March 31 2678400 7776000 0.13 0.1 0.06 3.9 0.17 2045.1 0.000763553

4 April 30 2592000 10368000 0.22 0.19 0.06 4.2 0.35 4210.5 0.001624421

5 May 31 2678400 13046400 0.18 0.28 0.07 4.5 0.39 4691.7 0.00175168

6 June 30 2592000 15638400 0.26 0.39 0.12 4.8 0.53 6375.9 0.002459838

7 July 31 2678400 18316800 0.48 0.48 0.18 5.7 0.78 9383.4 0.00350336

8 August 31 2678400 20995200 0.55 0.52 0.23 6.3 0.84 10105.2 0.003772849

9 September 30 2592000 23587200 0.35 0.16 0.14 5.2 0.37 4451.1 0.001717245

10 October 31 2678400 26265600 0.29 0.09 0.09 4.1 0.29 3488.7 0.001302531

11 November 30 2592000 28857600 0.1 0 0.06 3.4 0.04 481.2 0.000185648

12 December 31 2678400 31536000 0.08 0 0.04 3.1 0.04 481.2 0.000179659

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Table # 2

Sr. No. Net flow Stage (H) Power

Frequency Occurrence %
m3/s m watt
1 1.80E-04 6.3 9.99 100.00
2 1.86E-04 5.7 9.34 91.67
3 3.14E-04 5.2 14.43 83.33
4 3.48E-04 4.8 14.75 75.00
5 7.64E-04 4.5 30.34 66.67
6 1.30E-03 4.2 48.30 58.33
7 1.62E-03 4.1 58.80 50.00
8 1.72E-03 3.9 59.13 41.67
9 1.75E-03 3.5 54.13 33.33
10 2.46E-03 3.4 73.84 25.00
11 3.50E-03 3.2 98.98 16.67
12 3.77E-03 3.1 103.26 8.33

1.3.1 Graphs :

Graph between Stage and Q :

Graph b/w Stage and Q

7

5
Stage (m)

0
0 0.0005 0.001 0.0015 0.002 0.0025 0.003 0.0035 0.004 0.0045
Discharge (m3/sec)

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Graph between Cumulative time and Q :

Graph b/w Cumulative time and Q

0.0045

0.004

0.0035
Discharge (m3/sec)

0.003

0.0025

0.002

0.0015

0.001

0.0005

0
0 5000000 10000000 15000000 20000000 25000000 30000000 35000000
Cumulative time (sec)

Graph between Stage and Cumulative time :

Graph b/w Stage and Cummulative time

7

5
Stage (m)

0
0 5000000 10000000 15000000 20000000 25000000 30000000 35000000
Cumulative time (sec)

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Graph between Q and % Occurrence

Graph b/w Q and Frquency of Occurrence

4.00E-03
3.50E-03
Discharge (m3/sec)

3.00E-03
2.50E-03
2.00E-03
1.50E-03
1.00E-03
5.00E-04
0.00E+00
0.00 20.00 40.00 60.00 80.00 100.00 120.00
Frequency of Occurence (%)

1.4 Results
 In January average precipitation of 0.1m the net flow = 0.000178 m3/s and
Power = 5.673 watt
 In May average precipitation of 0.18m the net flow = 0.000993 m3/s and Power
= 8.348 watt
 In August average precipitation of 0.55m the net flow = 0.002138 m3/s and
Power = 33.503 watt
 In December average precipitation of 0.18m the net flow = 0.000102 m3/s and
Power = 58.516 watt

1.5 Comments
Average perception directly proportional to Net flow.

Average precipitation is directly proportional to the losses .

river stage is directly proportional to the net flow .

Net flow directly proportional to the Power.

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