Technological Institute of the Philippines

Quezon City
938 Aurora Blvd., Cubao, Quezon City

College of Engineering and Architecture

Department of Civil Engineering

CE 410

HYDROLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGY

Bajado,John Cristian C.
CE42FA1
1510085/BSCE/4th Year

Engr. Adams Royce A. Dionisio

Instructor
Hydrology
means the science of water.
It is the science that deals with the
occurrence, circulation and distribution of
water of the earth and earth’s atmosphere.
it is concerned with the water in streams
and lakes, rainfall and snowfall, snow and ice
on the land and water occurring below the
earth’s surface in the pores of the soil and
rocks.
deals with estimation of water resources
the study of processes such as
precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration and
their interaction.
the study of problems such as floods and
droughts, and strategies to combat them.
Hydrologic Cycle
1. Water in the oceans evaporates due to the
heat energy provided by solar radiation. The
water vapor moves upwards and form
clouds.
2. Much of the clouds condense and fall back
to the oceans as rain, a part of the clouds is
driven to the land areas by winds.
3. There they condense and precipitate onto
the land mass as rain, snow, hail, sleet, etc.
4. A part of the precipitation may evaporate
back to the atmosphere even while falling.
Another part may be intercepted by
vegetation, structures and other such surface
modifications from which it may be either
evaporated back to atmosphere or move
down to the ground.
5. A portion of the water that reaches the
ground enters the earth’s surface through
infiltration, enhance the moisture content of
the soil and reach the groundwater body.
6. Vegetation sends a portion of the water
from under the ground surface back to the
atmosphere through the process of
transpiration.
7. The precipitation reaching the ground
surface after meeting the needs of infiltration
and evaporation moves down the natural
slope over the surface and through a network
of gullies, streams and rivers to reach the
ocean. The groundwater may come to the
surface through springs and other outlets
after spending a considerably longer time
than the surface flow. The portion of the
precipitation which by a variety of paths above
and below the surface of the earth reaches the
stream channel is called runoff or surface runoff.
8. Once it enters a stream channel, runoff
becomes stream flow.
Each path of the hydrologic cycle involves
one or more of the following aspects:
a. Transportation of water
b. Temporary storage
c. Change of state
Example
Cycle 2 or the process of rainfall has the
change of state and transportation aspects.
Cycle 5 or the groundwater path has storage
and transportation aspects.
Main components of Hydrologic Cycle
Schematic Diagram of Transportation (Flow)
Components
Main components of Hydrologic Cycle
Water Budget Equation
Catchment Area
also called drainage area or drainage basin,
the area of land draining into a stream or a
water course at a given location. A catchment
area is separated from its neighboring areas
by a ridge called divide.
Water Budget Equation
for a given problem area, say a catchment,
in an interval of time ∆ t, the continuity
equation of water in its various phases is
written as:
Mass inflow- mass outflow= change in mass
storage or
ρi V i−ρo V o =ρ∆ ∆ S
If ρ’s are the same; V i−V o=∆ S
in hydrologic calculations, the volumes are
often expressed as average depths over the
catchment area. Rainfall, evaporation and
often runoff volumes are expressed in units
of depth over the catchment.
Example
Annual stream flow= 107 m3
Catchment area= 10 k m2
107 m3
Average depth= =1 m=100 cm
10 x 106 m2
Water Budget Equation of a catchment for a
time interval ∆ t:
P- R- G- E- T= ∆ S
P= precipitation (¿ m3)
R= surface runoff (¿ m3)
G= net groundwater flow out of the
catchment (¿ m3)
E= evaporation (¿ m3)
T= transpiration (¿ m3)
∆ S= change in storage (¿ m3)
In terms of rainfall- runoff relationship;
P- L= R
P= precipitation (¿ m3)
R= surface runoff (¿ m3)
L= losses= water not available to runoff due
to infiltration (causing addition to soil
moisture and groundwater storage),
evaporation, transpiration and surface
storage.
∆ S=∆ S s+ ∆ S sm +∆ S g
∆ S s= change in surface water storage (¿ m3)
∆ S sm= change in water in storage as soil
moisture (¿ m3)
∆ S g= change in water in storage as
groundwater (¿ m3)
NOTE: the net import of water into the
catchment, from sources outside the
catchment, by action of man is assumed to be
zero.
Sample Problem:
1. A lake had a water surface elevation of
103.200 m above datum at the beginning of a
certain month. In that month the lake
received an average inflow of 6.0 m 3 /s from
surface runoff sources. In the same period
the outflow from the lake had an average
value of 6.5 m 3 /s . Further, in that month, the
lake received a rainfall of 145 mm and the
evaporation from the lake surface was
estimated as 6.10 cm. Write the water budget
equation for the lake and calculate the water
surface elevation of the lake at the end of the
month. The average lake surface area can be
taken as 5000 ha. Assume that there is no
contribution to or from the groundwater
storage.
Solution:
∆ t= 1 month= 30 days x 24 hours/day x 60
mins/hr x 60 sec/min= 2.592 Ms
In 1 month:
 Inflow volume= 6.0 m 3 /s x 2.592 Ms=
15.552 x 106 m3
 Outflow volume= 6.5 m3 /s x 2.592
Ms=16.848 x 106 m 3
 Inflow due to precipitation= 0.145 m
x (5000 x 100 2 m2)=7.25 x 106 m3
 Outflow due to evaporation= 0.061 m
x (5000 x 100 2 m2)= 3.05 x 106 m3
evaporation and transpiration? What is the
ratio of runoff to precipitation?
Solution:
∆ t=10 hours
For the first 1.5 hours (90 mins), rainfall
(precipitation) occurred due to storm, after
which, for the remaining 8.5 hours, rainfall is
zero;
For P:
P= 0.105 m x (150 x 100 2 m2)=157,500 m3
For the first 1.5 hours (90 mins), runoff
simultaneously occurred with an average
discharge of 1.5 m 3 /s, and lasted until the end
of the 10 hour span;

Mass inflow- mass outflow= change in mass For R:

storage or R= 1.5 m3 /s x (1.5 + 8.5) hours x 60 mins/hr
ρi V i−ρo V o =ρ ∆ ∆ S x 60 sec/min =54,000 m3

If ρ’s are the same; V i−V o=∆ S P- L= R

(15.552+7.25) x 106−(16.848+3.05) x 10 6=∆ S L=103,500 m3

R
∆ S=2.904 x 10 6 m 3 =0.343(runoff coefficient )
P
∆ S=A ∆ z
World Water Balance
6 3 2 2
2.904 x 10 m =(5000  x 100 m ) ∆ z
∆ z=0.05808 m
b
New water surface at the end of the month= e
103.200 + 0.05808 c
f
= 103.25808 m above the datum f
e
2. A small catchment of area 150 ha received
a rainfall of 10.5 cm in 90 minutes due to a
storm. At the outlet of the catchment, the
a
stream draining the catchment was dry d
before the storm and experienced a runoff
lasting for 10 hours with an average a. The total quantity of water in the world is
discharge of 1.5 m 3 /s. The stream was again estimated to be about 1386 million cubic
dry after the runoff event. What is the kilometers ( M km3)
amount of water which was not available to
runoff due to combined effect of infiltration,
b. About 96.5 % of this water is contained in
the oceans as saline water.
c. Some of the water on the land amounting
to about 1% of the total water is also saline.
d. Thus, only about 35.0 M km3 of freshwater
is available.
The average flow rate of water in global
rivers= 44,700 km3 / year (table 1.2)
T r=0.0474 year=17.31 days
a

e. Out of this about 10.6 M km3 is both liquid b

b
and fresh.
f. The remaining 24.4 M km3 is contained in
frozen state as ice in the polar regions and on
mountain tops and glaciers.

a b
a. Africa is the driest continent in the world
a ab
with only 20% of the precipitation going as
runoff.
b b. North America and Europe emerge as
continents with highest runoff.
a. The annual evaporation from the world’s
Sources of Data
oceans and inland areas are
0.505∧0.072 M km3 respectively. Thus, over A hydrologist would require data relating to
the oceans about 9% more water evaporates the various relevant phases of the
than that falls back as precipitation. hydrological cycle playing on the problem
catchment. The data normally required in the
b. Correspondingly, there will be excess
studies are:
precipitation over evaporation on the land
mass. The differential, which is estimated to weather records- temperature, humidity
be about 0.047 M km 3 is the runoff from land and wind velocity
mass to oceans and groundwater outflow to
precipitation data
oceans.
stream flow records
The average duration of a particle of water to
pass through a phase of the hydrologic cycle evaporation and evapotranspiration data
is known as the residence time (T r) of that
infiltration characteristics of the study area
phase. It could be calculated by dividing the
volume of water in the phase by the average soils of the area
flow rate in that phase.
land use and land cover
Example:
groundwater characteristics
Assuming that all the surface runoff to the
physical and geological characteristics of
oceans comes from the rivers,
the area
The volume of water in the rivers of the
water quality data
world= 0.00212 M km3 (table 1.1)
Precipitation
denotes all forms of water that reach the
earth from the atmosphere. The usual forms
are rainfall, snowfall, hail, frost and dew,
though only rainfall and snowfall contribute
significant amounts of water.
rainfall being the predominant form of
precipitation causing stream flow, especially
the flood flow, it is usually used
synonymously with precipitation.
the magnitude of precipitation varies with
time and space, it is this variation that is
responsible for many hydrological problems,
such as floods and droughts.
Requirements for Precipitation Formation
the atmosphere must have moisture
there must be sufficient nuclei present to
aid condensation.
weather conditions must be good for
condensation of water vapor to take place.
the products of condensation must reach
the earth.
Forms of Precipitation
Rain- it is the principal form of
precipitation. The term rainfall is used to
describe precipitations in the form of water
drops of sizes larger than 0.5 mm. The
maximum size of a raindrop is about 6 mm.
Any drop larger in size than this tends to
break up into drops of smaller sizes during
its fall from the clouds. On the basis of its
intensity, rainfall is classified as:
Snow- consists of ice crystals which usually
combine to form flakes. When fresh, snow has an
initial density varying from 0.06−0.15 g/cm 3
and it is usual to assume an average density of
0.1 g/cm 3.
Drizzle- a fine sprinkle of numerous water
droplets of size less than 0.5 mm and
intensity less than 1 mm/h. In this the drops
are so small that they appear to float in the
air.
Glaze- when rain or drizzle comes in
contact with cold ground at around 0 ℃, the
water drops freeze to form an ice coating
called glaze or freezing rain.
Sleet- it is frozen raindrops of transparent
grains which form when rain falls through air
at subfreezing temperature.
Hail- it is a showery precipitation in the
form of irregular pellets or lumps of ice of
size more than 8 mm. Hails occur in violent
thunderstorms in which vertical currents are
very strong.
Weather Systems for Precipitation
Some of the terms and processes connected
with the weather systems associated with
precipitation are given:
Cyclone- is a large low pressure region
with circular wind motion. There are two
types of cyclone;
Tropical Cyclone- commonly called cyclone,
or hurricane in USA and typhoon in South-
East Asia, is a wind system with an intensely
strong depression with pressures sometimes
below 915 mbars. The normal areal extent of
a cyclone is about 100-200 km in diameter.
The center of the storm, called the eye, which
may extend to about 10-50 km in diameter,
will be relatively quiet. However, right
outside the eye, very strong winds/ reaching
to as much as 200 kph exist.
During summer months, TC originate in the
open ocean and move at speeds of about 10-
30 kph in an irregular path. They derive their
energy from the latent heat of condensation
of ocean water vapor and increase in size as
they move on oceans.
Extratropical Cyclone- are cyclones formed in
locations outside the tropical zone. The
magnitude of precipitation and wind
velocities are relatively lower than those of a
tropical cyclone. However, the duration of
precipitation is usually longer and the areal
extent is also larger.
Anticyclones- these are regions of high
pressure, usually of large areal extent. The
weather is usually calm at the center.
Anticyclones cause clockwise wind
circulations in the northern hemisphere.
Winds are of moderate speed, and at the
outer edges, cloudy and precipitation
conditions exist.
Convective Precipitation- in this type of
precipitation a packet of air which is warmer
than the surrounding air due to localized
heating rises because of its lesser density. Air
from cooler surroundings flows to take up its
place thus setting up a convective cell. The
warm air continues to rise, undergoes cooling
and results in precipitation. Depending upon
the moisture, thermal and other conditions
light showers to thunderstorms can be
expected in convective precipitation. Usually
the areal extent of such rains is small, being
limited to a diameter of about 10 km.
Orographic Precipitation- is a type of
precipitation where the moist air masses may
get lifted-up to higher altitudes due to the
presence of mountain barriers and
consequently undergo cooling, condensation
and precipitation. Thus in mountain ranges,
the windward slopes have heavy
precipitation and the leeward slopes light
rainfall.
Front- is the interface between two distinct
air masses. Under certain favorable
conditions when a warm air mass and cold
air mass meet, the warmer air mass is lifted
over the colder one with the formation of a
front.
Characteristics of Precipitation in the
Philippines
Weather- is what's happening in the
atmosphere on a given day, in a specific
place. Local forecasts include temperature,
humidity, winds, cloudiness, and prospects
for storms or other changes over the next few
days.
Climate- is the average of these weather
ingredients over many years. Some
meteorologists say that "climate is what you
expect; weather is what you get".
The Four Climate Types in the Philippines
The Climate of the Philippines is either
tropical rainforest, tropical savanna or
tropical monsoon, or humid subtropical (in
higher-altitude areas) characterized by
relatively high temperature, oppressive
humidity and plenty of rainfall.
There are two major seasons in the
country, the wet season and the dry season,
based upon the amount of rainfall. This is
dependent as well on your location in the
country as some areas experience rain all
throughout the year.
The seven warmest months of the year are
from March to October. The winter monsoon
brings cooler air from November to February.
May is the warmest month, and January, the
coolest.
There are four recognized climate types in
the Philippines, and they are based on the
distribution of rainfall.
The seasons are further divided as follows:
Tag-init or Tag-araw (the hot season or
summer from March to May), Tag-ulan (the
rainy season from June to November), and
Taglamig (the cold season from December to
February).
The humid southwest monsoon (May- about 30. Variability is least in regions of high
October) is known as "Habagat". The cool and rainfall and largest in regions of scanty
dry winds of the northeast monsoon rainfall.
(November April) are called "Amihan".
Rainfall
The Four Climates in the Philippines
The precipitation is collected and measured
Rainfall is the most important climatic in a rain gauge. Terms such as pluviometer,
element in the Philippines. Rainfall ombrometer and hyetometer are also
distribution throughout the country varies sometimes used to designate a rain gauge.
from one region to another, depending upon
Rain Gauge- essentially consists of a
the direction of the moisture-bearing winds
cylindrical-vessel assembly kept in the open
and the location of the mountain systems.
to collect rain.
The mean annual rainfall of the Philippines
The rainfall catch of the rain gauge is affected
varies from 965 to 4,064 millimeters
by its exposure conditions. To enable the
annually. Baguio City, eastern Samar, and
catch of rain gauge to accurately represent
eastern Surigao receive the greatest amount
the rainfall in the area surrounding the rain
of rainfall while the southern portion of
gauge standard settings are adopted.
Cotabato receives the least amount of rain. At
General Santos City in Cotabato, the average For siting a rain gauge the following
annual rainfall is only 978 millimeters. considerations are important:
Rains the ground must be level and in the open
and the instrument must present a horizontal
Overcast sky with continuous or steady
catch surface
precipitation that may last several hours.
the gauge must be set as near the ground
Has a water droplets of 0.5 mm or greater
as possible to reduce wind effects but it must
in size but if widely scattered the drops may
be sufficiently high to prevent splashing,
be smaller.
flooding, etc.
Associated with meso-scale (synoptic)
the instrument must be surrounded by an
system or macro-scale (large scale) system
open fenced area of at least 5.5 m x 5.5 m. No
like TC's, Easterly Waves, Monsoons, Fronts
object should be nearer to the instrument
and ITCZ.
than 30 m or twice the height of the
Rainshowers obstruction
Precipitation of short duration but usually Classification of Rain Gauges
of greater intensity from convective
nonrecording rain gauges
clouds(primarily cumulus or cumulonimbus)
recording rain gauges
Characterized by sudden start and sudden
end of precipitation, rapid change in Nonrecording Gauges
intensity.
The nonrecording gauge extensively used is
It is well-known that there is considerable the Symon’s Gauge.
variation of annual rainfall in time at a place.
It essentially consists of a circular
The coefficient of variation (C v =100[σ / x́ ]) of
collecting area of 12.7 cm (5.0 inch) diameter
the annual rainfall varies between 15 and 70,
connected to a funnel.
from place to place with an average value of
the rim of the collector is set in a
horizontal plane at a height of 30.5 cm above
the ground level. The funnel discharges the
rainfall catch into a receiving vessel. The
funnel and receiving vessel are housed in a
metallic container.
water contained in the receiving vessel is
measured by a suitably graduated measuring
glass, with an accuracy of up to 0.1 mm
can also be used to measure snowfall.
When snow is expected, the funnel and
receiving bottle are removed and the snow is
allowed to collect in the outer metal
container.
the snow is then melted and the depth of
resulting water measured.
Recording Gauges
Recording gauges produce a continuous plot
of rainfall against time and provide valuable
data of intensity and duration of rainfall for
hydrological analysis of storms.
Commonly used Recording Gauges
Tipping-Bucket Type
a 30.5 cm size rain gauge
the catch from the funnel falls onto one of a
pair of small bucket. These buckets are so
balanced that when 0.25 mm of rainfall
collects in one bucket, it tips and brings the
other one in position. The water from the
tipped bucket is collected in a storage can.
the tipping actuates an electricity driven
pen to trace a record on clockwork-driven
chart. The water collected in the storage can
is measured at regular intervals to provide
the total rainfall and also serve as a check. It
may be noted that the record from the
tipping bucket gives data on the intensity of
rainfall.
Weighing-Bucket Type
the catch from the funnel empties into a
bucket mounted on a weighing scale.
the weight of the bucket and its contents
are recorded on a clock-work-driven chart.
The clockwork mechanism has the capacity
to run for as long as one week.
this instrument gives a plot of the
accumulated rainfall against the elapsed time
i.e. the mass curve of rainfall.
Natural- Syphon Type
also known as float-type gauge
the rainfall collected by a funnel-shaped
collector is led into a float chamber causing a
float to rise.
as the float rises, a pen attached to the float
through a lever system records the elevation
of the float on a rotating drum driven by a
clockwork mechanism.
a syphon arrangement empties the float
chamber when the float has reached a pre-set
maximum level.
this chart shows a rainfall of 53.8 mm in 30
hours.
the vertical lines in the pen-trace
correspond to the sudden emptying of the
float chamber by syphon action which resets
the pen to zero level.
Telemetering Rain Gauges
contain electronic units to transmit the
data on rainfall to a base station both at
regular intervals.
utmost used in gathering rainfall data from
mountainous and generally inaccessible
places.
Radar Measurement of Rainfall
powerful instrument for measuring the
areal extent, location and movement of rain
storms as well as the amounts of rainfall over
large areas with a good degree of accuracy.
the radar emits a regular succession of
pulses of electromagnetic radiation in a
narrow beam. When raindrops intercept a if there are m stations in the catchment
radar beam, it has been shown that; each recording rainfall values P1 , P2 , .. . , P m in
CZ a known time, the coefficient of variation C v
Pr = is calculated as;
r2
σ
Pr =¿ average echopower C v = (100)
Ṕ
C=¿ a constant
σ =¿ standard deviation
Z=¿ radar-echo factor
Ṕ=¿ mean precipitation
r =¿ distance to target volume
m

Z=a I b

a , b= coefficients, usually 200 and 1.6

respectively
σ=
√ ∑ ( Pi− Ṕ)2

m
1
m−1

I= intensity of rainfall in mm/h ∑ Pi

Adequacy of Rain Gauge Stations
Since the catching area of a rain gauge is
very small compared to the areal extent of a
storm, it is obvious that to get a
representative picture of a storm over a
catchment, the number of rain gauges should
be as large as possible i.e. the catchment area
per gauge should be small.
On the other hand, economic
considerations to a large extent and other
considerations, such as topography,
accessibility, etc. to some extent restrict the
number of gauges to be maintained.
if there are already some rain gauge
stations in a catchment, the optimal number
of stations that should exist to have an
assigned percentage of error in the
estimation of mean rainfall is obtained by
statistical analysis as;
2 Solution:
C
N= v
ε( )
1
Ṕ=
m
in calculating N, it is usual to take ε =10 %.
It is seen that if the value of ε is small, the
number if rain gauge stations will be more.
According to World Meteorological
Organization (WMO), at least 10% of the
total rain gauges should be of self-recording
type.
Sample Problem:
1. A catchment has six rain gauge stations. In
a year, the annual rainfall recorded by the
gauges are as follows:
For a 10% error in the estimation of the
mean rainfall, calculate the optimum number
of stations in the catchment.
Cv 2

N=¿ optimal number of stations

N= ( )ε
m
ε =¿ allowable degree of error in the estimate
of the mean rainfall (in percent)
C v =¿ coefficient of variation of the rainfall
values at the existing m stations (in percent)
σ=
√ ∑ ( Pi− Ṕ)2
1
m−1
 711.6
Ṕ= =118.6
6
σ
C v = (100)
Ṕ
m

∑ Pi
1
Ṕ=
m

6137.92
σ=
√ 6−1
=35.04

100[35.04/ 118.6 ] 2
N= ( 10 ) =8.73 ≈ 9 stations

The optimal number of stations for the

catchment is 9, hence, 3 more additional
stations are needed