Hydrology and Water

Resources

Heba Hamad
Surface Runoff

The Engineering Problem !!!

Catchment characteristics and their effects
on runoff
It is appropriate to consider how various properties of
the catchment area affect the rate and quantity of
discharge from it.
Catchment area – watershed:
Catchment characteristics and their effects
on runoff
Catchment area:
The area is usually bounded by the topographic water
divide.
If runoff is expressed not as total quantity for a
catchment but as a quantity per unit area, it is
observed that peak runoff decreases as the catchment
area increases
Catchment characteristics and their effects
on runoff
Main Stream Length
This is measured in km from the gauging station or
catchment outfall.
Slope of catchment:
The more steeply the ground surface is sloping, the
more rapidly will surface runoff travel, so that
concentration times will be shorter and flood peaks
higher.
Infiltration capacities tend to be lower as slopes get
steeper.
Catchment characteristics and their effects
on runoff
Catchment Orientation:
Orientation is important with respect to the
meteorology of the area in which the catchment lies. If
the prevailing winds and lines of storm movement
have a particular seasonal pattern, the runoff
hydrograph will depend to some degree on the
catchment orientation.
Catchment characteristics and their effects
on runoff
Shape of Catchment
Annual average rainfall
Stream frequency
Base flow index: This is an index calculated as the
ratio of the flow under the separated hydrograph to
the flow under the total hydrograph.
Lake and reservoir area: They act as surface water
stores and have the effect of smoothing out the
hydrographs of catchment that contain them.
Key Definitions:
Runoff : normally applies to flow over a surface

Overland flow: when soil moisture storage and

depression storage are filled, “excess” rainfall generates
overland flow.
Stream flow: is used to describe the drainage after it
reaches a defined channel

Baseflow: contribution to stream flow from

groundwater
-Perennial Stream
A stream which always carries some flow. It is always
fed from groundwater base flow. Even during dry
seasons the water table will be above the bed of the
stream.
-An intermittent stream
Stream is fed from groundwater base only in the wet
season. During the wet season the water table is above
the stream bed. During dry seasons the water table
drops to a level lower than that of the stream bed; and
therefore the stream dries up.
-An ephemeral steam
No contribution from groundwater (base flow) to the
stream (most rivers in arid zones) 23
Stream is
always fed
from
groundwater
base flow

24
Stream is fed
from
Groundwater
base only in
the wet season

25
No
contribution
from
groundwater
(base flow) to
the stream
(most rivers in
arid zones)

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