ENEN3003 Hydrology and Water Resources Systems –

General Tutorial

Draw a neat circle around the letter in front of the appropriate answer.

1. What is surface water hydrology?

a. The study of streamflow in natural and artificial channels.

b. The study of the surface processes in the Hydrologic cycle.

c. The study of the origin and movement of water on the earth’s surface.

d. The study of water in the earth’s upper crust.

2. An abstraction to the rainfall-runoff relationship is defined as ………

a. The water removed from nature systems for irrigation purposes.

b. A loss to the rainfall-runoff process, rainfall that does not contribute to runoff.

c. The water used by natural vegetation.

d. The ‘instream’ requirements of the flora and fauna in a natural watercourse.

3. Which of these are not considered abstractions?

a. Interception storage, infiltration, surface storage.

b. Evaporation, evapotranspiration, Interception storage.

c. Infiltration, inter-flow, Interception storage

d. Surface storage, Evapotranspiration, Infiltration

4. Effective rainfall is…..

a. Rainfall that occurs on permeable surfaces.

b. The portion of rainfall that goes toward runoff generation.

 c. The rainfall that occurs over land with vegetation.

d. The portion of rainfall that falls over impermeable areas in the catchment.

5. The unit hydrograph is the hydrograph which is produced by ………..?

a. Only considering the direct runoff from a unit area of a catchment.

b. A unit depth of excess rainfall occurring uniformly over a catchment.

c. The removal of baseflow from the direct runoff hydrograph.

d. A unit depth of excess rainfall occurring uniformly over a catchment for a specific duration.

6. The area below a Direct Runoff Hydrograph is…………..

a. The volume of water stored in the water channel.

b. The volume of direct runoff from the catchment.

c. The volume of water flowing in the channel minus baseflow.

d. The difference between volume of runoff and volume of storage in the watershed.

7. The stage of a river is …………

a. The water level in the river measured above a specified datum.

b. The geologic age of a river

c. The length between two cross-sections.

d. The height of the river above its base.

8. A rating curve of a river is….

a. The relationship between water level and volume flow rate for the river.

b. The discharge-time relationship at a specific location along the river.

c. The relationship between storage and outflow along a section of the river.

d. The stage-discharge relationship of the river at a specific location.

9. What is baseflow?

a. The discharge in a river during the dry season from interflow alone.

b. The discharge in a river from groundwater flow alone.

c. The discharge of a river before a rainfall event, originating from interflow and groundwater
flow.

d. The discharge in rivers which originates after rainfall has stopped.

10. Which statement is NOT always TRUE about the hydrologic nature of a flood…..

a. It is the response of a catchment to rainfall.

b. It is a hydraulic wave moving along a channel.

c. It is the inundation of the lands adjacent to rivers after a rain event.

d. It is the flow that occurs in rivers after every rainfall event.

11. What is flood routing?

a. A method of flood control where the flood is collected in detention ponds for gradual release
over time

b. The method of determining the change in a flow hydrograph from one point to a downstream
point along the river.

c. A method of reshaping rivers to prevent flooding and reducing economic losses.

d. The method of changing the time base and peak discharge of a given flooding event

12. The storage function of a channel does which of the following…

a. It lowers the peak discharge and lengthens the time base of the flood hydrograph.

b. It reduces the occurrence of over topping along a river

c. It attenuates the runoff hydrograph at the beginning of a river section or reach.

d. It increases the amount of water stored in rivers after rainfall occurs.

13. What is detention storage

a. Water stored for long periods of time and is depleted by evaporation.

b. The water that remains on the leaves of vegetation after rainfall.

c. Short term storage depleted by flow away from the storage location

d. Surface storage, Evapotranspiration, Infiltration

14. What is retention storage?

a. Water stored for long periods of time and is depleted by evaporation.

b. The water that remains on the leaves of vegetation after rainfall.

c. Short term storage depleted by flow away from the storage location

d. Surface storage, Evapotranspiration, Infiltration

15. What is Hortonian overland flow?

a. The flow that occurs over shallow soils of high permeability.

b. Sheet flow of shallow depth occurring over the land surface.

c. Sheet flow of shallow depth over grasslands.

d. The flow that occurs over vegetated surfaces in humid areas.

16. The type of flow which occurs in Hillslope processes…

a. Occur at the top of long slopes

b. Is unsaturated flow in the soil above the water table on slopes.

c. Is one in which subsurface flow saturates the soil at the bottom of slopes leading to overland
flow at these areas

d. Is super critical flow over the catchment surface.

17. Hillslope processes are more applicable to?

 a. Semi-arid, urbanized catchments with vegetated surfaces.

b. Vegetated catchments with shallow soils in humid climates.

c. Catchments with natural vegetation, soils of impaired permeability in humid climates.

d. Semi-arid, urbanized catchments with sparse vegetation.

18. Variable source areas or partial areas are?

a. Areas in the watershed where infiltration occurs, they expand and contract during rainfall

b. Areas in the watershed where infiltration occurs, they contract after rainfall.

c. Areas in the watershed that generate runoff, they expand during rainfall alone.

d. Areas in the watershed that generate runoff, they expand during rainfall and contract after.

19. A certain catchment experienced a rainfall event with the following incremental depths,

Time interval / Rainfall Depth /

hrs cm
0–3 0.4
3-6 0.8
6–9 1.6
9 - 12 0.2
Determine:
a. The average rainfall intensity in the first 6 hours of the storm =

b. The average rainfall intensity for the entire storm =

20. What are the assumptions made when using the Rational Method?
21. What are the characteristics of a mid-sized catchment?
 Streamflow Hydrograph
16000
15000

Discharge, Q ft3/s
14000
13000
12000
11000
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 5 10 15 20
Time / hours

22. For the streamflow hydrograph shown above,

a. Draw in the base flow line
b. Label the rising and receeding limbs
c. Complete the table below

Item Value Units

Peak Disgharge
Time to peak
Baseflow
Time base of the hydrograph

23. Label the Hillslope processes A - D in the diagram below.

 A A

A
B

24. List and explain the major processes of the hydrologic cycle.
25. Explain how the major Surface water processes will be altered if a forested area was cleared for the
creation of a town.
26. Which of processes of the Hydrologic Cycle are considered in Surface Water Hydrology and write
a Water Balance relating these processes
27. A catchment with Clay Loam soil having 30% effective saturation, experiences rainfall with 1 cm/hr
intensity. Using Green and Ampt method, calculate the following:
a. The ponding time and cumulative infiltration at ponding?
b. The time it takes to infiltrate 2 cm of water?
c. The infiltration rate at that time?
28. A 4-hour storm of constant intensity 2 cm/hr falls on a catchment with silt loam soil which has an
effective saturation of 30%. By the Green and Ampt method,
a. Determine
i. the infiltration rate (f) and
ii. cumulative infiltration (F) at time t= 1 hr.
b. Determine
i. the time (t) and
ii. Infiltration rate (f) when the cumulative infiltration F = 6 cm.
29. At a given site, the ground there has an initial infiltration capacity f0 of 2.9 in/hr and time constant
0.28 hr -1 and an ultimate infiltration capacity of 0.5 in/hr.
a. Write the infiltration capacity equation according to Horton’s model.
 b. Estimate the total volume of water infiltrated into the ground during the first 8 hrs.
c. What is the infiltration capacity of the ground at time = 8 hrs.
30. A catchment in Baltimore, Maryland has the following characteristics.

Land Use Area / Acres

Lawns 14.2
Forest 11.6
Residential (single family) 8.9
Industrial (light) 4.3
Streets (asphalt) 3.9

The soil in the catchment is sandy and has an average slope of 2.2%. The estimated time of
concentration of the catchment is 0.25 hrs.

a. What is the total area of the catchment?

b. Calculated the weighted runoff coefficient for this composite catchment.

c. What is the intensity of the 10 year design storm for this catchment?

d. Estimate the peak discharge from this catchment for a 10 year design storm.

31. A catchment has the following characteristics

Land Use Description % Area Soil Group

Residential (townhouses) 35 C

Golf Course, Parks (good condition) 20 B

Commercial and Business (85%

20 C
Impervious)

Industrial (72% Impervious) 15 D

Woods (fair condition) 10 C

a. Determine the weighted Curve Number for this composite catchment.

 b. This catchment experiences a rainfall depth of 6 inches. In the week before this event, it
experienced a total rainfall depth of 1.5 inches. Calculate the runoff depth from this
catchment for the 6 inch rainfall event.
32.

a) Describe and discuss the functioning

a. Storage Reservoir

b. Flood Control Reservoir

i. Detention Basin

ii. Retarding Basin

c. Distribution Reservoir

d. Multi-purpose reservoir

b) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of Flood control reservoirs

c) Water is pumped into a distribution reservoir from wells of uniform rate of 1.3 cumecs. The
estimated hourly water requirement for the worst day is given in the tables below. Determine
the capacity of the distribution reservoir in cubic meters required to fulfill these demands.

Time, hrs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Demand,
2.5 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.3 2.5 3.0 4.5
l/h x 106
Time, hrs 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Demand,
5.9 6.3 6.4 6.3 6.3 6.3 6.2 6.3
l/h x 106
Time, hrs 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Demand,
6.4 6.7 7.0 7.0 6.7 5.8 4.2 3.5
l/h x 106
33. The water, supply for a city is pumped from wells to a distribution reservoir. The estimated hourly
water requirements for the maximum day are as shown below. If the pumps are to operate at a
uniform rate,
a. What is the uniform pumping rate
 b. What is the required distribution reservoir capacity

Time, hrs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Demand,
273 206 256 237 257 312 438 627
m/h
Time, hrs 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Demand,
817 875 820 773 759 764 729 671
m/h
Time, hrs 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Demand,
670 657 612 525 423 365 328 309
m/h

34. What is a ripple diagram and describe its usage.

35. With the aid of labelled diagrams, explain the difference between a confined and an unconfined
aquifer.

36. A well penetrates vertically through an unconfined aquifer. Prior to pumping, the water level (head)
h0 = 25m. After a long period of pumping at a constant rate of 0.05 m3/s, the drawdowns at distances
50 m and 150 m from the well were observed to be 3 m and 1.2m respectively. Calculate
i. The hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer
ii. The radius of influence of the pumping well
37. Discuss the following threats to ground water
a. Over pumping
b. Toxic and biological contamination
c. Saline intrusion
38. A well 0.5 m in diameter penetrates 33m below the static water table. After a long period of pumping
at a constant rate of 80 m3/hr, the drawdown in wells 18 and 45 m from the pumped well were found
to be 1.8 m and 1.1 m respectively.
a. What is the transmissivity of the aquifer
b. What is the approximate drawdown in the pumped well
c. Determine the radius of influence of the pumping well.
39. With the aid of well labelled diagrams, explain the following terms:
i. Cone of Depression
ii. Radius of influence.
40. A well penetrates vertically through a confined aquifer 30 m thick. The well is 1.0 m in diameter
and pumped at a constant rate of 2712 m3/day. Two observation wells are located at 15 m and 50 m
away from the pumped and the drawdown in each are 1.8 m and 0.5 m respectively. Assuming
steady state conditions have been reached in the well and aquifer and the original piezometric level
is 40 m , determine
i. The drawdown in the pumped well.
ii. The transmissivity of the aquifer
iii. The radius of influence of the pumped well.
41. A 1-m diameter well penetrates vertically through a confined aquifer 30m thick. When the well is
pumped at 113 m3/hr, the drawdown in a well 15m away is 1.8m, in another 50 m away, it is 0.5 m.
Take the initial piezometer level as 40m above the datum.
a. What is the approximate head in the pumped well for steady-state conditions and
b. What is the approximate drawdown in the well?
c. Compute the transmissivity of the aquifer and the radius of influence of the pumped well.
42. Describe the concept of a Unit Hydrograph.
43. What is baseflow and discuss its origins.
44. Explain the difference between a flood hydrograph and a runoff hydrograph.

45. The ordinates of a unit hydrograph are given below. Use it to derive the runoff hydrograph for a 4
hour storm which produced 0.5 in. of rain the first hour, 1.0 in. in the second hour, 1.5 in. in the
third hour and 0.5 in. in the last hour. Infiltration at the site was constant at 0.3 in/hr.
time /h U /cfs
1 10
2 100
3 200
4 150
5 100
6 50

46. For the rainfall event described above, if the base flow in the river was 75 cfs. Derive the flood
hydrograph.
 SECTION D - TABLES AND CHARTS

Total 5-Day Antecedent Rainfall (inches)

AMC Group Dormant Season Growing Season
I < 0.5 < 1.4
II 0.5 to 1.1 1.4 to 2.1
III > 0.1 > 2.1