LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Module No. 1
THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

I. Topic:

o Definition of Hydrology
o Applications of Hydrology
o The Hydrologic Cycle
o Components of Hydrologic Cycle
o Water Balance Equation

II. Time Frame: 3 hours

III. Introduction:

Hydrology and hydrologic cycle are important science that deals with the depletion
and the replenishment of the water resources. The knowledge of hydrology is necessary
to perform design, operation and maintenance of the water resource engineering projects.
Engineering aspects of hydrology mainly concerned with quantifying amounts of water at
various locations (spatially) as a function of time (temporally) for surface water
applications. In other words, we are concerned with solving engineering problems using
hydrologic principles.

IV. Objectives:
At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:
1. Define hydrology and explain its applications;
2. Identify the different processes of hydrologic cycle; and
3. Discuss the hydrologic cycle and its components

V. Learning Activities:

The water in our planet is available in the atmosphere, the oceans, on land and
within the soil and fractured rock on the earth’s crust. Water molecules from one location
to another are driven by solar energy. Moisture circulates from the earth into the
atmosphere through evaporation and then back into the earth as precipitation. This
process is called the Hydrologic Cycle.
As future civil engineer, you must have the basic knowledge of hydrology to engage
in the design, planning and the construction of several irrigation structures, flood control
works, bridges and highway culverts.

DEFINITION OF HYDROLOGY

Hydrology comes from Greek: hydōr, "water"; and logos, "study". It is the scientific
study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets,
including the water cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability.
Hydrology is a multidisciplinary subject that deals with the occurrence, circulation,
storage, and distribution of surface and ground water on the earth.

CE 117 – Hydrology 1
ENGR. ROSANNE E. ENSOMO-ANDALUZ
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Engineering Hydrology is concerned with the field pertinent to planning, designing and
operation of engineering projects which is essential to the control and use of water. The
engineering aspects of hydrology mainly concerned with quantifying amounts of water at
various locations (spatially) as a function of time (temporally) for surface water
applications. In other words, we are concerned with solving engineering problems using
hydrologic principles.

Hydrologist is a practitioner of hydrology, working within the fields of earth or

environmental science, physical geography, geology or civil and environmental
engineering

APPLICATIONS OF HYDROLOGY

o Mitigating and predicting the risk of flood, landslide, and drought risk.
o Designing irrigation schemes and managing agricultural productivity.
o Providing drinking water.
o Designing dams for water supply or hydroelectric power generation.
o Designing bridges.
o Designing sewers and urban drainage system.
o Analyzing the impacts of antecedent moisture on sanitary sewer systems.
o Predicting geomorphological changes, such as erosion or sedimentation.
o Assessing the impacts of natural and anthropogenic environmental change on water
resources.
o Assessing contaminant transport risk and establishing environmental policy
guidelines.
o Calculation of Rain fall
o Calculating surface Runoff and precipitation etc.
o Determining the water balance of a region.
o Determining the agricultural water balance.
o Designing riparian restoration projects
o Real-time flood forecasting and flood warning.
o Designing irrigation schemes and managing agricultural productivity.
o Part of the hazard module in catastrophe modeling.
o Providing drinking water.

THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

Hydrologic cycle can be defined as the continuous process of exchange of water

from the earth surface to the atmosphere or vice versa by the influence of solar radiation
or solar heat.

The hydrologic cycle begins with the evaporation of water from the surface of the
ocean. As moist air is lifted, it cools and water vapor condenses to form clouds. Moisture
is transported around the globe until it returns to the surface as precipitation. Once the
water reaches the ground, one of two processes may occur; 1) some of the water may
evaporate back into the atmosphere or 2) the water may penetrate the surface and
become groundwater. Groundwater either seeps its way to into the oceans, rivers, and
streams, or is released back into the atmosphere through transpiration. The balance of
water that remains on the earth's surface is runoff, which empties into lakes, rivers and
streams and is carried back to the oceans, where the cycle begins again.

CE 117 – Hydrology 2
ENGR. ROSANNE E. ENSOMO-ANDALUZ
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

It is a closed system where the water gets transformed either from one place to
other or from one form to other under the action of sun heat. Whatever be the process,
the total water in the whole system remains constant.

COMPONENTS OF HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

The basic components of a hydrologic cycle constitute:
1. Precipitation
2. Runoff
3. Evaporation
4. Condensation
5. Transpiration
6. Evapotranspiration
7. Infiltration
8. Depression Storage
9. Interception
Precipitation is the fall of moisture from the atmosphere to the earth’s surface in any form.
Example: rain, hail, snow, sleet, glaze, drizzle, snowflakes.
Runoff is the water flowing over the land making its way towards rivers, lakes, oceans, etc.
as surface or subsurface flow:
1). Surface runoff – it is the running water over the land and which ultimately discharge
water to the sea.
2). Subsurface runoff – the water getting infiltrated into pervious soil mass, making its way
towards rivers and lakes can be termed as subsurface runoff.
Evaporation is the conversion of natural liquids like water into gaseous form like air.
Evaporation happens in the water bodies
Condensation
It is the conversion of a vapor or gas to a liquid. The water vapor evaporates from the
water bodies like ocean, sea and river. These vapors after reaching a height around 20
km in the sky undergo condensation and forms clouds. These later precipitate as rain, fog,
etc.
CE 117 – Hydrology 3
ENGR. ROSANNE E. ENSOMO-ANDALUZ
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Transpiration is the evaporation taking place from any plant or greenery. For example, a
water droplet on a leaf getting evaporated into the atmosphere. Transpiration is the
process by which water molecules leaves the body of a living plant and escapes to the
atmosphere. The water is drawn up by the plant root system and part of that is lost through
the tissues of plant leaf (through the stomata).
Evapotranspiration is the combination of evaporation and transpiration.
Infiltration
It is the process of infiltration of water to the inner layers of soil based on its structure and
nature. Pervious soils go through more infiltration than impervious. Infiltration in soils like
sand, gravel and coarser material is more and for finer soil particles like clay and silt,
infiltration is less. Infiltration is inversely proportional to runoff. In soil, if infiltration is less,
then the runoff is more. Similarly, more infiltration gives less runoff. Example: bitumen
roads have more runoff than metallic red mud roads.
Depression Storage is the part of precipitation required to fill depression zones of land.
Interception
Part of precipitation required to wet the surface of soil, buildings and all pervious
surfaces is called interception.
Hydrologic Equation
The hydrologic equation is simply the statement of the law of conservation of
matter and is given by

The equation states that during a given period, the total inflow into a given area
must equal the total outflow from the area plus the change in storage. Solving this
equation, the ground water is considered as an integral part of the surface water and it is
the subsurface inflow and outflow that pose problems in the water studies of a basin.

VI. Self-Evaluation Test:

Answer the following in your own words:

1. Describe the hydrologic water cycle.
2. What changes could occur in the hydrologic cycle if our climate were to warm up or
cool down significantly? Explain why?
3. W hic h p a rt of t h e w at e r c yc le is a p r i nc i p a l ag e nt o f er os i on ?
4 . Ex p l a in t h e r o l e of ev a p o r at io n i n t h e h yd ro l o g ic c yc l e.
5 . W hat i s t h e d if f er e n ce be t we e n h ydr o l o g y a n d h yd r a u l ic s?

VII. Review of Concepts:

The water cycle has no starting point. But, we'll begin in the oceans, since that is
where most of Earth's water exists. The sun, which drives the water cycle, heats water in
the oceans. Some of it evaporates as vapor into the air. Ice and snow can sublimate
directly into water vapor. Rising air currents take the vapor up into the atmosphere, along
with water from evapotranspiration, which is water transpired from plants and evaporated
CE 117 – Hydrology 4
ENGR. ROSANNE E. ENSOMO-ANDALUZ
 LEARNING MODULE SURIGAO STATE COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY

from the soil. The vapor rises into the air where cooler temperatures cause it to condense
into clouds.
Air currents move clouds around the globe, cloud particles collide, grow, and fall
out of the sky as precipitation. Some precipitation falls as snow and can accumulate as
ice caps and glaciers, which can store frozen water for thousands of years. Snowpack in
warmer climates often thaw and melt when spring arrives, and the melted water flows
overland as snowmelt.
Most precipitation falls back into the oceans or onto land, where, due to gravity, the
precipitation flows over the ground as surface runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in
valleys in the landscape, with streamflow moving water towards the oceans. Runoff,
and groundwater seepage, accumulate and are stored as freshwater in lakes. Not
all runoff flows into rivers, though. Much of it soaks into the ground as infiltration.
Some water infiltrates deep into the ground and replenishes aquifers (saturated
subsurface rock), which store huge amounts of freshwater for long periods of time.
Some infiltration stays close to the land surface and can seep back into
surface-water bodies (and the ocean) as groundwater discharge, and some
groundwater finds openings in the land surface and emerges as freshwater springs.

VIII. References:

David Chin, Water Resources Engineering, 3rd Ed., Pearson , 2013

McCuen, R.H., Hydrologic Analysis and Design, Prentice Hall, 1989
Linsley, R.K., M.A. Kohler and J.L.H. Paulhus, Hydrology for Engineers by; McGraw-Hill,
1988
Applied Hydrology by VenTe Chow, David Maidment and Larry Mays;McGRAW-HILL
International Editions; 1988
Handbook of Hydrology David Maidment, 1993

CE 117 – Hydrology 5
ENGR. ROSANNE E. ENSOMO-ANDALUZ