HYDROLOGY

Introduction

Hydrology and its Importance

Hydrology ( from the Greek Hydor, water, and Logos, science.) is the science of water in
nature: its properties, distribution, and behavior. As such, it provides basic information for
the management of water resources within the framework of hydraulic and hydrological
economy: water supply and waste water disposal, drainage and irrigation, navigation and
river regulation, water power and flood control.

The Hydrological Cycle

Precipitation, percolation, runoff, and evaporation are stages in the cycle of water, which is
without beginning or end. Of the water driven to earth, some falls directly upon water
surfaces; some flows overland and makes Its way into brooks and rivers, ponds, lakes, and
reservoirs, or seas and oceans; some is returned at once to the atmosphere by evaporation
from water and land surfaces, and by evaporation and transpiration from vegetation; and
some sinks into the soil.
Of the water entering the earth's skin, part is held near the surface whence some of it
evaporates directly and some is taken up by vegetation to be returned to the atmosphere by
transpiration. The remainder of the infiltering water settles downward by gravity until it
reaches the groundwater table to join the subterranean reservoir within the earth crust.
Most of the groundwater eventually discharges at the surface of the earth through springs
and seepage outcrops, or it passes, at or below the water line, into streams and standing
bodies of water, including the oceans.
The water flowing in brooks and rivers is derived, only in small part, from direct
precipitation, in largest volume from rain running off the surface of the earth, and in
steadiest amounts as dry-weather flow from the lowering of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs
and from groundwater seepage.
Evaporation and precipitation are the principal driving forces in the water cycle. Solar
radiation is the source of needed energy, runoff and percolation shift the scence of its
evaporation laterally along the earth's surface; atmospheric circulation does so for its
condensation and precipitation (Fig. 1).
 Runoff or stream flow = Surface runoff and ground-water runoff

Figure 1. The Water Cycle

Precipitation
Precipitation can take place-in a number of ways, namely, rainfall, snow, sleet, hail, ice
storm, drizzle, dew, etc. The principal form of precipitation in Yemen is rainfall.
For the formation of clouds and subsequent precipitation, it is necessary that the moist air
masses cool to form condensation. This is normally accomplished by adiabatic cooling of
moist air through a process of being lifted to higher altitudes.

Rainfall Measurement
Normally, two types of gauges are used for the measurement of rainfall:
(i) Non-recording Gauge.
(ii) Recording Gauges ( Automatic Raingauges):
a) Tipping-Bucket Type
b) Syphonic Type (or Floating Type)
c) Weighing-Bucket Type
(iii) Telemetric Raingauges
(iv) Radar Measurement of Rainfall.
Mean Rainfall for a Catchment Area (Rainfall Averaging)
In a large catchment area there are more than one rain gauge station and a single value of
average rainfall, applicable to the entire catchment area is called mean rainfall for a
catchment area. There are three methods for finding out this mean;
(1) Arithmetic Mean,
(ii) Thiessen Polygon,
(iii) Isohyetal Method.

(i) Arithmetic Mean

In this method the rainfall from all the gauging stations is added and the sum divided by
the number of stations,

(ii) Thiessen polygon Method

This method is to divide the area into polygons. Plot all the rain gauge stations on the
catchment area plan. Join all stations forming triangles. Draw perpendicular bisectors of all
such lines.
Each rain gauge station will be included in polygons formed by the bisectors and by the
boundary of the catchment area. The area measured by a planimeter (or other method) of
this polygon is the influence area of this station. The mean rainfall over the catchment area, is
given by

where A = a1+ a2+ a3+…+ an

4
2

6 5
(iii) Isohyetal Method
Isohyets are lines joining points of equal rainfall (they can also be termed as rainfall
contours). The isohyets of various values are drawn by considering point rainfalls as
guides, and interpolating between them with reference to a certain interval. The procedure
is similar to the drawing of elevation contours based on spot levels.
The areas between two adjacent isohyets are then determined with a planimeter (or any
other method). If the isohyets go out of catchment, the catchment boundary is used as the
bounding line. The average value of the rainfall indicated by two isohyets is assumed to be
acting over the inter-isohyet area. If P1, P2, ...Pn are the values of isohyets and a1, a2, …an
are the inter-Isohyet areas respectively, then the mean precipitation over the catchment of
area A is given by

where A = a1+ a2+ a3+…+ an 30 35

20 25
15 Isohyets
10 22.5

17.3 32
Catchment
Boundary 35
17.2

Station 10 30
Rainfall 21.2
Boundar 25
y 15 20
10

Runoff
Runoff is that part of rainfall which eventually joins the stream after meeting various
kinds of losses,
Runoff = Rainfall – Losses
Losses may be the following,
(i) Loss due to evaporation and evapo-transpiration,
(ii) Loss due to infiltration,
(iii) Loss due to interception by trees, etc.
(iv) Loss due to surface storage in both natural and man-made reservoirs.
Factors Affecting Run-off
Storm Factors
(a) Depth of Rainfall; the greater the depth, the greater will be the run-off.
(b) Duration of rainfall.
(c) Intensity of rainfall.
(d) Frequency of rainfall.
(e) Direction of storm.
(f) Distribution of storm.

Basin Factors
(a) Area of catchment.
(b) Mean slope of catchment and its altitude.
(c) Shape of catchment.
(d) Soil and sub-soil conditions.
(e) Vegetative cover.
(f) Climatic conditions.
(g) Drainage conditions.
(h) Land-use pattern.

Computation of Run-off

(i) By Curves: curves can be drawn showing the graphical relation between rainfall and
run-off. Such curves can be prepared by the systematic observation of the storm rainfall
and stream discharge corresponding to the given storm.

(ii) Empirical Formulae: such formulae can be obtained by the use of statistical analysis
(correlation, regression and distribution functions…) for data series.

(iii) Infiltration Method: if the infiltration can be found out, the ran-off can be determined
by deducting the infiltration loss from the rainfall.
(v) Stream Gauging: The most dependable method to determine the run-off, arising out of
the storm rainfall in a basin, is to measure the discharge in the stream at the point through
which all the run-off from the given basin will pass eventually.

Methods of Stream Gauging

(i) Area-velocity method,
(ii) Dilution technique,
(iii) Electromagnetic method,
(iv) Ultrasonic Method,
(v) Hydraulic structures, such as weirs, flumes and gated structures, and
(VI) Slope-area method.

Area-velocity Method
This method of discharge "measurement consists of measuring the area of cross-section of
the river at a selected section called the gauging site and measuring the velocity of flow
through the cross-sectional area.
As the velocity varies from point to point in the section, the section is divided Into several
small areas say A1, A2, A3,...An and if the mean velocity of the flow normal to the above
areas are V1, V2,V3,…Vn respectively, then the total discharge through the entire stream
section will be
Q = A1V1 + A2V2 + A3V3 +…+ AnVn
This is in brief, the principle of measuring the stream discharge by the area-velocity
method,

b b b b b b x
V7
V1 A7
V5 V6
A1 V2 V3 V4
A6
A2 A3 A4 A5