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LOSSES FROM PRECIPITATION

Various processes of the hydrologic cycle were discussed in Chapter One. The final
goal of a hydrologic study is usually to obtain runoff from a catchment due to a
storm or storms. There are losses from storm-water due to evaporation,
evapotranspiration, infiltration, interception and depression storage, etc. Of which,
evaporation and infiltration are considered as major losses. These two are
discussed in this chapter.

Evaporation
A few terms related to evaporation are defined below:

Vaporization: It is a physical process in which liquid changes to gaseous state

without boiling from free surfaces of water bodies and wet soil masses and returns
to atmosphere due to high temperature effects.

Evaporation: Water loss due to vaporization is called evaporation. It is measured

in depth units.

Traspiration: The process by which water is returned to the atmosphere by

evaporation from the surface of the leaves after movement from the soil through
the root and stem system of the plant, is called transpiration.

Evapotranspiration: It is combined evaporation and transpiration. The total

water loss from soil or free water surface and from trees and plants is termed as
evapotranspiration.

Potential Evapotranspiration: It is water evaporated and transpired by plants

when it is available in abundance. Of course, quantity of available water affects the
rate and magnitude of evapotranspiration.

Factors Affecting Evaporation

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a. Temperature: Evaporation is highly dependent upon temperature. Higher the
temperature, greater will be the evaporation.

b. Surface area of water body: Evaporation takes place from free surface of
water body. Larger the area exposed to atmosphere, greater will be evaporation.

c. Humidity: Greater the humidity, lesser will be the evaporation.

d. Wind speed: Higher the wind speed more will be evaporation.

e. Solar radiation: Evaporation increases with increasing solar radiation.

f. Atmospheric Pressure: Evaporation decreases with increasing atmospheric

pressure.

g. Depth of Water: Greater the depth of water, lesser will be the evaporation.

Estimation of Evaporation
Evaporation can be estimated by:
a. direct measurement using pans, or
b. indirect or theoretical method

From theoretical point of view there are three recognized approaches and are
named as:
1. Water Budget Approach,
2. Energy Budget Approach, and
3. Mass Transfer Approach

Water Budget Approach

The water budget approach is the least complicated method of estimating

evaporation but results obtained from it are not so accurate. It is based on the
assumptions that change in storage ‘S’ and all components of inflow ‘I’ (mainly
precipitation ‘P’) and outflow ‘O’ (Runoff ‘R’) along with losses ‘L’ except
evaporation ‘E’ can be measured, and evaporation is the quantity of water required
to balance the continuity equation.

E = P – R – L – S - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (4.1)
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Example 4.1

From a 50 mm rainfall 35 mm of runoff is generated that was measured at stream

gauging station. If infiltration losses are estimated as 10 mm, determine the
evaporation loss assume there is no storage in system.

Solution

Given,
P = 50 mm R = 35 mm
L = 10 mm S = 0
E = P – R – L – S
E = 50 – 35 – 10 = 5 mm

Energy Budget Approach

The energy budget approach makes use of the law of conservation of energy which
indicates that the total energy reaching a body of water must be equal to the total
energy leaving the water plus the increase in the internal energy of the water body.
The continuity equation for energy budget approach is given below.

Qe = Qs - Qr - Qb - Qh - Qt  Qv - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (4.2)

Where,
Qe = the energy available for evaporation.
Qs = the solar radiation (short wave)
Qr = Reflected solar energy
Qb = Long wave loss
Qh = Latent heat between the water surface and the atmosphere.
Qt = Heat transfer to and from the lake
Qv = Increases in stored energy.
All these quantities can be measured or estimated indirectly. The evaporation then
is estimated by some relationship between heat available for evaporation and
evaporated water quantity. Many researchers have worked on relationship. A
simple one from Bowen is given below:

Er = Rn/( lv ρw) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (4.3)

Where,
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 Er = Evaporation Rate
Rn = Net radiation at Earth’s Surface
lv = Latent Heat of Vaporization
ρw = Density of Water

Example 4.2

Calculate the evaporation rate from an open water surface using Bowen’s Equation
from the following data:

Rn = 200 Watt/m² lv = 2500x103 Joule/kg ρw = 1000 kg/m³

Solution

Er = 200 ÷ (2500 x 10³ x 1000)

= 8 x 10-8 m/s
= 8 x 10-8 x 1000 x 86400
= 7 mm/day

Mass Transfer Approach

The mass transfer approach contains Dalton’s original idea that evaporation ratio is
determined by a combination of influences including wind, humidity, sunshine and
surface characteristics. His equation is given below:

E = C (eo - ea) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (4.4)

In this equation the evaporation ‘E’ is a product of the vapor pressure gradient
existing between the evaporating surface ‘eo’ and the air above the surface ‘ea’ and
a constant including wind and empirical functions given by following equation:

C = 0.622 k² ρa v /( p ρw [ln (z/zo)]²) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (4.5)

k = Von Karman constant = 0.4

ρa = Density of air
v = Velocity of wind at elevation z above the water surface
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 p = Air pressure
ρa = Density of water
z = Elevation at which ‘v’ is measured
zo = Height of roughness

Example 4.3

Calculate evaporation from an open water surface in a region where air pressure is
105 KN/m². The vapor pressure of water is 3.167 KN/m² and that of air is 1.583
KN/m². The wind speed measured at elevation of 1.75 m above water surface is
2.7 m/s. Assume height of surface roughness as 0.3 mm. The density of water and
air may be taken as 1,000 kg/m³ and 1.2 kg/m³ and the Von Karman constant is
0.40.

Solution

The given data is arranged below with consistent units:

k = 0.4 ρa = 1.2 kg/m³ v = 2.7 m/s

p = 105x10³ N/m² ρa = 1000 kg/m³ z = 1.75 m
zo = 0.0003 m eo = 3167 N/m² ea = 1583 N/m²

Substituting known data in Equation 4.4 and 4.5, gives:

E = 4.16 x 10-11 m/s = 5.7 mm/day.
Measuring Evaporation by Pans
Because of many difficulties encountered in the direct measurement of lake-
evaporation using water budget or energy budget methods, direct methods of
estimation are used. The estimation is done on the basis of evaporation from a pan.
Pan is filled to a standard level, represented by a hook at the end of a rod / wire at
some standard time in the morning. Next day at the same time, water is added so
that the water level comes to the same standard level represented by hook. This
water added indicates the evaporation of that day. In case there is rain during that
time, its account must be taken by adding mathematically the amount of
precipitation to water added; the total represents the evaporation of that day. In

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case, precipitation is more than evaporation, then water from pan is to be
extracted.

Evaporation Pans

The pan is the most widely used evaporation instrument. There are three types of pans.

a. Sunken pans
b. Above ground or surface pans
c. Floating pans.

Sunken Pan

This is installed inside the earth surface. (see figure 4.1). This pan tends to
eliminate objectionable boundary effects such as radiation on the side walls and
heat exchange between the atmosphere and the pan. The results obtained from this
pan are more accurate than those obtained from other pans.

Drawbacks

1. It is difficult to clean the pan

2. If there is any leakage it cannot be easily detected and rectified.
3. The height of the vegetation adjacent to the pan is quite critical.
4. As it is open and just 5-10 cm above the ground surface so seaweeds, leaves,
garbage, debris etc. can easily enter into the pan.
Sunken pans are of three types.

1. Bureau of Plant Industry ( B. P. I. ) Pan

This pan is circular in shape. These are 1.80 m in diameter and 0.60 m deep.
These are sunken into the ground to a depth of 0.55 m and 0.05 m above the
ground i.e. total depth is 0.60 m.

2. Colorado Pan

These are square in shape. These are 0.90m x 0.90m and 0.45m deep. These are
American pans, with 5 cm of rim projecting from the ground. The water is
maintained two inch below the rim.
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 Fig. 4.1 The Colorado Sunken Pan

3. Young’s Pan

It is also circular in shape, about 0.60 m in diameter and 0.90 m deep covered with
a 6 mm wire mesh screen. Other conditions are same as that of Colorado pan.

Above-Ground or Surface Pan

The surface pan which has found international recognition is U.S. Weather Bureau
class-A pan. This is made of galvanized iron (G.I.) sheet. The pan is placed on a
wooden frame to allow free access of air at the bottom (see figure 4.2). The
principle advantage of the surface pan is the easy operation and maintenance.
However more evaporation takes place as compared to the sunken and floating
pan but this type of pans are most widely used all over the world. Certain
correction factors are applied to every pan.

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Floating Pans

As the name indicates the floating pans float over the surface of lake ( Fig. 4.3).
With a certain arrangement the pan is installed in the lake so that it could float over
the surface of lake. Evaporation from a floating pan is approximately the same as
that directly from the lake, because the atmospheric conditions around the pan are
the same as those for the lake. Lake evaporation measured by such pans is free
from the effects of the atmosphere.

Drawbacks

1. It is difficult to operate and maintain.

2. The reader when he will go by boat for reading may disturb the water causing
some water to enter the pan leading to an inaccurate reading.
3. Leakage, if any, cannot be detected and measured easily.

PAN COEFFICIENT

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The depth of water evaporated from a pan is always greater than the evaporation
from water bodies. So evaporation depth measured from pans must be multiplied
by a factor to get actual evaporation. This factor is known as Pan Coefficient. It
value ranges from 0.60 to greater than unity.

If,
EL = Lake Evaporation
E = Pan Evaporation, then
E L = kp E
Where kp = Pan Coefficient

Example 4.4

The rainfall during a particular day was 10 mm. Class - A Pan is installed in this
area. If water added to Pan on that particular day was 12 mm, find the
evaporation. Take the Pan coefficient as 0.60.

Solution

Rainfall = 10 mm
Water Added = 12 mm
Depth of water evaporated from pan =10+12 = 22 mm
Evaporation = 0.60 x 22 = 13 mm

Example 4.5

If the Pan of Example 4.4 is installed near a Lake having surface area of 500
Hectares, find the volume of water lost due to evaporation. Other observations
remain same.

Solution
On that particular Day, evaporation = 13 mm = 0.013 m
Surface area of lake = 500 Hectares = 500 x 10,000 = 5,000,000 m²
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Volume of water lost due to evaporation = 0.013 x 5,000,000 = 65,000 m³

Measurement of Evapotranspiration
There are many methods of measuring evapotranspiration. The instrument most
commonly used for the measurement of evapotranspiration is known as
‘Lysimeter’

Lysimeter

The lysimeter consists of a small tank filled with soil and having the same
vegetation cover as that of the adjacent area. It contains a drain and all facilities for
measuring the quantity of water entering and leaving the tank. The vegetation in
the tank is either watered from lower side of the tank by maintaining a constant
water table or from above. Some of common uses of lysimeter are:

a. to provide direct measurement of evapotranspiration from soil surfaces on which

plants are grown for use in studies of factors affecting this process.
b. to serve as a standard of comparison for evaluating indirect empirical methods
of predicting or evaluating evapotranspiration, and
c. to provide accurate measures of water loss from soil in studies of upward
movement of water in soil as a result of surface drying.

Infiltration

Infiltration is the process by which precipitation water is abstracted by seeping into

the soil below the land surface. It is also taken as water lost due to absorption of
water by the ground surface.

The infiltrated water may move horizontally, vertically or in both the directions.
The horizontal movement of water is called Interflow. The interflow joins streams,
lakes and rivers. In large reservoirs substantial movement of water towards the
reservoirs is observed due to interflow from the adjacent areas.

The vertical movement of water from deeper layers of soil is called percolation.
The percolated water moves as Groundwater flow.
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Infiltration is measured in terms of depth of water lost in unit time. This is
necessary as amount of infiltration varies with time (storm interval for example). At
a particular instant, infiltrated depth of water divided by time is called
Instantaneous Infiltration Rate. If total infiltrated water depth is divided by total
time, it is known as Average Infiltration Rate.

Factors Affecting Infiltration

Infiltration is a complex process and depends on many factors like condition of

ground, presence of vegetation, type of soil, storm characteristics, temperature and
properties of water.

Measurement of Infiltration
Infiltration rate can be measured by simultaneous measurements of rainfall and
runoff. Infiltration may be determined by using equations or infiltration indices.

Measurement of Infiltration Using Equations

Various researchers proposed formulae to calculate Rate of Infiltration for a given

soil. One of these formulae which is most commonly used is ‘Horton’s Equation’
as given below:

f = fc + (fo-fc)e-kt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (4.6)

Where,
f = infiltration rate at any time ‘t’
fo = Initial infiltration rate
fc = final infiltration rate
k = a constant having units of 1/t

Integration of Equation 4.6 gives total infiltration as given by equation 4.7 below.

Total Infiltration ‘F’ = [ (fo-fc) / k ] + fct - - - - - - - - (4.7)

Figure 4.4 shows typical plot of Horton’s Equation. The area under the curve gives
total amount of infiltration. Usage of Horton’s Equation requires three parameters,
the initial Infiltration rate, the final infiltration rate and value of constant.
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 Fig. 4.4 Plot of Horton’s Equation

Example 4.6

A storm occurred and lasted for 2 hours giving a total rainfall of 50 mm. If initial
infiltration rate is 15 mm/h and final infiltration rate is 8 mm/h, find the total
infiltration depth if value of ‘k’ is 1 h-1. If other losses are negligible, find the
effective depth of rainfall.

Solution
fo = 15 mm/h fc = 8 mm/h k = 1 h-1

Using Equation 4.7,

Total infiltration = [ ( 15 – 8 ) / 1 ] + [ 8 x 2 ] = 7+16 = 23 mm
Effective rainfall = 50 – 23 = 27 mm

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Infiltration Indices
Although rate of infiltration varies with time, for practical purposes, it is assumed
constant. Two types of infiltration indices are used:

a.  Index
b. W Index

Index

It is mean infiltration rate for a particular storm.  (pronounced ‘Phi’) index can
be found if rainfall occurrence with respect to time is known. It is assumed that
total depth of rain minus ø gives depth of runoff.  value is found by trial and
error procedure. A value for ø is assumed and subtracted from total rainfall for
each time interval. The sum of values after subtraction should be equal to total
direct runoff. That value of  which gives this value is taken as  index.

Example 4.7
A flood was measured from a catchment of 375 square kilometers. The direct
runoff from this flood was found to be 3.58 cm. The time distribution of the rainfall
is given below in Table 4.1. Find the  index for this storm. Also find total
infiltrated volume of water.

Table 4.1 Time Distribution of the Rainfall

Hour (Time) 9-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 Total

Rainfall (cm) 1.02 1.50 3.68 1.60 2.60 1.50 11.90

Solution
The first step is to assume a value of ‘f’ in cm and calculate rainfall excess for each
hour of rainfall. This rainfall excess is summed up to give total depth for the storm.
Next, another value of ‘f’ is assumed and total depth of rainfall excess determined.
This procedure is repeated till a sufficient set of ‘f’ and rainfall excess is
determined. Now, plot ‘f’ values against rainfall excess (direct runoff). The value of
‘f’ corresponding to known depth of runoff is  index read from the plot.

Calculations on the basis of above procedure are given in Table 4.2. The ‘f’ Vs
‘Rainfall Excess’ plot is shown in figure 4.5. The value of  comes out to be 1.45
cm.

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 Table 4.2 Calculations for ‘’ Index

Rainfall (cm) ‘f’ values (cm)

1.40 1.50 1.75
(2) = (1) -
(1) (3) = (1) - 1.50 (4) = (1) - 1.75
1.40
1.02 - - -
1.50 0.10 - -
3.68 2.28 2.18 1.93
1.60 0.20 0.10 -
2.60 1.20 1.10 0.85
1.50 0.10 - -
Total 3.88 3.38 2.78

Figure 4.5 ‘f’ vs Rainfall Excess Plot

Volume of infiltration = 1.45x10-2 x 375 x 106 = 5.44x106 m³

W Index

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W index gives the average rate of infiltration. It can be found by subtracting the
sum of total direct runoff, interception and depression storage from the total
rainfall.

If, F = Total Infiltration

T = Duration of Storm
P = Depth of Precipitation
R = Runoff Depth
I = Interception and depression storage, then
F=P-R-I
And ‘W’ index = F / T = ( P – R – I ) / T
For I = 0, ‘W’ Index = Index

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QUESTIONS

1. What is meant by Evaporation, Transpiration, Evapotranspiration and

Potential Evapotranspiration?

2. How evaporation is measured? Describe different kinds of pans with

relative merits and demerits.

3. Describe the specifications and use of ‘Surface Pan’ in detail.

4. Define ‘Pan Evaporation’ and ‘Pan Coefficient’. Discuss the merits and
demerits of the three pan exposures.

5. What are different analytic and empirical methods employed for

measurement of evaporation.

6. What is Lysimeter?

7. What is infiltration loss from the rainfall? Discuss mechanics of

infiltration and the factors affecting the infiltration rate.

8. Explain what is a ø index. For a drainage basin having a number of

recording rain gauges, the precipitation record for each station and the
total runoff from the basin are available for a series of major and minor
storms. Describe in detail how you would determine the minimum
infiltration index for the basin?

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EXERCISE
1. A reservoir operator has to release water from reservoir for being picked
up at a distance of 50 km for downstream users. The average width of the stream
for the anticipated discharge is 40 m. The mean daily class A tank evaporation for
this season is 0.5 cm. Estimate the mean daily evaporation from the stream in
Acre-Feet per Day, if the pan coefficient is 0.7. Assuming 15% losses due to
seepage, find discharge at the head of canal if the required discharge at tail is to be
50 m³/s.

2. An engineer incharge of a reservoir operation has to release water from

reservoir to provide irrigation supplies at a distance of 40 km for downstream
users. The average width of the stream for the anticipated discharge is 25 m. The
mean daily class A pan evaporation for this season is 5 mm per day. Estimate the
mean daily evaporation losses from this stream in hectare-meter per day.

3. A small catchment of area 150 hectares received a rainfall of 10.5 cm in

90 minutes due to a storm. At the outlet of the catchment, the stream draining the
catchment was dry before the storm and experienced a runoff lasting for 10 hours
with an average discharge value of 2 m³/s. The stream was again dry after the
runoff event.
a. What is the amount of water in acre-feet which was not available to
runoff due to combined effect of infiltration, evaporation and transpiration?
b. What is the ratio of total and direct runoff to precipitation?

4. For data given in Example 4.4, find total infiltration during the storm
period using Horton’s Equation assuming fo = 1.5 cm/h, and fc = 0.5 cm/h.

5. A storm with 10 cm precipitation produced a direct runoff as 5.8 cm. Given

the time distribution of the storm in Table 4.3, estimate the  index.

Table 4.3 Time Distribution of the Storm

Hour (Time) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Incremental Rainfall (cm) 0.4 0.9 1.5 2.3 1.8 1.6 1.0 0.5

6. Instantaneous infiltration rate can be estimated by the equation, f = 0.5A /

t0.5 + B, where ‘A’ and ‘B’ are constants and ‘t’ is the time elapsed from the

105
beginning of the storm. Find total infiltration during 10 hours if A = 10 mm/h1/2 and
B = 5 mm/h.

7. For a 3-hours duration 225 mm of total rainfall was observed over a 3,200
square kilometers catchment area. The infiltration capacity curve for this area can
be given by Horton’s Equation (Equations 4.6 and 4.7) in which fo = 10 mm/h and
fc = 0.5 mm/h. Evaporation and other losses during the storm period were
observed to be 50 mm. Find excess rainfall over the catchment. And also estimate:

a. Direct runoff volume in m³ and Hectare-m from excess rainfall.

b. Total runoff in Hectare-m.

8. An infiltration capacity curve prepared for a catchment indicated an initial

capacity of 2.5 cm/h and attains a constant value of 0.5 cm/h after 10 hours of
rainfall. With the Horton’s constant, k = 6 day -1, determine the total infiltration
loss.

9. In a project related to rainfall-runoff studies, f-curve was plotted to

establish an equation of the form of Horton’s Equation. If F = 8.50 square units on
the graph with each square representing 1 cm/h on the vertical and 2 minutes on
the abscissa and fo = 4.5 cm/h fc = 1.2 cm/h. Determine the Horton’s equation and
calculate f for t = 10 minutes.

10. In a storm, total rainfall is 2.29 cm and the total infiltration loss is 0.88 cm,
calculate the rainfall excess. Neglect evaporation during the period.

11. Determine the runoff from a catchment of area 2.3 km² over which 7.5 cm
of rainfall occurred during 1 day storm. An infiltration curve prepared indicated an
initial infiltration capacity of 0.6 cm/h and attained a constant value of 0.15 cm/h
after 12 hours of rainfall with the Horton’s constant k = 3 h-1. A class A Pan
installed in the catchment indicated a decrease of 2.5 cm in water level on that day.
All other losses were found to be negligible.

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