Environmental Hydrology (Ensc253)

ENVIRONMENTAL
HYDROLOGY(ENSC253)
INSTRUCTORE: Khalifa Abdella (MSc. Engineering Hydrology)
Target group: Environmental Science

Year- 2, Semester II
October,2023
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Environmental hydrology
 The term hydrology can be divided into two terms:
 Hydro: relating to water,
 logy: meaning knowledge.
 Thus, hydrology is the study, or knowledge, of water.
 Hydrology is concerned with the transport of water through the air, over the ground
surface, and through the strata of the earth.
 Questions we might ask are:
 Why should we acquire knowledge of water?
 How might this knowledge help society?
 A simple starting point in understanding our societal need to study water is that:
֍ at many points in time, every place in the world will experience an excess or
deficit of water that will have an adverse impact on society or a fragile ecosystem.
CONT..
• At each location, the available mean water resources(magnitude or

frequency) and other prevailing factors will have an impact:
on the communities that inhabit a location and
strategies that might be implemented to help protect these communities.
• The particular concern : is providing adequate sustainable water resources
and food for an ever-expanding global population.
• Every minute, the population of the world increases by about 140–150
people.
• This growth amounts to an annual increase of more than 70 million people
• The majority of the global population increase of 2 billion people in the
next 40–50 years will occur in developing countries that already face
shortages of potable water and food.
CONT..
• FAO reports that one in five developing countries will face water shortages by 2030.
• While water shortages are a serious global problem, more frequent flooding is also a
abundant problem in many parts of the world.
• There is a chance that everyone of us will be influenced by water resources,
• Hence, basic understanding of the complexity of the hydrologic will be helpful.
• Knowledge of hydrology is important in all problems that involve the use and supply of
water.
• Therefore, hydrology is not only useful in engineering but also in forestry, agriculture, and
other areas of environmental sciences.
1.2 HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
֍ Water occurs on the earth in all its three states, viz.

liquid, solid and gaseous, and in various degrees of
motion.
֍ Evaporation of water from water bodies such as
oceans and lakes, formation and movement of clouds,
rain and snowfall, streamflow and groundwater
movement are some examples of the dynamic aspects
of water.
֍ The various aspects of water related to the earth can
be explained in terms of a cycle known as the
hydrologic cycle(water cycle).
֍ It is a continuous process of recycling of water from
the atmosphere down to the soil below the earth
surface and back to the atmosphere again.
֍
Components of Hydrologic Cycle
i) Evaporation of water from the (surface source like river, lakes,oceans, and (b) from the surface
of the soil (c) plants through transpiration. By this process water is converted into vapour.
ii) Condensation: it is the process by which vapour is converted into solid form(clouds)
iii) precipitation: it occur in the form of rain, snow, sleet, drizzle etc.
iv) Interception: when precipitation occurs it is intercepted by vegetation. So, this part do not
contribute to the surface water.
Cont….
v) Infiltration: After water reaches the ground it infiltrates into the ground
vi) Surface Detension: some part of the water is stored in depression present on the ground.
vii) Surface runoff: the remaining water which flows on ground or surface and joins channel is
called surface runoff.
viii) Ground water flow or inter flow: the water which infiltrated into the ground joins the
stream on the later stage is called inter flow.
1.3 the Importance of Hydrology to Society
 Water has been central to the history of humanity.
 Civilizations have persisted or perished as they experienced situations of too much or too little water.
Scales for study of hydrologic cycle
Global scale
 From a global perspective, the hydrologic cycle can be considered to be comprised of three
major systems; the oceans, the atmosphere, and the land sphere.
 Precipitation, runoff and evaporation are the principal processes that transmit water from one
system to the other.
 The study at the global scale is necessary to understand the global fluxes and global circulation
patterns.
 The results of these studies form important inputs to water resources planning for a national,
regional water resources assessment, weather forecasting, and study of climate changes.
Cont….
Catchment Scale
While studying the hydrologic cycle on a catchment scale, the spatial coverage can
range from a few square km to thousands of square km.
The time scale could be a storm lasting for a few hours to a study spanning many
years.
Fig. 1.2 A global schematic of the hydrologic cycle

Water balance (budget) equation or hydrologic equation
 The quantities of water going through the various paths of the hydrologic cycle can be described
by the continuity equation known as water budget equation or hydrologic equation
or water budget equation in which the difference between input I and output, Q, is related to the
change in storage, dS, with in the time interval dt
Change of dS
Inflow – Outflow = Storage I Q 
dt
 In applying this equation care must be taken in defining the so-called control volume or region
over which the budget is applicable
Cont….
For example, for an open water body, such as a lake or reservoir,
the inputs to the system consist of
the inflow Qin,
the precipitation, P, on the water surface, and
the sub-surface inflow, Gin, and
the outputs include
the outflow, Qout,
the evaporation from the water surface, E, and
any sub-surface outflow, Gout
Cont….
 If the change in storage over the chosen time period is ΔS, which may be positive or
negative, then,
Qin - Qout + P – E + Gin - Gout = ΔS
Or
(Qin + P+ Gin) - (Qout + E + Gout) = ΔS

Cont….
 For the balance of water over a control region such as a catchment, the inflow,
Qin, can be ignored as the catchment receives water in form of precipitation.
 Transpiration by vegetation and interception, too, can be considered as part of the
water budget.
If the control volume is a catchment or drainage area bounded by its water divide,
 The inputs consist of
precipitation, P, and
possibly ground water inflow, Gin, and
Cont….
 The outputs comprise
the discharge, Q, at the catchment outlet,

transpiration from the vegetation growing within the catchment and
evaporation from the precipitation intercepted on the vegetal canopy held in
storage on the ground, E, and
possibly groundwater outflow, Gout.
 The changes in storage, ΔS, to be considered are principally those in the
sub-surface unsaturated and saturated zones leading to
Qout =P – E +Gin –Gout - ΔS
Hydrologic Data type and Sources
 Depending upon the problem at hand, a hydrologist would need data relating to the various
relevant aspects of the hydrologic cycle. These data may include:
Weather records: - temperature, humidity, and wind velocity,
Precipitation data,
Stream-flow records.
Infiltration and transpiration data,
Evaporation characteristics of the area,
Ground water characteristics
Physical and geological characteristics of the area under consideration
Sources
 InEthiopia, meteorological data are collected from Ethiopian Meteorological
service agency.
 Stream flow data of various rivers and streams can be found from Ministry of
water resources or any other concerned bureaus or departments.
 Data on Evaporation, transpiration, infiltration will be available in ministry of
agriculture, or water resources or any other concerned departments.
 The physical data of the area can be obtained from topographic map of the area
available with mapping agencies or specific studies conducted at the respective
areas
Example 1:
A clear lake has a surface area of 708,000m 2. For the month of March,
the lake had an inflow of 1.5m3/s and an outflow 1.25 m3/s. A storage
change of 708,000m3 was recorded during the month. If the total depth
of rainfall recorded at the local rain gauge was 225mm for the month,
estimate the evaporation loss from the lake. State any assumptions that
you make in your calculations.
Solution:
The evaporation loss may be computed rearranging the hydrologic equation given above.
That is,
E = P+ Qin-Qout –ΔS
Assuming seepage to be negligible,
The precipitation, P = (225/1000 m X708, 000 m2 ) = 159,300 m3,
Inflow, Qin = 1.5 m3/s X 86,400s/d X 31 Days /month = 4,017,600 m3,
Outflow, Qout = 1.25 m3/s X 86,400s/d X 31 Days /month = 3,348,000 m3,
Change in storage, ΔS = +708, 000m3.
Hence, evaporation, E = 159,300 +4,017,600 - 3,348,000 – 708, 000 = 120,900 m3, or
E = 120,900 m3 X 1000mmm/m/708,000 m2 =171mm over the lake.

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ENVIRONMENTAL

Target group: Environmental Science

• At each location, the available mean water resources(magnitude or

֍ Water occurs on the earth in all its three states, viz.

Fig. 1.2 A global schematic of the hydrologic cycle

(Qin + P+ Gin) - (Qout + E + Gout) = ΔS

 Transpiration by vegetation and interception, too, can be considered as part of the

the discharge, Q, at the catchment outlet,

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