What is hydrology and what do hydrologists do?

Water is one of our most precious natural resources. Without it, there
would be no life on earth. Hydrology has evolved as a science in response
to the need to understand the complex water system of the earth and
help solve water problems. This hydrology primer gives you information
about water on Earth and humans' involvement and use of water.
Listen up! Hear a sound file describing what a hydrologist

does.
Table of Contents

Introduction
Water and People
What is Hydrology?
What Hydrologists Do?
Surface Water
Ground Water
Careers in Hydrology
Introduction
Hydrology is the study of water

Water is one of our most important natural resources. Without

it, there would be no life on earth. The supply of water available for our
use is limited by nature. Although there is plenty of water on earth, it is
not always in the right place, at the right time and of the right quality.
Adding to the problem is the increasing evidence that chemical wastes
improperly discarded yesterday are showing up in our water supplies
today. Hydrology has evolved as a science in response to the need to
understand the complex water systems of the Earth and help solve water
problems. Hydrologists play a vital role in finding solutions to water
problems, and interesting and challenging careers are available to those
who choose to study hydrology.
Water and People

Estimates of water use in the United States indicate that about 355 billion
gallons per day (one thousand million gallons per day, abbreviated

Bgal/d) were withdrawn for all uses during 2010. This total has declined
about 17 percent since 1980. Fresh groundwater withdrawals (76.0
Bgal/d) during 2010 were 8 percent less than during 1980. Fresh surfacewater withdrawals for 2010 were 230 Bgal/d, 18 percent less than in
1980.
Much of our water use is hidden. Think about what you had for lunch. A
hamburger, for example, requires water to raise wheat for the bun, to
grow hay and corn to feed the cattle and to process the bread and beef.
Together with french fries and a soft drink, this all-American meal uses
about 1,500 gallons of water--enough to fill a small swimming pool. How
about your clothes? To grow cotton for a pair of jeans takes about 400
gallons. A shirt requires about 400 gallons. How do you get to school or to
the store? To produce the amount of finished steel in a car has in the past
required about 32,000 gallons of water. Similarly, the steel in a 30-pound
bicycle required 480 gallons. This shows that industry must continue to
strive to reduce water use through manufacturing processes that use less
water, and through recycling of water.
What is Hydrology?

Hydrology is the science that

encompasses the occurrence, distribution, movement and properties of
the waters of the earth and their relationship with the environment within
each phase of the hydrologic cycle. The water cycle, or hydrologic cycle, is
a continuous process by which water is purified by evaporation and
transported from the earth's surface (including the oceans) to the
atmosphere and back to the land and oceans. All of the physical, chemical
and biological processes involving water as it travels its various paths in
the atmosphere, over and beneath the earth's surface and through
growing plants, are of interest to those who study the hydrologic cycle.
There are many pathways the water may take in its continuous cycle of
falling as rainfall or snowfall and returning to the atmosphere. It may be
captured for millions of years in polar ice caps. It may flow to rivers and
finally to the sea. It may soak into the soil to be evaporated directly from
the soil surface as it dries or be transpired by growing plants. It may
percolate through the soil to ground water reservoirs (aquifers) to be
stored or it may flow to wells or springs or back to streams by seepage.

The cycle for water may be short, or it may take millions of years. People
tap the water cycle for their own uses. Water is diverted temporarily from
one part of the cycle by pumping it from the ground or drawing it from a
river or lake. It is used for a variety of activities such as households,
businesses and industries; for irrigation of farms and parklands; and for
production of electric power. After use, water is returned to another part
of the cycle: perhaps discharged downstream or allowed to soak into the
ground. Used water normally is lower in quality, even after treatment,
which often poses a problem for downstream users. The hydrologist
studies the fundamental transport processes to be able to describe the
quantity and quality of water as it moves through the cycle (evaporation,
precipitation, streamflow, infiltration, ground water flow, and other
components). The engineering hydrologist, or water resources engineer, is
involved in the planning, analysis, design, construction and operation of
projects for the control, utilization, and management of water resources.
Water resources problems are also the concern of meteorologists,
oceanographers, geologists, chemists, physicists, biologists, economists,
political scientists, specialists in applied mathematics and computer
science, and engineers in several fields.
What Hydrologists Do?

Hydrologists apply scientific knowledge and mathematical principles to

solve water-related problems in society: problems of quantity, quality and
availability. They may be concerned with finding water supplies for cities
or irrigated farms, or controlling river flooding or soil erosion. Or, they
may work in environmental protection: preventing or cleaning up pollution
or locating sites for safe disposal of hazardous wastes. Persons trained in
hydrology may have a wide variety of job titles. Scientists and engineers
in hydrology may be involved in both field investigations and office work.

In the field, they may collect basic data, oversee testing of water quality,
direct field crews and work with equipment. Many jobs require travel,
some abroad. A hydrologist may spend considerable time doing field work
in remote and rugged terrain. In the office, hydrologists do many things
such as interpreting hydrologic data and performing analyses for
determining possible water supplies. Much of their work relies on
computers for organizing, summarizing and analyzing masses of data,
and for modeling studies such as the prediction of flooding and the
consequences of reservoir releases or the effect of leaking underground
oil storage tanks. The work of hydrologists is as varied as the uses of
water and may range from planning multimillion dollar interstate water
projects to advising homeowners about backyard drainage problems.
Surface Water

Most cities meet their needs for water by withdrawing it from the nearest
river, lake or reservoir. Hydrologists help cities by collecting and analyzing
the data needed to predict how much water is available from local
supplies and whether it will be sufficient to meet the city's projected
future needs. To do this, hydrologists study records of rainfall, snowpack
depths and river flows that are collected and compiled by hydrologists in
various government agencies. They inventory the extent river flow
already is being used by others.
Managing reservoirs can be quite complex, because they generally serve
many purposes. Reservoirs increase the reliability of local water supplies.
Hydrologists use topographic maps and aerial photographs to determine
where the reservoir shorelines will be and to calculate reservoir depths
and storage capacity. This work ensures that, even at maximum capacity,
no highways, railroads or homes would be flooded.
Deciding how much water to release and how much to store depends
upon the time of year, flow predictions for the next several months, and
the needs of irrigators and cities as well as downstream water-users that
rely on the reservoir. If the reservoir also is used for recreation or for
generation of hydroelectric power, those requirements must be
considered. Decisions must be coordinated with other reservoir managers
along the river. Hydrologists collect the necessary information, enter it
into a computer, and run computer models to predict the results under
various operating strategies. On the basis of these studies, reservoir
managers can make the best decision for those involved.
The availability of surface water for swimming, drinking, industrial or
other uses sometimes is restricted because of pollution. Pollution can be
merely an unsightly and inconvenient nuisance, or it can be an invisible,
but deadly, threat to the health of people, plants and animals.

Hydrologists assist public health officials in monitoring public water

supplies to ensure that health standards are met. When pollution is
discovered, environmental engineers work with hydrologists in devising
the necessary sampling program. Water quality in estuaries, streams,
rivers and lakes must be monitored, and the health of fish, plants and
wildlife along their stretches surveyed. Related work concerns acid rain
and its effects on aquatic life, and the behavior of toxic metals and
organic chemicals in aquatic environments. Hydrologic and water quality
mathematical models are developed and used by hydrologists for planning
and management and predicting water quality effects of changed
conditions. Simple analyses such as pH, turbidity, and oxygen content
may be done by hydrologists in the field. Other chemical analyses require
more sophisticated laboratory equipment. In the past, municipal and
industrial sewage was a major source of pollution for streams and lakes.
Such wastes often received only minimal treatment, or raw wastes were
dumped into rivers. Today, we are more aware of the consequences of
such actions, and billions of dollars must be invested in pollution-control
equipment to protect the waters of the earth. Other sources of pollution
are more difficult to identify and control. These include road deicing salts,
storm runoff from urban areas and farmland, and erosion from
construction sites.
Groundwater

Groundwater, pumped from beneath the earth's surface, is often cheaper,

more convenient and less vulnerable to pollution than surface water.
Therefore, it is commonly used for public water supplies. Groundwater
provides the largest source of usable water storage in the United States.
Underground reservoirs contain far more water than the capacity of all
surface reservoirs and lakes, including the Great Lakes. In some areas,
ground water may be the only option. Some municipalities survive solely
on groundwater.
Hydrologists estimate the volume of water stored underground by
measuring water levels in local wells and by examining geologic records
from well-drilling to determine the extent, depth and thickness of waterbearing sediments and rocks. Before an investment is made in full-sized
wells, hydrologists may supervise the drilling of test wells. They note the
depths at which water is encountered and collect samples of soils, rock
and water for laboratory analyses. They may run a variety of geophysical
tests on the completed hole, keeping and accurate log of their
observations and test results. Hydrologists determine the most efficient
pumping rate by monitoring the extent that water levels drop in the
pumped well and in its nearest neighbors. Pumping the well too fast could
cause it to go dry or could interfere with neighboring wells. Along the
coast, overpumping can cause saltwater intrusion. By plotting and

analyzing these data, hydrologists can estimate the maximum and

optimum yields of the well.
Polluted ground water is less visible, but more insidious and difficult to
clean up, than pollution in rivers and lakes. Ground water pollution most
often results from improper disposal of wastes on land. Major sources
include industrial and household chemicals and garbage landfills,
industrial waste lagoons, tailings and process wastewater from mines, oil
field brine pits, leaking underground oil storage tanks and pipelines,
sewage sludge and septic systems. Hydrologists provide guidance in the
location of monitoring wells around waste disposal sites and sample them
at regular intervals to determine if undesirable leachate--contaminated
water containing toxic or hazardous chemicals--is reaching the ground
water. In polluted areas, hydrologists may collect soil and water samples
to identify the type and extent of contamination. The chemical data then
are plotted on a map to show the size and direction of waste movement.
In complex situations, computer modeling of water flow and waste
migration provides guidance for a clean-up program. In extreme cases,
remedial actions may require excavation of the polluted soil. Today, most
people and industries realize that the amount of money invested in
prevention is far less than that of cleanup. Hydrologists often are
consulted for selection of proper sites for new waste disposal facilities.
The danger of pollution is minimized by locating wells in areas of deep
ground water and impermeable soils. Other practices include lining the
bottom of a landfill with watertight materials, collecting any leachate with
drains, and keeping the landfill surface covered as much as possible.
Careful monitoring is always necessary.
Careers in Hydrology

Students who plan to become hydrologists need a strong emphasis in

mathematics, statistics, geology, physics, computer science, chemistry
and biology. In addition, sufficient background in other subjects-economics, public finance, environmental law, government policy--is
needed to communicate with experts in these fields and to understand the
implications of their work on hydrology. Communicating clearly in writing
and speech is a basic requirement essential for any professional person.
Hydrologists should be able to work well with people, not only as part of a
team with other scientists and engineers, but also in public relations,
whether it be advising governmental leaders or informing the general
public on water issues. Hydrology offers a variety of interesting and
challenging career choices for today and tomorrow. It's a field worth
considering.