Streamflow

Streamflow, or channel runoff, is the flow

of water in streams, rivers, and other
channels, and is a major element of the
water cycle. It is one component of the
runoff of water from the land to
waterbodies, the other component being
surface runoff. Water flowing in channels
comes from surface runoff from adjacent
hillslopes, from groundwater flow out of
the ground, and from water discharged
from pipes. The discharge of water flowing
in a channel is measured using stream
gauges or can be estimated by the
Manning equation. The record of flow over
time is called a hydrograph. Flooding
occurs when the volume of water exceeds
the capacity of the channel.

Role in the water cycle

Streams and rivers play a critical role in
the hydrologic cycle that is essential for all
life on Earth. A diversity of biological
species, from unicellular organisms to
vertebrates, depend on flowing-water
systems for their habitat and food
resources. Rivers are major aquatic
landscapes for all manners of plants and
animals. Rivers even help keep the
aquifers underground full of water by
discharging water downward through their
streambeds. In addition to that the oceans
stay full of water because rivers and runoff
continually refreshes them.[1] Streamflow
is the main mechanism by which water
moves from the land to the oceans or to
basins of interior drainage.

Sources of streamflow
Surface and subsurface sources: Stream
discharge is derived from four sources:
channel precipitation, overland flow,
interflow, and groundwater.

Channel precipitation is the moisture

falling directly on the water surface, and
in most streams, it adds very little to
discharge. Groundwater, on the other
hand, is a major source of discharge,
and in large streams, it accounts for the
bulk of the average daily flow.
Groundwater enters the streambed
where the channel intersects the water
table, providing a steady supply of water,
termed baseflow, during both dry and
rainy periods. Because of the large
supply of groundwater available to the
streams and the slowness of the
response of groundwater to
precipitation events, baseflow changes
only gradually over time, and it is rarely
the main cause of flooding. However, it
does contribute to flooding by providing
a stage onto which runoff from other
sources is superimposed.
Interflow is water that infiltrates the soil
and then moves laterally to the stream
channel in the zone above the water
table. Much of this water is transmitted
within the soil itself, some of it moving
within the horizons. Next to baseflow, it
is the most important source of
discharge for streams in forested lands.
Overland flow in heavily forested areas
makes negligible contributions to
streamflow.
In dry regions, cultivated, and urbanized
areas, overland flow or surface runoff is
usually a major source of streamflow.
Overland flow is a stormwater runoff
that begins as thin layer of water that
moves very slowly (typically less than
0.25 feet per second) over the ground.
Under intensive rainfall and in the
absence of barriers such as rough
ground, vegetation, and absorbing soil, it
can mount up, rapidly reaching stream
channels in minutes and causing
sudden rises in discharge. The quickest
 response times between rainfall and
streamflow occur in urbanized areas
where yard drains, street gutters, and
storm sewers collect overland flow and
route it to streams straightaway. Runoff
velocities in storm sewer piper can
reach 10 to 15 feet per second.[2]

Mechanisms that cause

changes in streamflow
Rivers are always moving, which is good
for environment, as stagnant water does
not stay fresh and inviting very long. There
are many factors, both natural and human-
induced, that cause rivers to continuously
change:[3]
Natural mechanisms

Runoff from rainfall and snowmelt

Evaporation from soil and surface-water
bodies
Transpiration by vegetation
Ground-water discharge from aquifers
Ground-water recharge from surface-
water bodies
Sedimentation of lakes and wetlands
Formation or dissipation of glaciers,
snowfields, and permafrost

Human-induced mechanisms
Surface-water withdrawals and
transbasin diversions
River-flow regulation for hydropower and
navigation
Construction,removal, and
sedimentation of reservoirs and
stormwater detention ponds
Stream channelization and levee
construction
Drainage or restoration of wetlands
Land-use changes such as urbanization
that alter rates of erosion, infiltration,
overland flow, or evapotranspiration
Wastewater outfalls
Irrigation wastewater return flow
Measurement
Streamflow is measured as an amount of
water passing through a specific point
over time. The units used in the United
States are cubic feet per second, while in
majority of other countries cubic meters
per second are utilized. One cubic foot is
equal to 0.028 cubic meters. There are a
variety of ways to measure the discharge
of a stream or canal. A stream gauge
provides continuous flow over time at one
location for water resource and
environmental management or other
purposes. Streamflow values are better
indicators than gage height of conditions
along the whole river. Measurements of
streamflow are made about every six
weeks by United States Geological Survey
(USGS) personnel. They wade into the
stream to make the measurement or do so
from a boat, bridge, or cableway over the
stream. For each streamgaging station, a
relation between gage height and
streamflow is determined by simultaneous
measurements of gage height and
streamflow over the natural range of flows
(from very low flows to floods). This
relation provides the current condition
streamflow data from that station.[4] For
purposes that do not require a continuous
measurement of stream flow over time,
current meters or acoustic Doppler
velocity profilers can be used. For small
streams — a few meters wide or smaller —
weirs may be installed.

Approximation

One informal method that provides an

approximation of the stream flow termed
the Orange Method or Float Method is:

1. Measure a length of stream, and mark

the start and finish points. The longest
length without changing stream conditions
is desired to obtain the most accurate
measurement.
2. Place an orange at the starting point
and measure the time for it to reach the
finish point with a stopwatch. Repeat this
at least three times and average the
measurement times.
3. Express velocity in meters per second. If
the measurements were made at
midstream (maximum velocity), the mean
stream velocity is approximately 0.8 of the
measured velocity for rough (rocky)
bottom conditions and 0.9 of the
measured velocity for smooth (mud, sand,
smooth bedrock) bottom conditions.[5][6]

Flow monitoring in the United

States
In the United States, streamflow gauges
are funded primarily from state and local
government funds. In Fiscal Year 2008 the
United States Geological Survey (USGS)
provided 35 percent of the funding for
everyday operation and maintenance of
gauges.[7] Additionally, USGS uses
hydrographs to study streamflow in rivers.
A hydrograph is a chart showing, most
often, river stage (height of the water
above an arbitrary altitude) and
streamflow (amount of water, usually in
cubic feet per second). Other properties,
such as rainfall and water-quality
parameters can also be plotted.[8]
Methods of forecasting
streamflow

For most streams especially those with

small watershed, no record of discharge is
available. In that case, it is possible to
make discharge estimates using the
rational method or some modified version
of it. However, if chronological records of
discharge are available for a stream, a
short term forecast of discharge can be
made for a given rainstorm using a
hydrograph.

Unit Hydrograph Method. This method

involves building a graph in which the
discharge generated by a rainstorm of a
given size is plotted over time, usually
hours or days. It is called the unit
hydrograph method because it addresses
only the runoff produced by a particular
rainstorm in a specified period of time- the
time taken for a river to rise, peak, and fall
in response to a storm. Once rainfall-
runoff relationship is established, then
subsequent rainfall data can be used to
forecast streamflow for selected storms,
called standard storms. A standard
rainstorm is a high intensity storm of
some known magnitude and frequency.
One method of unit hydrograph analysis
involves expressing the hour by hour or
day by day increase in streamflow as a
percentage of total runoff. Plotted on a
graph, these data from the unit hydrograph
for that storm, which represents the runoff
added to the prestorm baseflow. To
forecast the flows in a large drainage
basin using the unit hydrograph method
would be difficult because in a large basin
geographic conditions may vary
significantly from one part of the basin to
another. This is especially so with the
distribution of rainfall because an
individual rainstorm rarely covers the basin
evenly. As a result, the basin does not
respond as a unit to a given storm, making
it difficult to construct a reliable
hydrograph.
Magnitude and frequency method. For
large basins, where unit hydrograph might
not be useful and reliable, the magnitude
and frequency method is used to calculate
the probability of recurrence of large flows
based on records of past years’ flows. In
United States, these records are
maintained by the Hydrological Division of
the U.S. Geological Survey for most rivers
and large streams. For a basin with an
area of 5000 square miles or more, the
river system is typically gauged at five to
ten places. The data from each gauging
station apply to the part of the basin
upstream that location. Given several
decades of peak annual discharges for a
river, limited projections can be made to
estimate the size of some large flow that
has not been experienced during the
period of record. The technique involves
projecting the curve (graph line) formed
when peak annual discharges are plotted
against their respective recurrence
intervals. However, in most cases the
curve bends strongly, making it difficult to
plot a projection accurately. This problem
can be overcome by plotting the discharge
and/or recurrence interval data on
logarithmic graph paper. Once the plot is
straightened, a line can be ruled drawn
through the points. A projection can then
be made by extending the line beyond the
points and then reading the appropriate
discharge for the recurrence interval in
question.

Relationship to the
environment

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Runoff of water in channels is responsible

for transport of sediment, nutrients, and
pollution downstream. Without
streamflow, the water in a given watershed
would not be able to naturally progress to
its final destination in a lake or ocean. This
would disrupt the ecosystem. Streamflow
is one important route of water from the
land to lakes and oceans. The other main
routes are surface runoff (the flow of
water from the land into nearby
watercourses that occurs during
precipitation and as a result of irrigation),
flow of groundwater into surface waters,
and the flow of water from constructed
pipes and channels.[9]

Relationship to society
Streamflow confers on society both
benefits and hazards. Runoff downstream
is a means to collect water for storage in
dams for power generation of water
abstraction. The flow of water assists
transport downstream. A given
watercourse has a maximum streamflow
rate that can be accommodated by the
channel, and which can be calculated. If
the streamflow exceeds this maximum
rate, as happens when an excessive
amount of water is present in the
watercourse, the channel cannot handle all
the water and flooding occurs. The 1993
Mississippi river flood, the largest ever
recorded on the river, was a response to a
heavy, long duration spring and summer
rainfalls. Early rains saturated the soil over
more than a 300,000 square miles of the
upper watershed, greatly reducing
infiltration and leaving soils with little or no
storage capacity. As rains continued,
surface depressions, wetlands, ponds,
ditches, and farm fields filled with overland
flow and rainwater. With no remaining
capacity to hold water, additional rainfall
was forced from the land into tributary
channels and thence to the Mississippi.
For more than a month, the total load of
water from hundreds of tributaries
exceeded the Mississippi’s channel
capacity, causing it to spill over its banks
onto adjacent floodplains. Where the flood
waters were artificially constricted by an
engineered channel bordered by
constructed levees and unable to spill onto
large section of floodplain, the flood levels
forced even higher.[10]

See also
Discharge (hydrology)
Drainage basin or watershed
Drainage system
Erosion
Hydrological modelling
List of rivers by discharge
 Losing stream
Perennial stream
Runoff model (reservoir)
Surface runoff
Stream bed
Water resources
Open-channel flow

References
1. "Streamflow - The Water Cycle, from
USGS Water-Science School" .
water.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
2. Marsh, William M. (2010-07-06).
Landscape Planning: Environmental
Applications (5 ed.). Wiley.
ISBN 9780470570814.
3. "Streamflow - The Water Cycle, from
USGS Water-Science School" .
water.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2016-05-07.
4. "How do I interpret gage height and
streamflow values? — USGS Water Data for
the Nation Help System" .
help.waterdata.usgs.gov. Retrieved
2016-05-06.
5. R.G. Wetzel, G.E. Likens: Limnological
Analyses, pp. 62–63.
6. U.S. Forest Service. "10. Measuring
Discharge."
7. Delaware River Basin Commission. West
Trenton, NJ. "Who Pays for the Maintenance
of Gaging-Stations?" 2009-04-30.
8. "USGS WaterWatch -- Streamflow
conditions" . waterwatch.usgs.gov.
Retrieved 2016-05-07.
9. "Streamflow - Environmental Science: In
Context | Encyclopedia.com" .
www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved
2016-05-06.
10. "The Great USA Flood of 1993" .
www.nwrfc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
USGS, Atlanta, GA. "The Water Cycle:
Streamflow." 2 August 2010.
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Streamflow&oldid=800711378"

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