CHAPTER 01:

HYDROLOGY AND THE HUMAN IMPACT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
• Understand the difference between Hydrology and Hydraulics.
• Realize the impacts of human activities on the process of Hydrological Cycle.
• Have the knowledge of the interrelationships of different phases on the Hydrological Cycle.

HYDROLOGY
From Viesmann's An Introduction to Hydrology:

It is a continuous process by which water is transported from the oceans to the atmosphere to the land
and back to the sea.

The driving force for the global water transport system is provided by the sun, which furnishes the energy
required for evaporation.

From Wilson's Engineering Hydrology:

The cyclic movement of water from the sea to the atmosphere and thence by precipitation to the Earth,
where it collects in streams and runs back to the sea, is referred to as the hydrological cycle.
It is a multidisciplinary subject that deals with the occurrence, circulation, and distribution of waters of the earth.

HYDRAULICS

Branch of science and technology concerned with conveyance of liquids through pipes and channels,
especially as a source of mechanical force to control

HYDROLOGY VS HYDRAULICS

Hydrology is primarily concerned with water on or near the land surface; ocean water are the domain of
oceanography and the marine sciences. Therefore, hydrology encompasses the study of the occurrence and
movement of water on and beneath the surface of the earth, the properties of water, and its relationship with
the living and material components of the environment.

Whereas;

Hydraulics, branch of science concerned with the practical applications of fluids, primarily liquids, in
motion. It is related to fluid mechanics, which in large part provides its theoretical foundation. Hydraulics deals
with such matters as the flow of liquids in pipes, rivers, and channels and their confinement by dams and tanks.
SOURCES OF WATER

Figure 1:Sources of Water

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF EARTH’S WATER

Figure 2:Global Distribution of Earth's Water

THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE AND HUMAN IMPACT
Hydrologic Cycle: Journey of water from the ocean to atmosphere and back to the earth and ultimately to the
ocean through the processes of evaporation, precipitation, percolation, runoff, and return to the ocean. In simpler
term, Water Cycle is nature’s way of recycling water on Earth.
The human impact on the hydrological cycle can be subdivided into three main areas:
1. Water quantity
2. Water quality
3. Water ecology

Human activities can be divided into the following categories:

1. Surface water regulation such as rivers and lakes
2. Water abstractions and release
3. Activities in the catchments

Human activities that has impact in the Hydrological Cycle

Vast usage of chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers and other forms of chemical-based material that may cause
pollution and eutrophication

EUTROPHICATION: is when a body of water becomes overly enriched with minerals and nutrients that induce
excessive growth of plants and algae. This process may result in oxygen depletion of the water body.

WATER USE AND DEMAND

According to a 2014 UN Development Program, the average use of water per person per day in our country is 164
liters. According to the same study, the average in US is 575 li. While it is 4 li in Mozambique.

According to “Asian Water Development Outlook 2007”, 28.52 billion m³ of water was withdrawn from various
sources in the Philippines in 2000:
• 74% (21.10 billion m³) was used for agricultural purposes,
• 9% (2.57 billion m³) for industrial processes, and
• 17% (4.85 billion m³) for domestic consumption.

Water use and demand: IRRIGATION

In the Philippines, Irrigation constitutes a large portion of total water consumption by agriculture; it is
considered the biggest water user in the country.

Only 47 percent of the potentially irrigable area of 3.16 million hectares is irrigated. About 95 percent of the
irrigated area is devoted to paddy and about 70 percent of paddy production comes from irrigated lands.

Water use and demand: GROUNDWATER

A subsurface water that occurs beneath a water table in soils and rocks, or in geological formations. The
country has an extensive groundwater reservoir with an aggregate area of about 50,000 sq. km. (note: area
of the country is about 300,000 sq km) Data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) show that several
groundwater basins are underlaid by about 100,000 sq. km of various rock formation. Groundwater
contributes 14 percent of the total water resource potential of the country.
 Water use and demand: GROUNDWATER
Urbanization increases the number of impermeable surfaces, which reduces the amount of infiltration and
percolation. River flow regimes

Many river flow regimes are heavily affected by human activities, ranging from direct abstraction of water, to
changes in catchment land use.

Philippines Environment Monitor 2003 report projects that by year 2025, water availability deficit would take
place in several river basins such as in Pampanga and Agno, in Pasig-Laguna, in Cagayan Valley, all other
regions in Luzon, in Jalaur and Ilog Hilabangan, and in the island of Cebu in Visayas.

Water use and demand: CONTAMINATION AND POLLUTION

Contamination refers to the presence or introduction of unwanted materials into the water. In contrast,
pollution refers to the presence or introduction of damaging loads or concentrations of materials into the
water.

Contamination is simply the presence of a substance where it should not be or at concentrations above
background. Pollution is contamination that results in or can result in adverse biological effects to resident
communities. All pollutants are contaminants, but not all contaminants are pollutants.

Water use and demand: CONTAMINATION AND POLLUTION

Sources of nitrogen and phosphorus include industrial effluent, fertilizer, sewage effluent and detergents.

Effluent - liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or the sea

The most common nutrients causing eutrophication are nitrogen and phosphorus. The main source of
nitrogen pollutants is run-off from agricultural land, whereas most phosphorus pollution comes from
households and industry, including phosphorus-based detergents.

Figure 3: Sources of Eutrophication

INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF PHASES OF THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE: EVAPOTRANSPIRATION, PRECIPITATION,
INFILTRATION/PERCOLATION, SURFACE/SUBSURFACE RUNOFF, GROUNDWATER

Evapotranspiration
Evapotranspiration is defined as the water lost to the
atmosphere from the ground surface, evaporation from the
capillary fringe of the groundwater table, and the
transpiration of groundwater by plants whose roots tap the
capillary fringe of the groundwater table.

Evapotranspiration is the sum of evaporation from the land

surface plus transpiration from plants. Precipitation is the
source of all water.

Figure 4: Evapotranspiration

Transpiration

Most of the water absorbed by plant passes through the

roots to the stem or trunk and is transpired into the
atmosphere through the leafy part of the plant.

Just as you release water vapor when you breathe, plants

do, too – although the term "transpire" is more appropriate
than "breathe." This picture shows water vapor transpired
from plant leaves after a plastic bag has been tied around
the stem for about an hour. If the bag had been wrapped
around the soil below it, too, then even more water vapor
would have been released, as water also evaporates from
the soil.

Plants put down roots into the soil to draw water and
nutrients up into the stems and leaves. Some of this water
is returned to the air by transpiration. Transpiration rates Figure 5:Transpiration
vary widely depending on weather conditions, such as
temperature, humidity, sunlight availability and intensity, precipitation, soil type and saturation, wind, and land
slope. During dry periods, transpiration can contribute to the loss of moisture in the upper soil zone, which can
have an effect on vegetation and food-crop fields.

Atmospheric Factors Affecting Transpiration:

 Temperature: Transpiration rates go up as the temperature goes up, especially during the growing season,
when the air is warmer due to stronger sunlight and warmer air masses. Higher temperatures cause the
plant cells which control the openings (stoma) where water is released to the atmosphere to open,
whereas colder temperatures cause the openings to close.

 Relative humidity: As the relative humidity of the air surrounding the plant rises the transpiration rate
falls. It is easier for water to evaporate into dryer air than into more saturated air.
  Wind and air movement: Increased movement of the air around a plant will result in a higher
transpiration rate. Wind will move the air around, with the result that the more saturated air close to the
leaf is replaced by drier air.

 Soil-moisture availability: When moisture is lacking, plants can begin to senesce (premature ageing,
which can result in leaf loss) and transpire less water.

 Type of plant: Plants transpire water at different rates. Some plants which grow in arid regions, such as
cacti and succulents, conserve precious water by transpiring less water than other plants.

Evaporation

Evaporation is the process by which water changes from a liquid to a gas or vapor. Evaporation is
the primary pathway that water moves from the liquid state back into the water cycle as atmospheric
water vapor. Studies have shown that the oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers provide nearly 90 percent of the
moisture in the atmosphere via evaporation, with the remaining 10 percent being contributed by
plant transpiration.

Water will evaporate from land, either bare soil or soil covered with vegetation, and also from
trees, impervious surfaces like roofs and roads, open water and flowing streams.

The rate of evaporation varies with the color and reflective properties of the surface (the albedo)
and is different for surfaces directly exposed to, or shaded from, solar radiation.

Since 30% of the sun’s energy is reflected by the entire earth, the earth has an average albedo of
.30. In moist temperate climates the loss of water through evaporation is typically 600 mm per year from
open water and perhaps 450 mm per year from land surfaces. In an arid climate, like that of Iraq, the
corresponding figures could be 2000 mm and 100 mm, the great disparity in this latter case being caused
by absence of precipitation for much of the year.

Precipitation

The source of almost all our rainfall is the sea. The moisture-laden air keeps the water vapour
absorbed until it cools to below dew-point temperature when the vapour is precipitated as rain, or if the
temperature is sufficiently low, as hail or snow.

The dewpoint temperature is the temperature at which the air can no longer "hold" all of the
water vapor which is mixed with it, and some of the water vapor must condense into liquid water.

General Characteristics of Precipitation:

1. CONVECTIVE PRECIPITATION

Warm moist air rising and cooling to form cloud and subsequently to precipitate rain. This is typified by
the late afternoon thunderstorms that develop from day-long heating of moist air, rising into towering
anvil shaped clouds.
Figure 6:Convective Precipitation Figure 7:Anvil Shape Clouds

2. OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION

Results from ocean air streams passing over land and being deflected upward by coastal mountains, thus
cooling below saturation temperature and spilling moisture.

Figure 8:Orographic Precipitation

3. CYCLONIC AND FRONTAL PRECIPITATION

When low-pressure areas exist, air tends to move into them from surrounding areas and in so doing
displaces low-pressure air upward, to cool and precipitate rain.

Figure 9:Cyclonic and Frontal Precipitation

 Infiltration and Percolation

If the surface layers are porous and have minute passages available for the passage of water droplets, the
water infiltrates into the subsurface soil.

Once infiltrating water has passed through the surface layers, it percolates downwards under the
influence of gravity until it reaches the zone of saturation at the phreatic surface (water table).

Different types of soil allow water to infiltrate at different rates. Each soil type has a different infiltration
capacity, f, measured in mm/h or in./h.

For example, it can be imagined that rain falling on a gravelly or sandy soil will rapidly infiltrate and,
provided the phreatic surface is below the ground surface, even heavy rain will not produce surface runoff.
Similarly a clayey soil will resist infiltration and the surface will become covered with water even in light
rains.

The rainfall rate, i, also obviously affects how much rain will infiltrate and how much will run off.

Figure 10:Rainfall Rate=10mm/h Figure 11:Rainfall Rate=25mm/h

Surface Runoff

The most serious effect of flooding may be the washing away of the fertile top soil in which crops are
grown. In urban areas there is great damage to property, pollution of water supplies, danger to life and
often total disruption of communications. In agrarian societies floods are feared like pestilence because
they can destroy crops, cattle and habitations, and bring famine in their wake.

The hydraulic engineer, in dealing with runoff, has to try to provide answers to many questions, of which
some of the more obvious are

 how often will floods occur?

 how large will they be and to what level will they rise?
 how often will there be droughts?
 how long may these droughts continue?

A second group of questions arises in using the curves of runoff frequency and duration once found; for
example

 how can the volume of discharge be reduced?

  how can the cost of flood prevention be compared with the damage that will arise if no measures
are taken?
 how valuable is stored flood water in times of drought?

Catchment characteristics and their effects on runoff By 'catchment area' is meant the whole of the land and
water surface area contributing to the discharge at a particular stream or river crosssection

(a) Catchment area. peak runoff decreases as the catchment area increases

(b) Main stream length (MSL). This is measured in km from the gauging station or catchment outfall.

(c) Slope of catchment.

Figure 12:Catchment Slope

(d) Catchment orientation. Orientation is important with respect to the meteorology of the area in which the
catchment lies. If the prevailing winds and lines of storm movement have a particular seasonal pattern, as they
usually have, the runoff hydrograph will depend to some degree on the catchment's orientation within the
pattern.

(e) Shape of Catchment.

Figure 13:Shape of Catchment

(f) Annual average rainfall. Our country receives 2,348mm per year of rainfall. (data.worldbank.org)
(g) Stream frequency. A well-drained catchment will have comparatively short concentration times and hence
steeper flood-rise hydrographs than a catchment with many surface depressions, marshy ground and minor lakes
for example.

(h) Baseflow index (BFl). a good indicator of the catchment's underground storage, which is dependent on the
solid geology

(i) Lake and reservoir area. These act as surface water stores.

(j) Soil-moisture deficit. this is the amount of rain needed to bring the soil moisture content back to field capacity

Groundwater

Rainfall that infiltrates the soil and penetrates to the underlying strata is called groundwater. The quantity
of water that can be accommodated under the surface depends on the porosity of the sub-surface strata.
The water-bearing strata, called aquifers, can consist of unconsolidated materials like sands, gravels and
glacial drift or consolidated material like sandstones and limestones

The resistance to underground flow varies widely and the permeability of the material is a measure of this
resistance. As the groundwater percolates down, the aquifer becomes saturated. The surface of saturation
is referred to as the groundwater table or the phreatic surface. If there is an impermeable layer underlying
an aquifer and this layer outcrops on the surface, then the groundwater will appear on the surface in a
seepage zone or as a spring

It is equally possible for a ground water aquifer to become overlain by impermeable material and so be
under pressure. Such an aquifer, fed from a distance, is called a confined aquifer and the surface to which
the water would rise if it could is called the piezometric surface. Another name, used for wells drilled into
such confined aquifers, is artesian wells, and the word artesian is sometimes applied also to the aquifers.

If the piezometric surface is above ground level at an artesian well, it is called a flowing well, and a fracture
or flaw in the impermeable overlay will, in such conditions, result in an artesian spring.

Figure 14:Groundwater
The flow of groundwater takes place in porous media. The pores through which movement takes place
can be very small indeed and generally are between the limits of 2 and 0.02 mm. The movement is slow
by the standard of surface runoff and the flow is usually laminar. The Reynolds number in flow of this kind
is very low.

The factors of importance in the flow are

• The liquid-its density and viscosity,

• The media through which the liquid moves,
• The boundary conditions. The liquid normally is water, usually fresh but occasionally saline. Its
temperature may vary within the range 0-30°C.

Density. The density of fresh water varies only very slightly with temperature and its effect can be ignored
in groundwater flow. Of greater importance is salinity.

Viscosity is a measure of the shear strength of a liquid; the lower the viscosity, the more mobile or
penetrating the liquid.

Absolute viscosity - is a measure of internal resistance

Kinematic viscosity - a quantity in which no force is involved

Porosity is defined as n = total voids/total volume and ranges from a few percent to about 90 percent.

Permeability is a function of porosity, structure, and the geological history of the material. Example
anisotropic soil
CHAPTER 01 REFLECTION

Through the Chapter 01:

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