CHAPTER 0NE

HYDROLOGY

Hydrology treats of the water of the Earth, their occurrence, circulation , and distribution, their chemical and physical properties, and their reaction with their environment, including their relation to living things. The domain of hydrology embraces the full life history of water on Earth.

THE HYDROLOGIC CYCLE

Evaporation of water from the oceans. The resulting vapor is transported by moving air masses. Under the proper conditions, the vapor is condensed to form clouds, which in turn may result in precipitation. The precipitation which falls upon land is dispersed in several ways.

The greater part is temporarily retained in the soil near where it falls and is ultimately returned to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration by plants. A portion of the water finds its way over and through the surface soil to stream channels, while other penetrates farther into the ground to become part of the groundwater. Both surface streamflow and groundwater move toward lower elevations and may

eventually discharged into the ocean. In other cases, groundwater is a source of streamflow. Some precipitation may remain on the ground as snow for months before melting releases the water to streams or groundwater.

There is evidence that irrigation canals existed in egypt during the reign of King Scorpion about 3200 B.C. King Menes (3000 B.C.) is said to have constructed a diversion dam to redirect the flow of the Nile so that Memphis, his capital, could be constructed in the fertile riverbed.

HISTORY

BISWAS summarizes the archeological evidence for hydraulic structures in the middle east, such as extensive irrigation, a water code by hammurabi (babylon 1700 B.C.), and many other water-control activities. Plato(427-347 B.C.)is better known for the idea of the great underground sea, Tartarus, as the source of all surface waters.

There is little evidence of any meaningful application of hydrology until the Renaissance (1450-1600). Pierre perrault (1608-1680) compare measured rainfall with the estimated flow of the seine river to show that the streamflow was about one-sixth of the precipitation. Halley (1656-1742) measured evaporation from a small pan and estimated

evaporation from the Mediterranean Sea from these data. Little quantitative work in hydrology was done before the early years of the twentieth century, when men such as Horton, Mead and Sherman began to explore field. The great expansion of activity in flood control, irrigation, soil conservation, and related fields which began about 1930.

HYDROLOGY IN ENGINEERING
Hydrology is used in engineering mainly in connection with the design and operation of hydraulic structures. The distinctions between engineering hydrology and other branches of applied hydrology are vague. The boundaries between hydrology and other earth sciences such as meteorology,

oceanography, and geology are indistinct, and no good purpose is served by attempting to define them rigidly. Engineers owe much of their present knowledge of hydrology to agriculturists, foresters, meteorologists, geologist, and others in a variety of fields.