Introduction to Hydrology and Engineering

Study Notes

Hydrology is the study of Earth's water, including its origin, distribution, properties, circulation, and interactions with the environment.

Hydrology has key applications in engineering, particularly for designing and operating hydraulic structures.
Example applications include: water supply, wastewater disposal, irrigation, drainage, hydropower, flood control, navigation, erosion control, salinity control, pollution abatement, and recreational use of water.

Hydrology allows us to calculate and understand water production variations in watersheds.
It helps establish the relationship between surface water and groundwater resources.
It enables predicting flood flows in various locations, including spillways, highways, culverts, and urban drainage systems.
It helps determine the required reservoir capacity for sufficient irrigation or municipal water supply during droughts.
Hydrology guides the selection of necessary hardware (rain gauges, stream gauges) and software (computer models) for real-time flood forecasting.
Hydrology is essential for planning and building hydraulic structures.
It plays a significant role in designing city water supply systems, considering factors like catchment area, rainfall, drought periods, storage capacity, runoff, evaporation, and transpiration.

Engineering Hydrology: Focuses on planning, designing, and operating engineering projects for water control and use.
Applied Hydrology: Studies the hydrological cycle, precipitation, runoff, the precipitation-runoff relationship, hydrographs, and flood routing.
Chemical Hydrology: Examines the chemical characteristics of water.
Eco-hydrology: Investigates the interaction between organisms and the hydrological cycle.
Hydrogeology (Geo-hydrology): Studies the presence and movement of groundwater.
Hydro-informatics: Applies information technology to hydrology and water resource applications.
Hydrometeorology: Studies the transfer of water and energy between land, water bodies, and the lower atmosphere.
Isotope Hydrology: Analyzes isotopic signatures in water to determine its origin and age.
Surface Water Hydrology: Studies hydrological processes occurring at or near the Earth's surface.
Groundwater Hydrology: Studies underground water.

Represents the circulation of water from land and water bodies to the atmosphere and back again.

Evaporation: The conversion of liquid water to water vapor, primarily from large water bodies.
Condensation: The transformation of water vapor back into liquid water droplets, forming clouds or fog.
Precipitation: The discharge of liquid or solid water from the atmosphere, typically onto land or water surfaces. It is the primary input to a watershed.