DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND

ENVIRONMENT

BFC32002 HYDROLOGY

LECTURER NAME: EN ZULKIFLI BIN AHMAD

NAME: MUHAMMAD IQBAL HAKEEM BIN

HASHIM
NO. MATRIC: DF150057
SECTION: 2
 SURFACE RUNOFF

Muhammad Iqbal Hakeem b. Hashim

Faculty civil engineering and environment
University Tun Hussien Onn
iqbalhakeemm@gmail.com

Abstract: Rainfall which is not intercepted by vegetation or habitation falls on the earth, where it evaporates,
infiltrates or lies in depression storage. When the losses arising in these ways are all provided for, there may remain
a surplus which, obeying the gravitation laws, flows over the surface to the nearest stream channel. The streams flow
together into rivers and the rivers find their way down to the sea. When the rain is particularly intense or prolonged,
or both, the surface runoff becomes large and the stream and river channels cannot accept all the water suddenly
arriving. They become filled and overflow and in so doing they do great harm to the activities of men. The most
serious effect of flooding may be the washing away of the fertile top soil in which crops are grown, and of which
there is already a scarcity on the Earth. 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 may destroy crops, cattle and habitations, and bring famine in their wake.
Keyword: evaporates, infiltrates, stream, flooding, and habitations.

1. INTRODUCTION
The oceans act as a large storehouse of water that evaporates to become atmospheric moisture. The oceans are kept
full by precipitation and also by runoff and discharge from rivers and the ground. Many people probably have an
overly-simplified idea that precipitation falls on the land, flows overland (runoff), and runs into rivers, which then
empty into the oceans. That is "overly simplified" because rivers also gain and lose water to the ground. Still, it is true
that much of the water in rivers comes directly from runoff from the land surface, which is defined as surface runoff.
When rain hits saturated or impervious ground it begins to flow overland downhill. It is easy to see if it flows down
your driveway to the curb and into a storm sewer, but it is harder to notice it flowing overland in a natural setting.
During a heavy rain, you might notice small rivulets of water flowing downhill. Water will flow along channels as it
moves into larger creeks, streams, and rivers. This picture gives a graphic example of how surface runoff (here flowing
off a road) enters a small creek. The runoff in this case is flowing over bare soil and is depositing sediment into the
river (not good for water quality). The runoff entering this creek is beginning its journey back to the ocean.

2. EFFECT OF SURFACE IMPACT

1. Human activities can affect runoff

As more and more people inhabit the Earth, and as more development and urbanization occur, more of the
natural landscape is replaced by impervious surfaces, such as roads, houses, parking lots, and buildings that reduce
infiltration of water into the ground and accelerate runoff to ditches and streams. In addition to increasing
imperviousness, removal of vegetation and soil, grading the land surface, and constructing drainage networks increase
runoff volumes and shorten runoff time into streams from rainfall and snowmelt. As a result, the peak discharge,
volume, and frequency of floods increase in nearby streams.
 2. Urban development and flooding
Urbanization can have a great effect on hydrologic processes, such as surface-runoff patterns. Imagine it this
way in a natural environment, think of the land in the watershed alongside a stream as a sponge (more precisely, as
layers of sponges of different porosities) sloping uphill away from the stream. When it rains, some water is absorbed
into the sponge (infiltration) and some runs off the surface of the sponge into the stream (runoff). Assume a storm
lasting one hour occurs and one-half of the rainfall enters the stream and the rest is absorbed by the sponges. Now,
gravity is still at play here, so the water in the sponges will start moving in a general downward direction, with most
of it seeping out and into the streambanks during the next day or two.
Next, imagine that roads and buildings have replaced most of the watershed surface. When that one inch of rainfall
occurs, it can't infiltrate these impervious surfaces and will runoff directly into the stream, and very quickly. The result
is a very quick and short-lived urban flood, rather than a gradual rise and fall in the river. Still, a flood lasting even 10
short minutes is enough to ruin the basement.
3. MEASUREMENT OF STAGE
Non-recording Stream Gauges
Commonly used non-recording stream gauges are staff gauges and wire gauges which are manually operated. A staff
gauge, as shown in Fig. 1.1 is the simplest way to measure the river stage. It may be mounted vertically or at an angle
from the vertical. The staff is rigidly attached to a permanent structure such as a bridge pier wall abutment, etc. The
gauge indicates water-surface elevation on a staff that is graduated with clear and accurate markings in tenths of a foot
or in centimeters. A portion of the scale is immersed in the water at all times.

Figure 1.1: Vertical Staff Gauges. Figure 1.2: Sectional staff gauge.

Sometimes, a single gage is not adequate for all stages; a sectional staff gauge as shown in Figure 1.2, is used. Sectional
gages are installed to provide overlap between various gages with their readings corresponding to the same datum.
A wire gauge measures the water-surface elevation from above such as from a bridge or other overhead structure. A
weight is lowered from the structure until it reaches the water surface. The gauge has a drum with a circumference
equal to 1 ft or 1 m of wire. The number of revolutions of the drum is measured by a mechanical counter, which, in
turn, measures the length of the wire transmitted to reach the water surface. The operating range of a wire-weight gage
is about 25 m.
Recording Stream Gauges
Recording stream gages are instruments that continuously record the water stage at a given location along the stream.
Two types are in general use:
(i) The float type and
(ii) The bubble gauge
a) Float type gauge
The recorder is located in a stilling well that consists of a vertically mounted culvert or other similar structure that
may be from 1 to 3 feet in diameter, as shown in Fig. 2.1. The culvert is installed on the bank of the channel to a depth
at least equal to the lowest level of the channel bottom. A 2-inch open-ended galvanized pipe is run horizontally from
the bottom or near the bottom of the deepest part of the channel and fastened to the culvert. The top of this pipe is
usually used as the stream-gage datum because it marks the lowest stage of streamflow or nearly so. The recorder is
mounted in a weatherproof housing at the top of the culvert and stilling well. Water rises in the stilling well through
the 2-inch galvanized pipe to a level equal to the water elevation in the channel. The purpose of the stilling well is to
dampen the water-surface fluctuations so that the float records changes in water elevation, but does not reflect wave
action or other interference. Water-level changes are recorded on punched tape at selected time intervals, often every
15 minutes. This instrument can be adapted to remote monitoring by telephone or radio.

Fig. 2.1. Stilling well for float-type recorder (a) field installation (b) schematic
Older recorders, from which many records exist, used a pen that marked stage elevations on a chart mounted on a
clock-driven drum. These instruments required the chart to be changed periodically.

b) The bubble gauge.

The bubble gage, or manometer-servo water-level sensor, is shown in Fig. 2.2. This instrument eliminates the need
for a stilling well, but requires battery power and a 116-ft3 dry nitrogen cylinder for operating up to 6 months.
Pressure corresponding to the water head in the channel is imparted to the recorder through a tube in the bottom of
the channel. This tube is supplied with nitrogen gas pressure equal to the water head by a servo motor that
automatically adjusts for changes in water head. This instrument is attached to a digital recorder, similar to the float-
type recorder, and can be remotely monitored by telephone or radio.
The bubble gage may be preferable to the float-type recording gage for the following reasons such as the stilling
well, which is expensive, is not needed. Next, large changes (up to 30 m) in water-surface elevation can be
measured. Then, the inlet is less likely to be blocked because of the gas pressure. The recorder assembly can be
located far away from the sensing point

River-stage Data
The stage data are presented chronologically in time as a time series. Their plot, as shown in Fig. 21.7, is called a
stage hydrograph. The primary use of this data is the determination of discharge. Other uses of this data are in flood-
insurance studies, design of flood-protection works, flood warning and evacuation, urban development, flood-
damage assessment, water diversion, navigation, etc. Long-term stage data are needed to estimate peak river stages
for application in the design of hydraulic structures such as bridges, culverts, and weirs.

Conclusion
In a nutshell, surface runoff is every importance to the hydrological process in which water can clearly evaporated
from a surface runoff. If perhaps, the things that disrupt the surface runoff can give the impact to the hydrological
process. Furthermore, we can understand that the factor can affect surface runoff is geology, slope, climate,
precipitation, saturation, soil type, vegetation and time. Moreover, its a study of measurement of stage to determine
water surface elevation measured above a datum. Then, there have a two type of measurement such as non-recording
gauge and recording stream gauge. In the non-recording gauge divide by two type is vertical staff gauge and
sectional staff gauge. Then, the recording stream gauge have two type such as float type gauge and bubble type
gauge. Lastly, the water that runs over the surface of the land. This is an important part of the water cycle because it
helps the water travel to different locations or even go through phase changes (from liquid to gas or solid).

Reference
1. Singh, V. P. (1994). Elementary Hydrology. Prentice Hall of India Private Limited, 377-427.
2. Subramanya, K. (1994). Engineering Hydrology. Third edition, Tata McGraw Hill, 101-131.
3. Murty, V.V.N. and Jha, M.K. (2009). Land and Water Management Engineering. Fifth edition, Kalyani
Publishers, Ludhiana.