Engineering Hydrology

Tutorial 1: Water balance and Precipitation

1. For a River 1978 to 1998, precipitation (P) = 40 cm/yr., average stream flow (Q) = 1.88 m3/sec, and the
watershed area = 186 Km2. Estimate the average annual evapotranspiration for this watershed and this
period, assuming net groundwater flows and changes in storage are negligible, and the density of water is
constant. Because water volume is mass divided by density, if density is constant, a volume balance is
equivalent to a mass balance.

2. Estimate the constant rate of withdrawal from a 1375 ha reservoir in a month of 30 days during which
the reservoir level dropped by 0.75 m in spite of an average inflow into the reservoir of 0.5 million
m3/day. During the month the average seepage loss from the reservoir was 2.5 cm, total precipitation was
18.5 cm and evaporation was 9.5 cm.

3. A small catchment of area 150 ha received a rainfall of 10.5 cm in 90 minutes due to a storm. At the
outlet of the catchment, the stream draining the catchment was dry before the storm and experience a
runoff lasting for 10 hours with an average discharge value of 2m3/s. the stream was again dry after the
runoff event: a) what is the amount of water which was not available to runoff due to combined effect of
infiltration, evaporation and transpiration? b) What is the ratio of runoff to the precipitation?

4. A catchment area of 140 km2 received 120 cm rainfall in a year. At the outlet of the catchment, the
flow in the stream draining the catchment was found to have an average rate of 2m3/s for 3 months; 3m3/s
for 6 months and 5m3/s for 3 months. Calculate the runoff coefficient of the catchment. If the
afforestation of the catchment reduced the runoff coefficient of the catchment to 0.5, what is the increase
in the abstraction from the precipitation due to infiltration, evaporation and transpiration, for the same
annual rainfall 130 cm?

5. In a given year, a catchment with an area of 2500 km2 received 1.3 m of precipitation. The average rate
of flow measured in a river draining the catchment was 30m3s-1.
a. How much total river runoff occurred in the year (in m3)?
b. What is the runoff coefficient?
c. How much water is lost due to the combined effects of evaporation, transpiration, and
infiltration?
6. Find the Net annual Runoff of the basin using data given in the table
Area of the Mean Annual Mean annual Mean Annual
Basin(km2) Precipitation(mm) Evaporation(mm) groundwater
recharge(Mm3)
11600 108 84 330

Precipitation:
1. A catchment has seven rain gauge stations. In a year, the annual rainfalls in cm recorded by the
gauges are as follows: 130, 142.1, 118.2, 108.5, 165.2, 102.1 and 146.9. For 5% error in the
estimation of the mean rainfall, calculate the minimum number of additional stations required to be
established in the catchment.
2. For a catchment, the rainfall data at six stations for September month along with their Thiessen
weights are as given in Table below.
 Find the weighted average rainfall for the catchment by using the arithmetic average and Thiessen
polygon method.

3. A catchment has six rain gauge stations Borina, Hansraj, Rehli, Majgawn, Borina, and Jabera. Normal
monthly rainfall at these stations is known. The observed rainfall at the stations Borina, Hansraj, Rehli,
Borina, and Jabera for a storm event is known and is given in the following table. Find the missing
rainfall at station Majgawn by use of normal ratio method.

4. The annual precipitation at station Z and the average annual precipitation at 10 neighbouring station are
as follows:
Year Precipitation 10 stations Year Precipitation 10 stations
at Z(mm) average(mm) at Z(mm) average(mm)
1972 35 28 1980 30 26
1973 37 29 1981 31 31
1974 39 31 1982 35 36
1975 35 27 1983 38 39
1976 30 25 1984 40 44
1977 25 21 1985 28 32
1978 20 17 1986 25 30
1979 24 21 1987 21 23
Use double mass curve analysis to correct any data incosistencies at station Z.
3. The precipitation for a certain basin has been recorded for several years at 5 gauges. The data at one
of the gauges (site Y) is suspected to be inconsistent relative to that at the other four sites. The table
below shows data for Y and the average data for the other four sites (called X). (a) Analyze the
consistency of the data at Y by the double mass method. (b) Adjust the data of the earlier years at Y
(so that they are consistent with those of recent years).