Water is constantly moving within and above the earth in a cycle called the hydrologic cycle.

There are
six major components of this cycle: evapotranspiration, condensation, precipitation, infiltration,
percolation and runoff. This section explains key concepts and components of the hydrologic cycle.

The Hydrologic Cycle Menu:

1. The Hydrologic Cycle

Components of the hydrologic cycle are introduced and discussed.

2. Human Impact on the Water Cycle

The impact of human activities and structures on the water cycle are discussed.

Nature recycles the earth's water supply through a process known as the water cycle or  hydrologic cycle.
This cycle operates continuously and receives energy from the sun.

The major components of the hydrologic cycle are:

evapotranspiration 
condensation 
precipitation 
infiltration 
percolation 
runoff 
evapotranspiration || condensation || precipitation || infiltration || percolation || runoff
EVAPOTRANSPIRATION

Evapotranspiration is the combined net effect of two processes: evaporation and transpiration.
Evapotranspiration uses a larger portion of precipitation than the other processes associated with the
hydrologic cycle.

Evaporation is the process of returning moisture to the atmosphere. Water on any surface, especially the
surfaces of mudholes, ponds, streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, is warmed by the sun's heat until it reaches
the point at which water turns into the vapor, or gaseous, form. The water vapor then rises into the
atmosphere.

Transpiration is the process by which plants return moisture to the air. Plants take up water through their
roots and then lose some of the water through pores in their leaves. As hot air passes over the surface of
the leaves, the moisture absorbs the heat and evaporates into the air.

The hydrologic cycle consists of inflows, outflows, and storage. Inflows add water to the different parts of
the hydrologic system, while outflows remove water. Storage is the retention of water by parts of the
system. Because water movement is cyclical, an inflow for one part of the system is an outflow for
another.

Looking at an aquifer as an example, percolation of water into the ground is an inflow to the aquifer.
Discharge of ground water from the aquifer to a stream is an outflow (also an inflow for the stream). Over
time, if inflows to the aquifer are greater than its outflows, the amount of water stored in the aquifer will
increase. Conversely, if the inflows to the aquifer are less than the outflows, the amount of water stored
decreases.

Inflows and outflows can occur naturally or result from human activity.

CONDENSATION

Condensation is the cooling of water vapor until it becomes a liquid. As the dew point is reached, water
vapor forms tiny visible water droplets. When these droplets form in the sky and other atmospheric
conditions are present, clouds will form. As the droplets collide, they merge and form larger droplets and
eventually, precipitation will occur.

PRECIPITATION

Precipitation is moisture that falls from the atmosphere as rain, snow, sleet, or hail. Precipitation varies in
amount, intensity, and form by season and geographic location. These factors impact whether water will
flow into streams or infiltrate into the ground. In most parts of the world, records are kept of snow and
rainfall. This allows scientists to determine average rainfalls for a location as well as classify rainstorms
based on duration, intensity and average return period. This information is crucial for crop management
as well as the engineering design of water control structures and flood control.

INFILTRATION

Infiltration is the entry of water into the soil surface. Infiltration constitutes the sole source of water to
sustain the growth of vegetation and it helps to sustain the ground water supply to wells, springs and
streams. The rate of infiltration is influenced by the physical characteristics of the soil, soil cover (i.e.
plants), water content of the soil, soil temperature and rainfall intensity. The terms infiltration
and percolation are often used interchangeably.

PERCOLATION

Percolat
ion is the downward movement of water through soil and rock. Percolation occurs beneath the root zone.
Ground water percolates through the soil much as water fills a sponge, and moves from space to space
along fractures in rock, through sand and gravel, or through channels in formations such as cavernous
limestone. The terms infiltration and percolation are often used interchangeably.
RUNOFF

Runoff is the movement of water, usually from precipitation, across the earth's surface towards stream
channels, lakes, oceans, or depressions or lowpoints in the earth's surface. The characteristics that affect
the rate of runoff include rainfall duration and intensity as well as the ground's slope, soil type and ground
cover.

The earth's water supply remains constant, but man is capable of altering the cycle of that fixed supply.
Population increases, rising living standards, and industrial and economic growth have place greater
demands on our natural environment. Our activities can create an imbalance in the hydrologic equation
and can affect the quantity and quality of natural water resources available to current and future
generations.

Water use by households, industries, and farms have increased. Poeple demand clean water at reasonable
costs, yet the amount of fresh water is limited and the easily accessible sources have been developed. As
the population increases, so will our need to withdraw more water from rivers, lakes and aquifers,
threatening local resources and future water supplies. A larger population will not only use more water
but will discharge more wastewater. Domestic, agricultural, and industrial wastes, including the intensive
use of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, ofter overload water supplies with hazardous chemicals and
bateria. Also, poor irrigation practices raise soil salinity and evaporation rates. These factors contribute to
a reduction in the availability of potable water, putting even greater pressure on existing water resources.

Large cities and urban sprawl particularly affect local climate and hydrology. Urbanization is
accompanied by accelerated drainage of water through road drains and city sewer systems, which even
increases the magnitude of urban flood events. This alters the rates of infiltration, evaporation, and
transpiration that would otherwise occur in a natural setting. The replenishing of ground water aquifers
does not occur or occurs at a slower rate.

Together, these various effects determine the amount of water in the system and can result in extremely
negative consequences for river watersheds, lake levels, aquifers, and the environment as a whole.
Therefore, it is vital to learn about and protect our water resources.
Ground water is water held within the interconnected openings of saturated rock beneath the land surface.

The hydrologic cycle shows that when rain falls to the ground, some water flows along the land surface to
streams or lakes, some water evaporates into the atmosphere, some is taken up by plants, and some seeps
into the ground. As water begins to seep into the ground, it enters a zone that contains both water and air,
referred to as the unsaturated zone or vadose zone. The upper part of this zone, known as the root zone or
soil zone, supports plant growth and is crisscrossed by living roots, holes left by decayed roots, and
animal and worm burrows. Below lies an intermediate zone, followed by a saturated capillary fringe,
which results from the attraction between water and rocks. As a result of this attraction, water clings as a
film on the surface of rock particles.

Water moves through the unsaturated

zone into the saturated zone, where all
the interconnected openings between
rock particles are filled with water. It is
within this saturated zone that the term
"ground water" is correctly applied.
Ground water is held in aquifers, which
are discussed in the following sections.

Fiction: Ground water is often thought

of as an underground river or lake. Only
in caves or within lava flows does
ground water occur this way. Instead,
ground water is usually held in porous
soil or rock materials, much the same
way water is held in a sponge.
 It is a common misconception that ground water is found in underground
rivers, like those that form limestone caverns. In fact, ground water is more
like the water in a sponge, held within the tiny pores of the surrounding
aquifer material. Much like the flow of water in a river, however, the flow of
ground water is subject to gravity and is almost
always in motion, flowing from areas of higher
elevation to areas of lower elevation. (In the
case of ground water in confined aquifers, it is
pressure rather than gravity that makes
water move. In this case, water flows from
areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure.) Just like what happens when
a sponge soaked with water is tilted, gravity forces water to flow from one
pore space or fracture to another. The steeper the gradient or slope, the faster
the ground water will flow. It is important to note that the rate of ground
water flow, especially in confined systems, is very slow compared to the flow of water on the surface. It
is typically in the range of several inches per year to several feet per year.

For water to move freely through a rock, the pores and/or fractures must be large enough and connected
enough so that the friction from the water moving past the rock particle does not impede the flow. The
degree of an aquifer's porosity and permeability is key to the movement of ground water through an
aquifer.

Ground water can move through pores or fractures

Ground water is withdrawn from wells to provide water for everything from drinking water for the home
and business, to water to irrigate crops, to industrial processing water. When water is pumped from the
ground, the dynamics of ground water flow change in response to this withdrawal.

When a well is installed in an unconfined aquifer, water moves from the aquifer into the well through
small holes or slits in the well casing or in some types of wells, through the open bottom of the well. The
level of the water in the well is the same as the water level in the aquifer. Ground water continues to flow
through and around the well in one direction in response to gravity.

When pumping begins, water begins to flow towards the

well, in contrast to the natural direction of ground water
movement. In response, the water level in the well falls
below the water table ,in the surrounding aquifer. As a result,
water begins to move from the aquifer into the well. As
pumping continues, the water level in the well continues to
increase until the rate of flow into the well equals the rate of
withdrawal from pumping. The movement of water from an
aquifer into a well results in the formation of a cone of
depression. The cone of depression describes a three
dimensional inverted cone surrounding the well that represents the volume of water removed as a result
of pumping. Drawdown is the vertical drop in the height between the water level in the well prior to
pumping, and the water level in the well during pumping.

This information is used in a number of ways:

 knowledge of the drawdown helps to ensure a continuous

supply of water; drawdown that reaches to the bottom of an
aquifer could result in a "dry well"
 knowledge of the lateral, or sideways, extent of the cone of
depression helps in identifying the overlying land area to be
managed for ground water protection. A spill, for example,
occurring in this area could percolate into the ground water
and be "pulled in" by the pumping of the well
 pumping can result in a change of the ground water's
source. For example, water that was once discharging into a
stream may now be "pulled in" to the well. Surface water
quality generally is more apt to be contaminated; in
addition, the regulatory and monitoring standards for
drinking water originating from surface water bodies are
often different than those originating from ground water
sources.

The knowledge of natural ground water flow and the impact of pumping on flow is important in the
strategic placement of wells (geographically and vertically) and the design of appropriate pumping rates
and frequencies. This is important for a number of reasons:

 to ensure the specific source of water is known, be it a specific aquifer or a nearby surface water
body,
 to pump out contaminated ground water so that it can be treated on the surface, such as by an air
stripper. An air stripper remediates ground water contaminated by volatile organic compounds
(VOCs). The illustration on the right shows water being treated using an air stripper.
 to manipulate local ground water flow so that contaminated ground water flows away from a
drinking water source.
 Recharge is the process by which aquifers are
replenished with water from the surface. This
process occurs naturally as part of
the hydrologic cycleas infiltration when
rainfall infiltrates the land surface and as
percolation of water into underlying aquifers.
A number of factors influence the rate of
recharge including physical characteristics of
the soil, plant cover, slope, water content of
surface materials, rainfall intensity, and the
presence and depth of confining layers and
aquifers.

Surface waterbodies may also recharge

ground water. This occurs most often in arid
areas. Lakes and dry creek beds may fill up
with water during heavy rains. If the water
table is low in underlying aquifers, water may seep from the sides of these water bodies and percolate into
the ground water.

In some places, artificial recharge is used to replenish aquifers. This is accomplished through the
pumping, or injection, of water into wells where it replenishes the aquifer directly or through the
spreading of water over the land surface where it can seep into the ground. Artificial recharge is done to
replenish the ground water supply when rains are heavy in order to preserve water for later use or, in the
case of injection wells, to dilute or control the flow of contaminated ground water.

Gravity is the dominant driving force in

ground water movement in unconfined
aquifers. As such, under natural conditions,
ground water moves "downhill" until it
reaches the land surface at a spring or
through a seep in the side or bottom of a
river bed, lake, wetland, or other surface
water body. Ground water can also leave the
aquifer via the pumping of a well. The
process of ground water outflowing into a
surface water body or leaving the aquifer
through pumping is called discharge.

Many rivers, lakes, and wetlands rely

heavily on ground water discharge as a
source of water. During times of low
precipitation, these bodies of water would not contain any water at all if it were not for ground water
discharge.

It is important to note that because of discharge, contaminants in ground water can flow into surface
water bodies. This process can make the removal of contamination very complex.

Discharge from confined aquifers occurs in much the same way except that pressure, rather than gravity,
is the driving force in moving ground water to the surface. When the intersection between the aquifer and
the land's surface is natural, the pathway is called a spring. If discharge occurs through a well, that well is
a flowing artesian well.