Chapter 3

Abstractions from precipitation

3.1 Introduction
All abstractions from precipitation (losses runoff), due to
• Evaporation
• Transpiration
• Infiltration
• Surface detention
• Storage
Infiltration process is major abstraction and important process in
 Ground water recharge
 Increasing in soil moisture storage
3.2 Evaporation Process
Evaporation is the process in which the liquid changes to the gaseous state
at the free surface, below the boiling point through the transfer of heat
energy.

Rate of evaporation id dependent on

i. Vapour pressures at the water surface and air above
ii. Air and water temperatures
iii. Wind speed
iv. Atmospheric pressure
v. Quality of water
vi. Size of the water body
Vapour pressure
• Rate of evaporation is proportional to the difference between the saturation
vapour pressure at the water temperature, ew and the actual vapour pressure
in the air ,ea

Temperature
• Rate of evaporation increase with an increase in the water temperature

Wind
• Rate of evaporation increase with the wind speed up to a critical speed
• High speed turbulent winds are needed to cause maximum rate of
evaporation
Atmospheric pressure
• Decrease in the barometric pressure, as in high altitudes, increase
evaporation

Soluble salts
• Solute is dissolved in water, the vapour pressure of the solution is less
than that of pure water and causes reduction in the rate of evaporation

Heat storage in water bodies

• Less evaporation in summer and more evaporation in winter
3.3 Evaporimeters
Estimation of evaporation is important in hydrologic problems (planning and
operation of reservoirs and irrigation systems)
The amount of water evaporated from water surface is estimated by
i. Using evaporimeter data
ii. Empirical evaporation equations
iii. Analytical methods

Types of evaporimeters
Evaporimeters are water-containing pans which are exposed to the
atmosphere and the loss of water by evaporation measured in them at regular
intervals
Pan coefficient

Evaporation station
3.4 Empirical evaporation equations
• Dalton Type equation

• Meyer’s Formula

• Rohwer’s Formula
3.5 Analytical methods of evaporation estimation
The analytical methods for the determination of lake evaporation
• Water-budget method
• Energy-balance method
• Mass-transfer method

Water-budget method
• Simplest method and least reliable
• Involves writing the hydrological continuity equation for lake and
determining the evaporation or estimation of other variables
where P = daily precipitation
All quantities are in units of
volume (m3) or depth (mm )

Energy-balance method
Application of law of conservation of energy. Available energy is determined by
considering the incoming energy, outgoing energy and energy storage in water
body over a time interval
Mass-transfer method
• This method is based on theories of turbulent mass transfer in
boundary to calculate the mass water vapour transfer from surface to
the surrounding atmosphere
3.7 Transpiration
• Transpiration is the process by which water leaves the body of a living
plant and reach the atmosphere as water vapour.
• Factors affecting transpiration are
• atmospheric vapour pressure
• Temperature
• Wind
• Light intensity
• Characteristics of the plant (root & leaf systems)
• Transpiration is essentially confined to day light hour & rate of
transpiration depends upon the growth periods of plant
• Evaporation continues all through the day and night although the rates
are different
3.8 Evapotranspiration
• While transpiration take place, the land area in which plants stand also lose moisture by
the evaporation of water from soil and water bodies
• In hydrology and irrigation, evaporation & transpiration is considered as
evapotranspiration
• Consumptive use is used to denote this loss by evapotranspiration
• Sufficient moisture is always available, potential evapotranspiration (PET) (no longer
critically depends on soil & plant, but depend on climatic factors)
• Real evapotranspiration in a specific situation, actual evapotranspiration (AET)
• Field capacity is max quantity of water that soil can retain against the
force of gravity
• Permanent wilting point is the moisture contents of soil at which the
moisture is no longer available in sufficient quantity to sustain the
plants
• Field capacity & Permanent wilting point depend on soil characteristics
• The difference between these two moisture content is called available
water, moisture available for plant growth
• Water supply to plant adequate, AET = PET
• Water supply < PET, AET/PET < 1
• Decrease the ratio AET/PET depend on soil type & drying rate
3.9 Measurement of Evapotranspiration
• Measurement of Evapotranspiration can be carried out
• By using Lysimeters
• By the use of field plots
3.10 Evapotranspiration Equations
Example 3.2
Reference crop evapotranspiration (ET 0)
• In irrigation, PET is extensively used in calculation of crop water
requirements
• FAO recommends a reference (crop) evapotranspiration denoted as
(ET0)
• FAO recommends a method called FAO Penman-Monteith method to
estimate (ET0) by using radiation, air temperature, air humidity and
wind speed data
• The potential evapotranspiration of any other crop (ET) is calculated
by multiplying the reference crop evapotranspiration by a coefficient k
Empirical formulae
A large number of empirical formulae are available for estimation
of PET based on climatological data. These are not universally
applicable to all climatic areas. They should be used with caution in
areas different from those for which they were derived
Largely used by irrigation engineers to calculate the water
requirements of crops
Actual evapotranspiration (AET)
Obtained through a process water budgeting and accounting for
soil-plant-atmosphere intersection.

Procedure
1. Using data, TE0 is calculated
2. Potential crop evapotranspiration ETc is calculated
3. Actual evapotranspiration (ETa) at any time t is calculated
 Initial loss
• Major abstraction is from the initial process
• Two process

Interception process
Initial loss
Depression storage

• Abstraction represents the quantity of storage that must be satisfied

before overland runoff begins
3.13 Interception
 When it rains over a catchment, not all the precipitation falls directly
onto the ground
 A part of it may be caught by vegetation and subsequently evaporated
 Volume of water so caught is called interception
Three routes
1. Retained by vegetation as surface storage and returned to the
atmosphere by evaporation (interception loss)
2. Drip off the plant to join the ground surface or surface flow
(throughfall)
3. Rainwater may run along leaves and branches and down the stem to
reach ground surface (stemflow)
3.14 Depression storage
 When the precipitation of a storm reaches the ground, it must
first fill up all depression before it can flow over the surface
 Volume of water trapped in these depression is called depression
storage
Depression storage depends on
i. Type of soil
ii. Condition of the surface reflecting the amount and nature of
depression
iii. Slope of the catchment
iv. Antecedent precipitation (measure of soil moisture)
3.15 Infiltration
 The flow of water into the ground through the soil
surface
 The distribution of soil moisture within the soil profile
during the infiltration processes illustrated.
 Water is applied at the surface of soil, four moisture
zones in the soil
1. Saturated zone
2. Transition zone
3. Transmission zone: moisture content is above field
capacity but below saturation. (unsaturated flow &
fairly uniform moisture content)
4. Wetting zone: soil moisture will be at or near field
capacity & moisture content decrease with the
depth.
 If water is poured into the container a part of
it will go into the container and a part
overflows
 The container can hold only a fixed quantity
and when it is full no more flow into the
container can take place
 Two important aspects
 The maximum rate at which the ground can
absorb water (infiltration capacity)
 The volume of water that the ground can
hold (field capacity)
The infiltrated water may
contribute to the ground
water discharge in
addition to increasing the
soil moisture, the process
can be schematically
modelled as wherein two
situations viz low
intensity rainfall and high
intensity rainfall are
considered
 3.16 Infiltration Capacity
The maximum rate at a given soil at a given time can absorb water is defined as
infiltration capacity. It is designated as fp and is expressed in units of cm/h.
The actual rate of infiltration f
f = fp when i ≥ fp
f = i when i < fp
Where i = intensity of rainfall. Infiltration capacity of soil is high at the
beginning of a storm and has an potential decay as the time elapses
Infiltration capacity of an area is dependent on
 characteristics of the soil (texture, porosity & hydraulic conductivity)
 condition of the soil surface
 current moisture content
 vegetative cover
 soil temperature
3.17 Measurement of Infiltration
Infiltration characteristic of a soil can be estimated by
• Using flooding type infiltrometers
• Measurement of subsidence of free water in a large basin or pond
• Rainfall simulator
• Hydrograph analysis
 3.18 Modeling infiltration capacity

Cumulative infiltration capacity

Fp is defined as the accumulation
of infiltration volume over a time
period since the process
Estimation of parameters of infiltration models
3.19 Classification of infiltration capacities

Four infiltration classes

 3.20 Infiltration Indices

The defined average infiltration rate is called

Two types of indices: 𝜑-index and w-

infiltration index

index
𝜑 -Index
 The average rainfall above which the rainfall volume is equal to the runoff volume
 Derived from the rainfall hyetograph of resulting runoff volume

If the rainfall intensity is < 𝜑, infiltration rate = rainfall intensity

 Initial loss is considered as infiltration

If the rainfall intensity is > 𝜑, the difference between the rainfall &


infiltration represents the runoff volume



The amount of rainfall in excess of index is called rainfall excess

(effective rainfall)
