TUTORIAL 1 - HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
1. Runoff amounting to 0.625 cm results from a storm on a drainage area of 129.5 km2.
Convert this amount to cubic metres. [809375m3]
2. 1.875 cm of runoff is equivalent to how many m3 if the drainage area is 64.75 km2?
[1214062.5m3]
2
3. Rain falls over an area of 2023500m at a rate 0.625 cm/day, this amount is equivalent to
how many
(a) metres per second? [540 m/s]
3
(b) m /s? [1.09 x 109m3/s]
4. Assume you are dealing with a vertical walled reservoir having a surface area of 500,000
m2 and that an inflow of 1.0 m3/sec occurs. How many hours will it take to raise the
reservoir level by 30 cm? [42 hours]
5. During a 24 hour time period, the inflow to a 2023500m2 vertical walled reservoir was
2.832 m3/s. During the same time interval, evaporation was 1.25 cm.
(a) Was there a rise or fall in surface elevation? [rise]
(b) How much was it? Give the answer in centimetres. [11 cm/day]
6. The annual evaporation from a lake is 62.5 cm. If the lake’s surface area is 12141000m2,
what would be the daily evaporation rate in m3 and in mm?
[1.71 mm and 2078.94 m3]
7. A flow of 0.2832 m3/s enters a 2.59 km2 vertical walled reservoir. Find the time required
to raise the reservoir level by 7.5 cm. [68.59 sec]
8. A drainage basin has an area of 11838.89km2. If the average annual runoff is 145 m3/s
and the average rainfall is 53 cm, estimate the evapotranspiration losses for the area in 1
year. How reliable do you think this estimate is? [1.70 x 109m3/s]
9. The storage in a reach of a river is 19700 m3 at a given time. Determine the storage 1
hour later if the average rates of inflow and outflow during the hour are 20 and 18m3/s
respectively. [26,900m3]
10. Rain falls at an average intensity of 0.5 cm/hr over a 2428200 m2 area for 3 days.
Determine
(a) the average rate of rainfall in m3/s [337.25 m3/s]
3
(b) the 3day volume of rainfall in m [29138400 m3]
11. The evaporation rate from the surface of 2190000 m2 lake is 123300 m3/d. Determine the
depth change in the lake during a 365-day year if the inflow to the lake is 7.10m3/s. Is the
change in lake depth an increase or decrease? [81.69 m/year
12. Over a two-month period of time, a catchment in the Industrial area of Maseru is
expected to receive 254 mm of rain with an expected evapotranspiration estimated at
85mm and that lost to groundwater storage of 20mm. There is no other significant
storage in the watershed.
(a) What is the expected runoff or rainfall excess (in m3) to a reservoir storage area if
the catchment area is 65 km2? [9.685x106)
(b) How many people can be serviced by this water if the per person per day water
use rate is 160 litres? [60531250]
13. Write an equation of a water budget for a parking lot that has an on-site storage. Using
common notation for precipitation volume, rainfall excess(runoff), and storage volume,
show an equation to solve for rainfall excess.
14. If the rainfall on a watershed is 3cm, and the rainfall excess is 21780m3, what is an
estimate of the runoff coefficient if the watershed area is 4 km2? [0.1815]
15. Estimate the amount of depression storage (in mm and in m3) in a 6 km2 parking lot using
the following rainfall and discharge data. The discharge data were measured at the only
outlet in the parking lot. Rainfall = 0.88cm, rainfall excess = 5 m3/s average for one hour,
the total duration of runoff. [5.8mm, 34800m3]
16. It rains 3.0 cm on a 20km2 watershed. If we assume that 30% of the watershed area is a
lake whose level is so low that it does not contribute to rainfall excess and that lakes are
initial abstraction,
(a) What is the volume of rainfall excess in m3? [382000]
(b) What is the volume of infiltration on the soil if it absorbs approximately 1.0 cm?
[ 4200 ]
17. Estimate the depth of depression storage (in cm and in m3) for a 12km2 parking lot given
site specific measures for discharge and rainfall. The rainfall volume was 0.90 cm and the
average runoff rate was 10 m3/s with a duration of one hour. [87cm,1.044x106 m3 ]
18. Average runoff from a 6.7 km2 parking lot in Leribe, Lesotho, was measured as 20 m3/s
for a 2 hour period of time. If the depression storage were 0.08 cm, what if the volume of
rainfall (express your answer in cm of water)? [2.23cm]
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