Definition of Hydrology

Hydrology is defined as the science behind the origin, circulation, and distribution of water on the surface of the earth and its atmosphere. Ancient civilizations heavily depends on the availability of water. If the availability of water is high, then civilization will succeed and crumpled, when water got depleted afterwards.

Hydrology mainly deals with the following:

Estimation of water resources
Study of processes such as precipitation, runoff, evapotranspiration, and their interaction.
Study of problems involving floods & droughts and strategies on how to combat them.

HISTORY OF HYDROLOGY

It was along the Indus in Pakistan, Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Hwang Ho in China, and the Nile in Egypt where the first hydraulic engineers created canals, leeves, dams, and subsurface water conduits and wells as early as 5000-6000 years ago. In nearly 3000 B.C., gauges were installed to measure the flow of Nile River

During the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci and Bernard Palissy gave the concept of the water cycle. da Vinci gave the better understanding of flow in open channels and Palissy stated that the rainfall was the only source of water in spring and rivers.

Leonardo da Vinci

Bernard Palissy

Modern science of hydrology began with the studies of Perrault, Marriot and Holly in the 17th century. Perrault presented the concept of rainfall measurement by knowing the drainage area through the water balance technique.

Bernoulli's equation

Advances in the 18th century included the Bernoulli piezometer and the Bernoulli's equation and the Pitot tube. This have brought numerous advances in hydraulic theory and instrumentation

In the 19th century, developments in groundwater hydrology have been introduced globally, including Darcy's law, the Dupuit Thiem well formula, and Hagen Poiseuille's capillary flow equation.

In 1987, Jacqui postulated the three stages of development in the study of hydrology.

Stage of geographical hydrology

Establishment of hydrological cycle and the concept of water balance

Stage of engineering hydrology

Design of control structures and quantitative analysis of hydrological phenomena

Stage of social development

It refers to the stage wherein water demand is more and large scale of water resources is occurring. Development of new techniques brought a new stage of water resources involving resource analysis and management

VIDEO PRESENTATION LINK: https://youtu.be/Sds3dB-hA8E

REFLECTION:

Hydrology refers to the scientific study of the movement and distribution of water on the earth's surface. It is vitally important in various aspects especially in the sustainability of water resources due to increasing water demands caused by overpopulation. As Civil Engineers, it is necessary to attain and grasp the knowledge and expertise on how to monitor water resources and their quality. Aside from that, civil engineers under the specialization of water resources engineering must look for ways on how to find potable water supply for cities and towns, designing irrigation systems, and to ensure the structural integrity of water infrastructures for flood routing and control. Water is the most essential element on Earth. For this reason, qualitative appreciation and quantitative evaluation of hydrologic processes should be of utmost importance to every civil engineer.

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