1.

WATERSHED CONCEPTS
The watershed is the basic unit used in most hydrologic calculations relating to the water balance
or computation of rainfall runoff. The watershed boundary defines a contiguous area, such that
the net rainfall or runoff over that area will contribute water to the outlet (fig 2). A watershed
boundary can be drawn from higher to lower elevation in a direction perpendicular to the
elevation contours (fig 1/2b). Rainfall that falls outside the watershed boundary will not contribute
to runoff at the outlet.
Hydrologists are most often concerned with the amount of surface runoff generated within a
watershed that becomes stream flow for a given input rainfall pattern. The main watershed
characteristics that affect hydrologic response include the size, shape, slope, soil type, and storage
within a watershed area.
The issues are described in some detail in this chapter and form the basis for more detailed
analyses in later chapters. The hydrograph, as presented earlier, is a plot of flow rate vs. time for a
given location within a stream and represents the main hydrologic response function. Several
example watersheds were depicted in fig1-2 and a typical watershed with subareas depicted is
shown in fig2-1a.
Watersheds are often characterized by one main channel and by tributaries that drain into a main
channel at one or more confluence points. The subarea of a tributary can be delineated by starting
at the confluence and drawing a boundary along the subarea ridge line. Larger watershed can have
many subareas that contribute runoff to a single outlet. An important watershed parameter is
drainage area A, since it reflects the volume of water that can be generated from rainfall.
Watershed length measures are depicted for subarea E in fig.2-1a. Channel length L is usually
measured along the main channel from the outlet to the basin divide. Length to centroid (center
of mass) of the watershed. These two length parameters help determine watershed shape and are
used extensively in unit hydrograph calculations discussed later (section 2.5).
Another important physiographic parameter is channel slope S or watershed slope So, which
reflects the rate of change of elevation with distance along the main channel or within an overland
flow area. Both slope measures are used in performing unit hydrograph, flood routing, and time-
of- travel calculations. Slope estimates are used in several of the unit hydrograph methods
described later in this chapter. Field surveys or topographic maps, either paper or electronic, can
be determined.
Soil types in a watershed are critical, as they determine infiltration rates that can occur for the
area. Soil properties can vary significantly across a watershed area, and the USDA natural
resources conservation service (NRCS) in responsible for developing soils maps to provide
information on soil type, soil texture, and hydrologic soil groups. The three main soil classes are
characterized by particle diameter d in mm, for sand, silt, and clay. Typical values are listed in table
8-2. Soil texture is important in determining water-holding capacity and infiltration capacity of a
soil layer. Thus, sands generally infiltrate water at a greater rate than do silts or clays. Of course,
there can be mixtures of sizes, which can complicate the overall soil structure. The NRCS classified
thousands of soils on the basis of runoff potential and grouped them into four hydrologic soil
groups, A,B, C, and D. type A infiltrates at the highest rate, D at the lowest. The relationship of soil
type to infiltration capacity was presented in detail in sections 1.8 and 1.9.
Land use and land cover, in the form of parking lots and urban development, can have profound
effects on watershed response. In fact, many of the methods described later were developed to
address urban development impacts in a watershed. For example, the RATIONAL METHOD [see
Eq.(2-1)] uses a coefficient C to reflect the runoff potential of a watershed. The value of C for
commercial (0.75) is greater than residential (0.3), which is greater than forested (0.15), indicating
that more intense development generates greater rates of runoff for the same rainfall. Urban
development is also characterized by the percent imperviousness, or paved area, which can range
from 50% to 90% for commercial compared to 20% to 40% for residential areas. Several of the unit
hydrograph methods (section 2.5) contain parameters that relate to urban or development
effects, such as the SCS method (see table 2-1).
Main channel and tributary characteristics can affect stream flow response in a variety of ways. As
presented in chapters 4 and 7, open-channel flow factors such as slope, cross-sectional area,
Manning roughness coefficient n, presence of obstructions, meander pattern, and channel
condition can all contribute. Effects of channel geomorphology on flow patterns are covered in
more detail in textbooks on geology and fluid mechanics. Flood-plain analysis and floodplain
mapping, presented in chapter 7, 10, 12, are based largely on an understanding of the nature of
channel geomorphology as it relates to overland flow processes, which produces runoff that must
be moved downstream by the channel. The shape, slope, and character of a floodplain will
determine the volume and flow rate of water that can be safely handled during excessive events.
Flood problems occur in a watershed when either too much water is generated from a rainfall
event or the channel is inadequate or not properly maintained to handle excessive overland flows.
Physiographic characteristics frequently used in hydrologic studies have been compiled for the
USGS-EPA National Urban Studies Program (USGS, 1980) and are summarized below. Land use
characteristics should be updated during the course of a hydrologic study to account for changes
occurring in a watershed. Such physiographic information can be developed from maps describing
land use, soils, topographic, and storm drainage as well as from aerial photography. The list of
physiographic, soils, land use, and other characteristics for the EPA Nationwide Urban Runoff
Program is shown in Jennings (1982). The length and complexity of the list clearly indicates the
difficulties involved in compiling and analyzing watershed information for hydrologic analysis.
Fortunately, many advances in recent years in the area of geographic information systems (GIS),
with the linkage of electronic maps and databases, have allowed this process to be greatly
improved in time requirements and overall accuracy, as described in chapter 10. A selected list of
parameters follows below.
1. total drainage area, in square miles
2. Impervious area in percentage of drainage area
3. Average basin slope determined and main conveyance slope at points 10% and 85% along
the stream from the outlet to the divide
4. Hydraulic conductivity of the A horizon of the soil profile, in inches per hour
5. Hydrologic soil group and water capacity for soils (A, B, C, or D) according to NRCS
methodology
6. Land use of the basins as a percentage of drainage area including
i) Rural and pasture
ii) Agricultural
iii) Low-density residential (0.5 to 0.2 acres per dwelling)
iv) Medium-density residential (3 to 8 dwelling per acre)
v) High-density residential (9 or more dwelling per acre)
vi) Commercial
vii) Industrial
viii) Under construction (bare surface)
ix) Idle or vacant land
x) Wetland
xi) Parkland
7. Detention storage, in ac-ft of storage, and detention storage in ac-ft/acre of basin
8. Percent of watershed upstream from detention storage
9. Percent of area drained by a storm sewer system
2. RAINFALL-RUNOFF
Hydrologists are concerned with the amount of surface runoff generated in a watershed for a
given rainfall pattern, and attempts have been made to analyze historical rainfall, infiltration,
evaporation, and stream flow data to develop predictive relationships. Both statistical and
theoretical approaches have been used in an effort to develop predictive tools for the analysis of
both small and large watershed areas. Variations in factors such as antecedent rainfall, soil
moisture, infiltration rate and volume, and seasonal runoff response have made development of
such relationships difficult.
When rainfall exceeds the infiltration rate at the surface, excess water begins to accumulate as
surface storage in small depressions governed by surface topography. As depression storage
begins to fill, overland flow or sheet flow may begin to occur in portions of a watershed, and the
flow quickly concentrates into small rivulets or channels, which can then flow into larger streams.
Contributions to a stream can also come from the shallow subsurface via interflow or base flow
(from bank storage), and contribute to the overall discharge hydrograph from a rainfall event.
The USGS as well as local flood control agencies are responsible for extensive hydrologic gaging
networks within the United States, and data gathered on an hourly or daily basis can be plotted for
a given watershed to related rainfall to direct runoff for a given year. Annual rainfall-runoff
relationships remove seasonal effects and other storage effects, so that the relationship of rainfall
minus loses vs runoff can often be approximated by a linear regression line. The USGS developed a
series of reports and relationship for predicting flood-peak discharges for urban and rural areas in
the UNIT STATES. Some of these are reviewed in chapter 3. Simple rainfall-runoff relationships
should be used in water resources planning studies only where approximate water balances are
required. A detailed knowledge of the magnitude and time distribution of both rainfall and runoff
or streamflow is required for most flood control or floodplain studies, especially in urban
watersheds. Many websites listed in appendix E support USGS streamflow data from most of the
stations in the United States.
One of the simplest rainfall-runoff formulas, which is often used for drainage design purposes in
small basins, is the rational method (chapters 6 and 9), which allows for the prediction of peak
flow Q
p
(cfs) from the formula



Q
p
=CiA (2-1)
Where
C=runoff coefficient, variable with land use,
i=intensity of rainfall of chosen frequency for a duration equal to time of concentration t
c
(in/hr),
t
c
=equilibrium time for rainfall occurring at the most remote portion of the basin to contribute
flow at the outlet (min or hr),
A=area of watershed (acres).
The rational method is usually attributed to Kuichling (1889) and Lloyd-Davies (1906), but
Mulvaney (1851) clearly outlined the procedure in a paper in Ireland. The underlying assumption is
that a steady, uniform rainfall rate will produce maximum runoff when all parts of a watershed are
contributing to outflow, a condition that is met after the time of concentration t
c
has elapsed.
Time of concentration t
c
is defined as the time for a wave of water to propagate from the most
distant point in the basin to the outlet (see section 2.4). Runoff is assumed to reach a maximum
when the rainfall intensity lasts as long as the t
c
. The runoff coefficient is assumed constant during
a storm event. More details can be found in later chapters and in McCuen (2005).
The rational method is often used in small urban areas to design drainage systems, including pipe
systems, culverts, and open channels. Chapters 6 and 9 present detailed discussion and examples
of the rational method applied to small watershed areas. Larger watersheds (greater than a few
square miles) usually require a consideration of the entire hydrograph because timing and storage
issues become important, and the rational method is usually limit to basins less than a few
hundred acres in size.
The rational method been extended to include nonuniform rainfall and irregular areas through the
use of time-area method, which involve a time area curve indicating the distribution of travel
times from different parts of the basin (see section 2.3). The time-area method was the forerunner
of the concept of the storm hydrograph. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to the
development of hydrograph theory and the application of hydrograph methods for the analysis of
complex rainfalls on large watersheds. The methods are quite general and can be applied to any
watershed that has been characterized for size, slope, shape, storage, soil type, and land use.
A number of investigators have attempted to develop rainfall-runoff relationships that could apply
to any watershed under any set of conditions. However, these methods must be used with
ditionrainfall. The soil conservation service (SCS, 1964, 1075, 1986) presented a useful set of
rainfall-runoff curves that also include land cover, soil type, and initial losses (abstraction) in
determining direct runoff (section 2.5). a number of unit hydrograph methods are presented in
section 2.5, and Snyders method, the TC & R method, and the SCS methods are most often used
based on their simplicity and relative accuracy under a variety of watershed conditions. Kinematic
wave methods have received attention in recent years with the advent of distributed models
within a GIS framework (chapter 11).
2.3 HYDROGRAPH
A hydrograph (flow rate in cfs or m
3
/s plotted vs. time) results from a combination of
physiographic and meteorological conditions in a watershed and represents the
integrated effects of climate, hydrologic losses, surface runoff, and base flow. Figure 1-12
shows the characteristic shape of typical hydrographs from developed and natural
watershed areas. Meteorological factors that influence the hydrograph shape and
volume of runoff include (1) rainfall intensity and pattern, (2) area distribution of rainfall
over the basin, and (3) size and duration of the storm event. Physiographic or watershed
factors of importance include (1) size and shape of the drainage area, (2) slope of the
land surface and the main channel, (3) channel morphology and drainage type, (4) soil
types and distribution, and (5) storage detention in the watershed (Sherman, 1932).
Human factors include the effects of land use and land cover.
Figure 2-1a shows a typical watershed area that receives rainfall input. During a given
rainfall, hydrologic losses such as infiltration, depression storage, and detention storage
must be satisfied prior to the onset of surface runoff (figure 2-1b). As the depth of
surface detention increases, overland flow may occur in portions of a basin. Water
eventually moves into small rivulets, small channels, and finally the main stream of a
watershed. Some of the water that infiltrates the soil may move laterally through upper
soil zones until it enters a stream channel. This portion of runoff is called interflow or
subsurface stormflow.
Figure 2-1b illustrates the distribution of a uniform rainfall, where it can be seen that
after some time, direct runoff begins to increase as a rising limb and levels off at the peak
outflow. Eventually runoff from storage contributes to the overall response of the
watershed. Finally, the hydrograph recedes to a low value of base flow or returns to zero.
Note that the time duration of rainfall is usually much shorter than the time base of the
hydrograph. An actual rainfall and runoff sequence is depicted in figure 2-1c for little
cypress creek in Houston for several periods of intense rainfall.
An interesting concept is that of uniform rainfall occurring for an extended time over
small watershed. If rainfall continues at a constant intensity for a very long period,
storage is filled at some point, and then an equilibrium discharge can be reached such
that inflow and outflow are equal (fig 2-2). The point P indicates the time of
concentration. The condition of equilibrium discharge is seldom observed in nature,
except for very small basins, because of natural variations in rainfall intensity and
duration. This concept is used later when the S-curve is discussed for unit hydrographs in
section 2.4.
Some precipitation may percolate to the water table, usually located 10 to 50 feet below
the ground surface in porous media, and may slowly contribute flow to stream if the
water table intersects the stream channel. Base flow in a natural channel is due to these
contributions from shallow ground water and contributes some flow to a hydrograph. A
simple constant base flow is shown in fig 2-3. In large natural watershed or river basins,
base flow may be a significant fraction of streamflow, while it can often be neglected in
small, urbanized streams where overland flow predominates. Base flow can be separated
from the total storm hydrograph by a number of methods, described later, in order to
derive the direct runoff (DRO) hydrograph.
A typical hydrograph is characterized by (1) a rising limb, (2) a crest segment, and (3) a
recession curve, as shown in fig. 2-3. The inflection point on the falling limb is often
assumed to be point where direct runoff ends. Rainfall excess P
n
is obtained by
subtracting infiltration losses from total storm rainfall (fig. 2-3), while evaporation
can usually