Difference Between Hydrology and Hydraulics

Hydrology
Hydrology is a vast field of science that deals with water sources, resources, availability of water
through its proper movement and distribution. In numerous sub-braches of hydrology, Surface
hydrology, Hydrometeorology, Drainage basin management and Isotope hydrology are very
important. The overall objects of this branch of scientific study is managing agricultural productivity
through designing irrigation and drainage system as well as providing fresh drinking water.

Hydraulics
We all know that liquid is a form of matter and has some mechanical and chemical properties. Now
the branch of science that discusses mechanical properties of liquids is called hydraulics. Hydraulics
is the branch of science that is discussed both in engineering and applied science just to solve the
matters of power generation through turbines and pumps by using power of pressurized liquids.

Tire Jack

Hydrology and Hydrologic Cycle

Hydrology is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and
other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed
sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is a hydrologist, working within the fields of earth or
environmental science, physical geography, geology or civil and environmental engineering.

Hydrology is subdivided into surface water hydrology, groundwater hydrology (hydrogeology), and
marine hydrology. Domains of hydrology include hydrometeorology, surface hydrology, hydrogeology,
drainage basin management and water quality, where water plays the central role. Oceanography and
meteorology are not included because water is only one of many important aspects within those
fields.

Branches of Hydrology
 Chemical hydrology is the study of the chemical characteristics of water.
 Ecohydrology is the study of interactions between organisms and the hydrologic cycle.
 Hydrogeology is the study of the presence and movement of groundwater.
 Hydroinformatics is the adaptation of information technology to hydrology and water resources
applications.
 Hydrometeorology is the study of the transfer of water and energy between land and water
body surfaces and the lower atmosphere.
 Isotope hydrology is the study of the isotopic signatures of water.
 Surface hydrology is the study of hydrologic processes that operate at or near Earth's surface.
 Drainage basin management covers water-storage, in the form of reservoirs, and flood-
protection.
 Water quality includes the chemistry of water in rivers and lakes, both of pollutants and natural
solutes.
 Limnology is the study of lakes. It covers the biological, chemical, physical, geological, and
other attributes of all inland waters (running and standing waters, both fresh and saline, natural
or man-made).
Not Part of Hydrology
 Oceanography is the more general study of water in the oceans and estuaries.
 Meteorology is the more general study of the atmosphere and of weather, including
precipitation as snow and rainfall.

Applications
 Determining the water balance of a region.
 Determining the agricultural water balance.
 Designing riparian restoration projects.
 Mitigating and predicting flood, landslide and drought risk.
 Real-time flood forecasting and flood warning.
 Designing irrigation schemes and managing agricultural productivity.
 Part of the hazard module in catastrophe modeling.
 Providing drinking water.
 Designing dams for water supply or hydroelectric power generation.
 Designing bridges.
 Designing sewers and urban drainage system.
 Analyzing the impacts of antecedent moisture on sanitary sewer systems.
 Predicting geomorphologic changes, such as erosion or sedimentation.
 Assessing the impacts of natural and anthropogenic environmental change on water
resources.
 Assessing contaminant transport risk and establishing environmental policy guidelines.

Water Cycle or Hydrologic Cycle

The central theme of hydrology is that water circulates throughout the Earth through different
pathways and at different rates. The most vivid image of this is in the evaporation of water from the
ocean, which forms clouds. These clouds drift over the land and produce rain. The rainwater flows
into lakes, rivers, or aquifers. The water in lakes, rivers, and aquifers then either evaporates back to
the atmosphere or eventually flows back to the ocean, completing a cycle. Water changes its state of
being several times throughout this cycle.
The areas of research within hydrology concern the movement of water between its various
states, or within a given state, or simply quantifying the amounts in these states in a given region.
Parts of hydrology concern developing methods for directly measuring these flows or amounts of
water, while others concern modeling these processes either for scientific knowledge or for making
prediction in practical applications.

Hydrologic Cycle

Groundwater
Groundwater hydrology (hydrogeology) considers quantifying groundwater flow and solute transport.
Problems in describing the saturated zone include the characterization of aquifers in terms of flow
direction, groundwater pressure and, by inference, groundwater depth. Measurements here can be
made using a piezometer.
Infiltration
The infiltration of water from precipitation into the soil is an important topic. In some circumstances a
dry soil may not absorb rainfall as readily as a soil that is already wet. Infiltration can sometimes be
measured by an infiltrometer.

Soil Moisture
Soil moisture can be measured in various ways; by capacitance probe, time domain reflectometer or
Tensiometer. Other methods include solute sampling and geophysical methods.

Surface Water Flow

Hydrology considers quantifying surface water flow and solute transport, although the treatment of
flows in large rivers is sometimes considered as a distinct topic of hydraulics or hydrodynamics.
Surface water flow can include flow both in recognizable river channels and otherwise. Methods for
measuring flow once water has reached a river include the stream gauge and tracer techniques.

One of the important areas of hydrology is the interchange between rivers and aquifers.
Groundwater/surface water interactions in streams and aquifers can be complex and the direction of
net water flux (into surface water or into the aquifer) may vary spatially along a stream channel and
over time at any particular location, depending on the relationship between stream stage and
groundwater levels.

Precipitation and Evaporation

In some considerations, hydrology is thought of as starting at the land-atmosphere boundary] and so it
is important to have adequate knowledge of both precipitation and evaporation.

Precipitation can be measured in various ways: disdrometer for precipitation characteristics at a fine
time scale; radar for cloud properties, rain rate estimation, hail and snow detection; Rain gauge for
routine accurate measurements of rain and snowfall; satellite – rainy area identification, rain rate
estimation, land-cover/land-use, soil moisture.

Evaporation is an important part of the water cycle. It is partly affected by humidity, which can be
measured by a sling psychrometer. It is also affected by the presence of snow, hail and ice and can
relate to dew, mist and fog. Hydrology considers evaporation of various forms: from water surfaces;
as transpiration from plant surfaces in natural and agronomic ecosystems. A direct measurement of
evaporation can be obtained using Symon's evaporation pan. Detailed studies of evaporation involve
boundary layer considerations as well as momentum, heat flux and energy budgets.

Remote Sensing
Remote sensing of hydrologic processes can provide information of various types. Sources include
land based sensors, airborne sensors and satellite sensors. Information can include clouds, surface
moisture, vegetation cover.

Water Quality
In hydrology, studies of water quality concern organic and inorganic compounds, and both dissolved
and sediment material. In addition, water quality is affected by the interaction of dissolved oxygen with
organic material and various chemical transformations that may take place. Measurements of water
quality may involve either in-situ methods, in which analyses take place on-site, often automatically,
and laboratory-based analyses and may include microbiological analysis.

Prediction
Observations of hydrologic processes are used to make predictions of the future behaviour of
hydrologic systems (water flow, water quality). One of the major current concerns in hydrologic
research is "Prediction in Ungauged Basins" (PUB), i.e. in basins where no or only very few data
exist.
Watershed
A natural or disturbed system that functions in a manner to collect, store, and
discharge water to a common outlet, such as a larger stream, lake, or ocean. Between
collection and runoff, water is stored. A watershed embraces all its natural and artificial
(manmade) features, including its surface and subsurface features: climate and weather
patterns, geologic and topographic history, soils and vegetation characteristics, and land use.
A watershed may be as small as a house roof’s gutters and downspout, and as large
as the Amazon, Mississippi, Nile, or St. Lawrence River basins. The science embraces a
comprehensive understanding of the basic functions of a watershed as well as awareness
that functions and physical characteristics may vary dependent on watershed size as well
as proximity to neighboring watersheds that may drain into and be part of connected, larger,
and multiple watershed systems. These may be of particular importance in the effective
management of the several natural drainage units.

Watershed Functions are identified in three categories:

1. Hydrological Functions: Collection, Storage, and Discharge
2. Ecological Functions: Chemical reaction sites, and Habitat
3. Response Functions: Attentuation, and Flushing

Concepts of Watershed Hydrology

Provides a fundamental – conceptual – approach to watershed hydrology and provides
for the essential foundation of watershed management by showing context, meaning, and
importance of environmental elements and processes that make up a watershed.
Understanding basic concepts and effective communication constitute the starting point for
successful watershed management.

Infiltration
Is the movement of water across the interface between atmosphere and soil. It is the
single most important process in the hydrologic environment because it interacts with the rate
of rainfall (or snowmelt) to divide surface and subsurface runoff. Impervious surfaces produce
rapid and energy-laden runoff water that carries sediments and other pollutants directly to
streams.
That type of runoff is referred to as a nonpoint source of pollution, generally runoff
that is diffused over the landscape. Such runoff requires restraints, called Best Management
Practices and includes structures or processes that are designed, constructed, and
maintained to prevent or control especially storm water runoff that typically carries dissolved
and suspended materials. In contrast, point source pollutants are end-of-the-pipe outfalls
generated by waste treatment and industrial plants.

Watershed management
Is the planned manipulation of one or more factors of the natural or disturbed drainage
to effect a desired change in or maintain a desired condition of the water resource. Since the
watershed includes the particular elements present, each is unique, and requires individual
attention to the peculiarities of that particular unit of land. Watershed management begins
with understanding basic concepts and the essential communication with all parties
legitimately interested in the development or maintenance of watershed functions and values.