Purpose and Background

With knowledge of the fundamentals of hydrology, the participant will be presented with how these fundamentals are used in hydrologic studies and the relative importance of each phenomenon.  The transformation of the rainfall to a runoff hydrograph for use in hydraulic studies is an important part of a hydrologic study and this webinar shows these steps in non-technical terms. This webinar discusses these steps using two methods for determining runoff with appropriate illustrations.  In addition, this webinar presents how the hydrograph changes shape as it goes downstream.

Primary Discussion Topics

• How rainfall is lost into the ground
• The important features of a hydrograph
• Direct runoff methods
• Hydrologic Soil groups and how they are used in runoff calculations

Learning Outcomes

• Define the parts and terms of hydrographs
• Explain how water goes into the ground or becomes runoff
• Discuss plusses and minuses of different direct runoff methods
• Describe the top 4 types of hydrologic losses and their importance to determining direct runoff
• Summarize the relationship between baseflow, direct runoff and the hydrograph

Webinar Benefits

• Be able to discuss the features of a hydrograph with other members of the project team
• Understand the overall procedures used to go from rainfall to hydrograph volume and shape
• Learn about how the results of various runoff methods differ and why
• Find out the reasons that a hydrograph changes shape and peak as it goes downstream
• Discover how the shape of a watershed affects the shape of a hydrograph

Intended Audience

• Water resources planners
• River biologists, botanists, etc.
• Economists that work with water resources engineers
• Stream restoration professionals
• Construction contractors that work in rivers

Webinar Outline

• Precipitation
• Infiltration (losses)
• Transformation (direct runoff to hydrograph shape)
• Baseflow
• River Reach Routing
• Reach gain or loss

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