INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGIST
HYDROLOGY A hydrologist is a scientist who studies
water in various forms and its interaction
with the environment. Here is an
HYDROLOGY
overview of what a hydrologist does in
Hydrology is the study of water in the bullet form:
environment, focusing on its distribution,
• Specialization: Focuses on the
movement, and management both on
movement, distribution, and quality of
and below the earth’s surface. It plays a
water in the atmosphere, on the Earth's
critical role in understanding the water
surface, and underground.
cycle, which includes processes like
precipitation, evaporation, infiltration, • Water Cycle: Investigates the
runoff, and groundwater movement. processes of the hydrological cycle,
including precipitation, evaporation,
• Water Cycle
infiltration, and runoff.
• Water Resources
• Environmental Studies: Examines the
• Drainage Basin Sustainability effects of human activities, such as
construction, agriculture, and pollution,
on water systems.
HYDROLOGY IN ENGINEERING
• Water Resource Management:
Hydrology plays a crucial role in various Assesses water availability and
engineering disciplines, particularly in develops strategies to manage water
designing and managing water-related resources sustainably.
infrastructure like dams, bridges,
• Flood Control: Studies flood risks and
drainage systems, and flood control
designs measures to mitigate their
mechanisms. Engineers use
impact.
hydrological principles to predict water
behavior and its impact on • Water Quality Testing: Monitors the
infrastructure, ensuring the safety and quality of water for human consumption,
functionality of these systems agriculture, and ecological health.
1) Planning, design, and operation of • Groundwater Studies: Evaluates
engineering projects for the control and aquifers and groundwater flow to inform
use of water resource usage and conservation.
2) Flood Risk Management and flood • Modeling & Forecasting: Uses
control analysis computer models to predict water flow,
flood patterns, and the impacts of
3) Frequency analysis of occurrence of
climate change on water systems.
extremes in the cycle
• Interdisciplinary Work: Collaborates
with engineers, environmental scientists,
policymakers, and urban planners.
• Fieldwork & Data Collection: Conducts like concrete and asphalt, reducing
surveys, collects water samples, and infiltration and increasing surface runoff.
uses equipment to measure water
• Consequence: Increased runoff leads
properties.
to higher risks of flooding, reduced
Hydrologists play a critical role in groundwater recharge, and urban
ensuring water security, managing waterlogging.
natural resources, and protecting
2.Agriculture: Depletes water resources,
ecosystems.
disrupts local cycles.
• Impact: Agricultural activities divert
The hydrologic cycle commonly called large volumes of water for irrigation and
“water cycle” is a continuous process often involve deforestation.
that moves water through the Earth's
• Consequence: Overuse of water
atmosphere, surface, and subsurface. It
resources depletes rivers and aquifers,
is crucial for ecosystems, climate
while deforestation reduces transpiration
regulation, and human activities. Human
and disrupts local precipitation patterns.
actions, however, significantly affect this
cycle. 3.Climate Change: Alters evaporation
and precipitation patterns.
• Impact: Human-induced greenhouse
COMPONENTS OF HYDROLOGIC
gas emissions alter global temperatures.
CYCLE
• Consequence: Warmer climates
• Evaporation and Transpiration: Water
intensify evaporation, shift precipitation
evaporates from oceans, lakes, and
patterns, and increase the frequency of
rivers and transpires from plants into the
extreme weather events like droughts
atmosphere.
and floods.
• Condensation and Precipitation: Water
4.Damming and Diversion: Disrupts
vapor cools and condenses to form
natural flow and ecosystems.
clouds, eventually falling back to Earth
as rain, snow, or other forms of • Impact: Construction of dams and
precipitation. water diversion projects for hydropower
and irrigation.
• Infiltration and Runoff: Precipitated
water either infiltrates into the ground, • Consequence: Alters natural river flow,
replenishing groundwater, or flows over disrupts aquatic ecosystems, and affects
land as runoff, contributing to rivers, sediment transport.
lakes, and eventually the oceans.
5.Pollution: Contaminates water bodies.
1.Urbanization: Reduces infiltration,
increases runoff. • Impact: Industrial, agricultural, and
domestic waste pollutes water bodies.
• Impact: Urban areas replace natural
landscapes with impervious surfaces
• Consequence: Contaminated water Function: Watersheds store water for
affects ecosystems, human health, and domestic, agricultural, and other uses.
the quality of water available for use. They also help prevent landslides and
floods and there are a total of 142
watersheds as per DENR.
MITIGATION AND SUSTAINABLE
Management: The National Power
PRACTICES
Corporation (NPC) manages some
1.Rainwater Harvesting: Capturing and watersheds in the Philippines. The
storing rainwater to enhance NPC's Watershed Management
groundwater recharge. Department protects and rehabilitates
watersheds to support power
2.Sustainable Agriculture: Adopting generation, irrigation, and domestic
water-efficient irrigation techniques like water supply.
drip irrigation.
3.Urban Planning: Designing green
infrastructure to reduce runoff and SOLAR RADIATION and EARTH’s
promote infiltration. ENERGY BALANCE
4.Pollution Control: Implementing stricter The main factor affecting the Hydrology
regulations to minimize water is the SUN
contamination.
ALBEDO: The portion of the incoming
5.Global Cooperation: Collaborating on radiation reflected and scattered back to
international agreements to address space
climate change and water resource
management.
WEATHER AND CLIMATE
Weather: The state of the atmosphere
RIVER BASIN OR WATERSHED
with respect to wind, temperature,
an area of land that drains all the cloudiness, moisture, pressure, etc.
streams and rainfall to a common outlet
Climate: The weather conditions
• River Basin - all the water drains to a prevailing in an area in general or over a
large river. long period
• Watershed - a smaller area of land that
drains to a smaller stream, lake or
FACTORS AFFECTING THE
wetland.
WEATHER AND CLIMATE
• There are many smaller watersheds
Temperature - hotness or coldness
within a river basin
Humidity - amount of vapor in the air
Pressure - ascending and descending of air
THE PHILIPPINE WATERSHEDS
CLIMATE IN THE PHILIPPINES
