Watershed Boundary

Delineation from
Contour/Topographic Maps
Topographic maps; for example, have a scale
of 1:24,000 (which means that one inch
measured on the map represents 24,000
inches on the ground).
Contour lines represent lines of equal
elevation, which typically is expressed in
terms of meters above mean sea level.
As you imagine water flowing downhill,
imagine it crossing the contour lines
perpendicularly.
The water flow is perpendicular to contour
lines. In the case of the isolated hill, water As the water continues downhill, it flows into
flows down on all sides of the hill. Water progressively larger watercourses and
flows from the top of the saddle or ridge, ultimately into the ocean. Any point on a
watercourse can be used to define a
down each side  watershed.
A general rule of thumb is that topographic lines
always point upstream.
In Fig., for example, the direction of stream flow
is from point A to point B. Ultimately, the highest
point upstream is obtained.
This is the head of the watershed, beyond which
the land slopes away into another watershed. At
each point on the stream the land slopes up on
each side to some high point then down into
another watershed.
Join all of these high points around the stream to
have the watershed boundary. (High points are
generally hill tops, ridge lines, or saddles)
Geographic Information System (GIS) for
Watershed Delineation
• Watershed managers increasingly require information about the
characteristics of watersheds that drain to stream reaches of interest.
• Furthermore, they need this information for multiple watersheds
within states or larger regions.
• Geographic information systems (GIS), coupled with increased spatial
data availability, allow researchers to obtain this information.
• Information obtained from a GIS-based watershed analysis can
include data such as watershed area, watershed climate statistics,
soil/geology types, topographic statistics, hydrology, and land use.
Assignment Research on watershed
Delineation steps in ArcMap & ArcGIS
PRIORITIZATION OF WATERSHEDS
• In a watershed management programme, particularly in case of large
watersheds, it may not be possible to treat the entire area of the
watershed with land treatment measures.
• Identification and selection of few areas or sub-watersheds having
relatively more degradation problem, for development planning and
implementation of conservation activities according to level of need
and status of degradation, are required.
• These few selected areas or sub-watersheds within a large watershed
are called the priority watersheds.
Factors Influencing Prioritizing
Watersheds
• In the face of enormity of degradation problems and constraint of
financial resources coupled with limitation of expertise, a scientific
approach to land resource management calls for an evolution of
suitable methodology for clear identification of critical areas for
treatment.
• Prioritization of areas into very high, high, medium, low and very low
vulnerability helps in addressing the conservation and management
efforts to secure maximum benefit.
Sediment Yield Index (SYI) and Runoff
Potential Index (RPI) Models
The methods used for determining the priority of the sub-watersheds
for treatment from soil erosion and sediment yield point of view are;
(i) reconnaissance surveys,
(ii) soil and land use surveys,
(iii) sediment observations, and
(iv) Remote Sensing methods.
WATER YIELD
• The water yield is defined as the amount of freshwater derived from
unregulated flow (m3s-1) measurements for a given geographic area
over a defined period of time.
• The freshwater flow (yield) is generated from a combination of base
flow, interflow and overland flow originating from groundwater,
precipitation and/or snowpack.
• The flow rate encompasses the hydrologic processes (for example,
interception, infiltration and evapotranspiration), the state of water
storage (for example, lakes, aquifers, snowpack and soil moisture)
within a drainage basin, and is influenced by climatic (for example,
temperature) and physiographic (for example, topography) variables
of the watershed or basin.
Benefits of Water Yield Assessment
The benefits of water yield assessment can be listed as below

• The assessment of water yield provides reliable information on availability of water resources (surface and ground
water) to plan their extraction and uses.

• It integrates the land processes affecting the water movement above and below the ground surface and thus
reflects the management of watershed physical properties required to improve the water yield.

• It provides information of interactions between head watershed to the tail watershed and thus provides a view on
whether to develop conservation measures at head watershed to the tail watershed.

• It provides information on water availability at a particular location of watershed as annual, seasonal and at even
smaller time scale. This can be well used for planning the water use activities.

• Provides an idea on surface and ground water interaction in the watershed.

Water Balance
• Water balance calculations can help determine if a drainage area is
large enough, or has the right characteristics, to support a permanent
pool of water during average or extreme conditions.
• When in doubt, a water balance calculation may be advisable for
retention pond and wetland design.

Water balance is defined as the change in where:

volume of the permanent pool resulting Δ= “change in”
V = pond volume
from the total inflow “sum of”
minus the total outflow (actual or I = Inflows
potential): O = Outflows
Water Balance
• The inflows consist of rainfall, runoff, and baseflow into the pond.
• The outflows consist of infiltration, evaporation, evapotranspiration,
and surface overflow out of the pond or wetland. Equation above can
be changed to reflect these factors.

where:
V = volume
P = precipitation = (Rainfall in Inches times area in acres divided by 12)
= runoff
= baseflow
I = infiltration
E = evaporation (Surface evaporation in feet times surface area)
= evapotranspiration
= overflow
Δ= “change in” (+ gain; - loss)
Rainfall (P)
• Monthly values are commonly
used for calculations of values
over a season. Rainfall is then
the direct amount that falls on
the pond surface for the period
in question. When multiplied by
the pond surface area and
divided by 12, it becomes
volume.
 Runoff (Ro)
• Runoff is equivalent to the rainfall for the period times the “efficiency”
of the watershed, which is equal to the ratio of runoff to rainfall. In lieu
of gage information, Q/P can be estimated one of several ways. The
best method would be to perform long-term simulation modeling using
rainfall records and a watershed model
where:
P = precipitation
Ro = runoff volume
Rv = volumetric runoff coefficient [see Equation 1.1 of the
Water Quality Technical Manual]
A = Area in acres
Baseflow (Bf)
Most stormwater ponds and wetlands have little, if any, baseflow, as
they are rarely placed across perennial streams. If so placed, baseflow
must be estimated from observation or through theoretical estimates.
Methods of estimation and baseflow separation can be found in most
hydrology textbooks. Consideration may also have to be given to
irrigation return flow in certain areas.
Infiltration (I)
• Infiltration is a very complex subject and cannot be covered in detail
here. The amount of infiltration depends on soils, water table depth,
rock layers, surface disturbance, the presence or absence of a liner in
the pond, and other factors. The infiltration rate is governed by the
Darcy equation as:
where:
I = infiltration (m3/day)
A = cross sectional area through which the water infiltrates
Kh = saturated hydraulic conductivity or infiltration rate (m/day)
Gh = hydraulic gradient = pressure head/distance
Evaporation (E)
• Evaporation is from an open lake water surface. Evaporation rates are
dependent on differences in vapor pressure, which, in turn, depend
on temperature, wind, atmospheric pressure, water purity, and shape
and depth of the pond.
• Pan evaporation methods are also used. A pan coefficient of 0.7 is
commonly used to convert the higher pan value to the lower lake
values.
Evapotranspiration (Et).
• Evapotranspiration consists of the combination of evaporation and
transpiration by plants.
• Estimating Et only becomes important when wetlands are being
designed and emergent vegetation covers a significant portion of the
pond surface. In these cases conservative estimates of lake evaporation
should be compared to crop-based Et estimates and a decision made.
Overflow (Of) – Overflow is considered as excess runoff, and in water balance
design is either not considered, since the concern is for average values of precipitation,
or is considered lost for all volumes above the maximum pond storage. Obviously, for
long-term simulations of rainfall-runoff, large storms would play an important part in
pond design.
Downstream assessments
• The downstream impacts of development must be carefully evaluated.
• The purpose of the downstream assessment is to protect downstream
properties from increased flooding and downstream channels from
increased erosion potential due to upstream development.
• The importance of the downstream assessment is particularly evident
for larger sites or developments that have the potential to dramatically
impact downstream areas. The cumulative effect of smaller sites,
however, can be just as dramatic.
Reasons for Downstream Problems
• Flow Timing
If water quantity control
(detention) structures are
indiscriminately placed in a
watershed and changes to the
flow timing are not considered,
the structural control may actually
increase the peak discharge
downstream
Detention Timing Example
Reasons for Downstream Problems
• Increased Volume
An important impact of new
development is an increase in the
total runoff volume of flow. Thus,
even if the peak flow is effectively
attenuated, the longer duration of
higher flows due to the increased
volume may combine with Effect of Increased Post-Development
downstream tributaries to increase Runoff Volume with Detention on a
the downstream peak flows. Downstream Hydrograph
 Methods for Downstream Evaluation
• Typical steps in a downstream assessment include:
• Determine the outfall location of the site and the pre- and post-development site conditions.
• Using a topographic map determine a preliminary lower limit of the zone of influence (approximately
10% point).
• Using a hydrologic model determine the pre-development peak flows and velocities at each junction
beginning at the development outfall and ending at the next junction beyond the 10% point.
Undeveloped off-site areas are modeled as “full build-out” for both the pre- and post-development
analyses. The discharges and velocities are evaluated for three storms:
a. “Streambank Protection” storm
b. “Conveyance” storm
c. “Flood Mitigation” storm
• Change the land use on the site to post-development conditions and rerun the model.
• Compare the pre- and post-development peak discharges and velocities at the downstream end of the
model. If the post-developed flows are higher than the pre-developed flows for the same frequency
event, or the post-developed velocities are higher than the allowable velocity of the downstream
receiving system, extend the model downstream. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the post-development flows
are less than the pre-developed flows, and the post-developed velocities are below the allowable
velocity.
Methods for Downstream Evaluation
• Typical steps in a downstream assessment include:
• If shown that no peak flow increases occur downstream, and post-developed velocities are allowable, then the
control of the flood protection volume (Qf) can be waived by the local authority. The developer saves the cost of
sizing a detention basin for flood control. In this case the downstream assessment saved the construction of an
unnecessary structural control facility that would have been detrimental to the watershed flooding problems. In
some communities this situation may result in a fee being paid to the local government in lieu of detention. That
fee would go toward alleviating downstream flooding or making channel or other conveyance improvements.
• If peak discharges are increased due to development, or if downstream velocities are erosive, one of the following
options are required
1. Document that existing downstream conveyance is adequate to convey post-developed stormwater
discharges (Option 1 for Streambank Protection and Flood Control)
2. Work with the local government to reduce the flow elevation and/or velocity through channel or
flow conveyance structure improvements downstream. (Option 2 for Streambank Protection and
Flood Control)
3. Design an on-site structural control facility such that the post-development flows do not increase
the peak flows, and the velocities are not erosive, at the outlet and the determined junction
locations.