SIGL-3 Hydrology and Water Resources Planning Ver-6

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE
National Guidelines for Small Scale Irrigation Development in Ethiopia
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning
November 2018
Addis Ababa
National Guidelines for Small Scale Irrigation Development in Ethiopia
First Edition 2018
© MOA 2018
Ministry of Agriculture
Small-Scale Irrigation Development Directorate
P. O. Box 62347
Tel: +251-1-6462355
Fax: +251-1-6462355
Email: SSIDdirectorate@moa.gov.et
SSIDdirectorate@gmail.com
eDMS (intranet): MoA SSID DMS (http://172.28.1.188:8080/DMS/login.jsp)
Website: www.moa.gov.et
Financed by Agricultural Growth Program (AGP)
DISCLAIMER
Ministry of Agriculture through the Consultant and core reviewers from all relevant stakeholders included the
information to provide the contemporary approach about the subject matter. The information contained in the
guidelines is obtained from sources believed tested and reliable and are augmented based on practical
experiences. While it is believed that the guideline is enriched with professional advice, for it to be
successful, needs services of competent professionals from all respective disciplines. It is believed, the
guidelines presented herein are sound and to the expected standard. However, we hereby disclaim any
liability, loss or risk taken by individuals, groups, or organization who does not act on the information
contained herein as appropriate to the specific SSI site condition.
National Guidelines for Small Scale Irrigation Development MOA
FORWARD
Ministry of Agriculture, based on the national strategic directions is striving to meet its commitments in
which modernizing agriculture is on top of its highest priorities to sustain the rapid, broad-based and
fair economic growth and development of the country. To date, major efforts have been made to
remodel several important strategies and national guidelines by its major programs and projects.
While efforts have been made to create access to irrigation water and promoting sustainable irrigation
development, several barriers are still hindering the implementation process and the performance of
the schemes. The major technical constrains starts from poor planning and identification, study, design,
construction, operation, and maintenance. One of the main reasons behind this outstanding challenge,
in addition to the capacity limitations, is that SSIPs have been studied and designed using many ad-
hoc procedures and technical guidelines developed by various local and international institutions.
Despite having several guidelines and manuals developed by different entities such as MoA (IDD)-
1986, ESRDF-1997, MoWIE-2002 and JICA/OIDA-2014, still the irrigation professionals follow their
own public sources and expertise to fill some important gaps. A number of disparities, constraints and
outstanding issues in the study and design procedures, criteria and assumptions have been causing
huge variations in all vital aspects of SSI study, design and implementation from region to region and
among professionals within the same region and institutions due mainly to the lack of agreed standard
technical guidelines. Hence, the SSI Directorate with AGP financial support, led by Generation
consultant (GIRDC) and with active involvement of national and regional stakeholders and international
development partners, these new and comprehensive national guidelines have been developed.
The SSID guidelines have been developed by addressing all key features in a comprehensive and
participatory manner at all levels. The guidelines are believed to be responsive to the prevalent study
and design contentious issues; and efforts have been made to make the guidelines simple, flexible and
adaptable to almost all regional contexts including concerned partner institution interests. The outlines
of the guidelines cover all aspects of irrigation development including project initiation, planning,
organizations, site identification and prioritization, feasibility studies and detail designs, contract
administration and management, scheme operation, maintenance and management.
Enforceability, standardization, social and environmental safeguard mechanisms are well

mainstreamed in the guidelines, hence they shall be used as a guiding framework for engineers and
other experts engaged in all SSI development phases. The views and actual procedures of all relevant
diverse government bodies, research and higher learning institutions, private companies and
development partners has been immensely and thoroughly considered to ensure that all
stakeholders are aligned and can work together towards a common goal. Appropriately, the guidelines
will be familiarized to the entire stakeholders working in the irrigation development. Besides, significant
number of experts in the corresponding subject matter will be effectively trained nationwide; and the
guidelines will be tested practically on actual new and developing projects for due consideration of
possible improvement. Hence, hereinafter, all involved stakeholders including government & non-
governmental organizations, development partners, enterprises, institutions, consultants and
individuals in Ethiopia have to adhere to these comprehensive national guidelines in all cases and at all
level whilst if any overlooked components are found, it should be documented and communicated to
MOA to bring them up-to-date.
Therefore, I congratulate all parties involved in the success of this effort, and urge partners and
stakeholders to show a similar level of engagement in the implementation and stick to the guidelines
over the coming years.
H.E. Dr. Kaba Urgessa

State Minister, Ministry of Agriculture
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning i

SMALL SCALE IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT VISION
Transforming agricultural production from its dependence on rain-fed practices by creating reliable irrigation
system in which smallholder farmers have access to at least one option of water source to increase
production and productivity as well as enhance resilience to climate change and thereby ensure food
security, maintain increasing income and sustain economic growth.
ii SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The preparation of SSIGLs required extensive inputs from all stakeholders and development partners.
Accordingly many professionals from government and development partners have contributed to the
realization of the guidelines. To this end MOA would like to extend sincere acknowledgement to all
institutions and individuals who have been involved in the review of these SSIGLs for their
comprehensive participation, invaluable inputs and encouragement to the completion of the guidelines.
There are just too many collaborators involved to name exhaustively and congratulate individually, as
many experts from Federal, regional states and development partners have been involved in one way
or another in the preparation of the guidelines. The contribution of all of them who actively involved in
the development of these SSIGLs is gratefully acknowledged. The Ministry believes that their
contributions will be truly appreciated by the users for many years to come.
The Ministry would like to extend its appreciation and gratitude to the following contributors:
 Agriculture Growth Program (AGP) of the MoA for financing the development and
publication of the guidelines.
 The National Agriculture Water Management Platform (NAWMP) for overseeing, guidance
and playing key supervisory and quality control roles in the overall preparation process and
for the devotion of its members in reviewing and providing invaluable technical inputs to
enrich the guidelines.
 Federal Government and Regional States organizations and their staff for their untiring effort
in reviewing the guidelines and providing constructive suggestions, recommendations and
comments.
 National and international development partners for their unreserved efforts in reviewing the
guidelines and providing constructive comments which invaluably improved the quality of the
guidelines.
 Small-scale and Micro Irrigation Support Project (SMIS) and its team for making all efforts to
have quality GLs developed as envisioned by the Ministry.
The MOA would also like to extend its high gratitude and sincere thanks to AGP‘s multi development
partners including the International Development Association (IDA)/World Bank, the Canada
Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD), the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), the Netherlands, the European Commission (EC), the Spanish
Agency for International Development (AECID), the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program
(GAFSP), the Italy International Development Cooperation, the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Moreover, the Ministry would like to express its gratitude to Generation Integrated Rural Development
Consultant (GIRDC) and its staff whose determined efforts to the development of these SSIGLs have
been invaluable. GIRDC and its team drafted and finalized all the contents of the SSIGLs as per
stakeholder suggestions, recommendations and concerns. The MoA recognizes the patience,
diligence, tireless, extensive and selfless dedication of the GIRDC and its staff who made this
assignment possible.
Finally, we owe courtesy to all national and International source materials cited and referred but
unintentionally not cited.
Ministry of Agriculture
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning iii

DEDICATIONS
The National Guidelines for Small Scale Irrigation Development are dedicated to Ethiopian smallholder
farmers, agro-pastoralists, pastoralists, to equip them with appropriate irrigation technology as we envision
them empowered and transformed.
iv SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

LIST OF GUIDELINES
Part I. SSIGL 1: Project Initiation, Planning and Organization
Part II: SSIGL 2: Site Identification and Prioritization
Part III: Feasibility Study and Detail Design
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning
SSIGL 4: Topographic and Irrigation Infrastructures Surveying

SSIGL 5: Soil Survey and Land Suitability Evaluation
SSIGL 6: Geology and Engineering Geology Study
SSIGL 7: Groundwater Study and Design
SSIGL 8: Irrigation Agronomy and Agricultural Development Plan
SSIGL 9: Socio-economy and Community Participation
SSIGL 10: Diversion Weir Study and Design
SSIGL 11: Free River Side Intake Study and Design
SSIGL 12: Small Embankment Dam Study and Design
SSIGL 13: Irrigation Pump Facilities Study and Design
SSIGL 14: Spring Development Study and Design
SSIGL 15: Surface Irrigation System Planning and Design
SSIGL 16: Canals Related Structures Design
SSIGL 17: Sprinkler Irrigation System Study and Design
SSIGL 18: Drip Irrigation System Study and Design
SSIGL 19: Spate Irrigation System Study and Design
SSIGL 20: Quantity Surveying
SSIGL 21: Selected Application Software’s
SSIGL 22: Technical Drawings
SSIGL 23: Tender Document Preparation
SSIGL 24: Technical Specifications Preparation
SSIGL 25: Environmental & Social Impact Assessment
SSIGL 26: Financial and Economic Analysis
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning v

Part IV: Contract Administration & Construction Management
SSIGL 27: Contract Administration

SSIGL 28: Construction Supervision
SSIGL 29: Construction of Irrigation Infrastructures
Part V: SSI Scheme Operation, Maintenance and Management
SSIGL 30: Scheme Operation, Maintenance and Management

SSIGL 31: A Procedural Guideline for Small Scale Irrigation Schemes Revitalization
SSIGL 32: Monitoring and Evaluation
Ancillary Tools for National Guidelines of Small Scale Irrigation Development
SSIGL 33: Participatory Irrigation Development and Management (PIDM)

SSIGL 34: Quality Assurance and Control for Engineering Sector Study and Design
vi SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

TABLE OF CONTENTS
FORWARD .......................................................................................................................... I
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. III
LIST OF GUIDELINES ....................................................................................................... V
ACRONYMS...................................................................................................................... XI
PREFACE ....................................................................................................................... XIII
UPDATING AND REVISIONS OF GUIDELINES ............................................................. XV
1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1
1.1 GENERAL .......................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE GUIDELINE .................................................................................... 1
1.3 SCOPE OF THE GUIDELINE ............................................................................................ 2
1.4 DEFINITIONS OF TERMINOLOGIES ............................................................................... 2
2 ANALYSIS OF CATCHMENT FEATURES ................................................................. 3
2.1 CATCHMENT DELINEATION ........................................................................................... 3
2.1.1 Data sources and tools ................................................................................................ 3
2.1.2 Procedures for catchment delineation ......................................................................... 3
2.2 SOIL DATA AS INPUT FOR HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS .............................................. 8
2.3 LAND USE/COVER ANALYSIS AS INPUT FOR HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS .............. 8
3 RAINFALL ANALYSIS ................................................................................................ 9
3.1 CLIMATIC MECHANISMS AND WEATHER SYSTEM IN ETHIOPIA ............................... 9
3.2 SOURCES OF RAINFALL DATA IN ETHIOPIA ................................................................ 9
3.3 CHECKING ADEQUACY OF RAIN GAUGES AND DATA RECORD ............................. 10
3.4 FILLING DATA GAP ........................................................................................................ 11
3.5 TEST FOR CONSISTENCY ............................................................................................ 12
3.6 AREAL RAINFALL ........................................................................................................... 13
3.7 RAINFALL FREQUENCY ANALYSIS.............................................................................. 13
3.8 RAINFALL – INTENSITY – DURATION (IDF) ................................................................. 14
4 EVAPORATION AND EVAPOTRANSPIRATION ANALYSIS .................................. 17
4.1 DATA SOURCES............................................................................................................. 17
4.2 OPEN WATER EVAPORATION ...................................................................................... 18
4.3 REFERENCE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ETO) ............................................................. 19
5 STREAM FLOW ANALYSIS ..................................................................................... 21
5.1 DATA SOURCES AND AVAILABILITY ........................................................................... 21
5.2 PEAK DISCHARGE AND FREQUENCY RELATIONSHIP ............................................. 21
5.3 DESIGN FLOOD .............................................................................................................. 21
5.3.1 Gauged stream flow .................................................................................................. 22
5.3.2 Estimation of design flood using rainfall-runoff relationship ...................................... 23
5.3.3 Synthetic Unit Hydrograph Method ............................................................................ 40
5.4 DEPENDABLE FLOW ..................................................................................................... 43
5.4.1 Understanding of flow-duration curve ........................................................................ 43
5.4.2 Flow Duration Curve for Gauged Stream .................................................................. 44
5.4.3 Flow duration curve for ungauged stream ................................................................. 47
6 SPRING FLOW ANALYSIS ...................................................................................... 51
6.1 BASIC CONCEPT............................................................................................................ 51
6.2 SPRING DISCHARGES MEASUREMENT METHODS .................................................. 51
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning vii

7 DRAINAGE MODULE ............................................................................................... 53

7.1 BASIC CONCEPT............................................................................................................ 53
7.2 CROSS DRAINAGE ........................................................................................................ 53
7.3 FIELD DRAINAGE MODULE........................................................................................... 53
8 SEDIMENT ANALYSIS AND SEDIMENTATION ...................................................... 55
8.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 55
8.2 SEDIMENT YIELD ........................................................................................................... 55
8.2.1 Measurement of sediment load in stream flow .......................................................... 55
8.2.2 Estimation of sediment using reservoir capacity survey ............................................ 58
8.2.3 Estimation of wash load from catchment erosion ...................................................... 59
8.2.4 Amount and distribution of sediment deposit in reservoirs ........................................ 64
9 RESERVOIR ROUTING ............................................................................................ 67
10 WATER BALANCE AND UPSTREAM-DOWNSTREAM RELATIONSHIPS ............ 71
10.1 GENERAL ........................................................................................................................ 71
10.2 WATER BALANCE AT CATCHMENT SCALE ................................................................ 72
10.3 WATER BALANCE AT SCHEME LEVEL ........................................................................ 72
10.4 ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW REQUIREMENT ................................................................... 73
10.4.1 Environmental flow assessment ................................................................................ 73
10.4.2 Estimation of environmental water use...................................................................... 73
REFERENCE ................................................................................................................... 75
SUGGESTED READING ................................................................................................. 77
viii SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2-1 : Identified. Bench Maji SSPI (2015)................................................................................. 3

Table 3-1: Gap filling methods and their applicability ..................................................................... 11
Table 3-2: Different areal rainfall methods...................................................................................... 13
Table 4-1: Selected methods for estimating open evaporation ...................................................... 18
Table 4-2: Selected ETo estimation methods ................................................................................ 19
Table 5-1: Recommended return periods for design of hydraulics structures ................................ 21
Table 5-2: Suggested rainfall-runoff methods for estimation of design flood .................................. 24
Table 5-3: Runoff coefficient for rural catchment ............................................................................ 25
Table 5-4: Runoff coefficient for urban catchment .......................................................................... 25
Table 5-5: T-year multipliers of runoff coefficient (C ) ..................................................................... 26
Table 5-6: Retardance Coefficients of Kerby Equation................................................................... 27
Table 5-7: Hydrologic soil group (HSG) classification according to SCS (1972) ............................ 29
Table 5-8: Cultivated agricultural land* ........................................................................................... 30
Table 5-9: Other agricultural lands1 ............................................................................................... 31
Table 5-10: Arid and semi-arid rangelands* ................................................................................... 31
Table 5-11: Runoff curve numbers- urban areas* ......................................................................... 32
Table 5-12: Rainfall ranges for amc, growing and dormant seasons ............................................. 32
Table 5-13: Areal to point rainfall ratio (%) ..................................................................................... 36
Table 5-14: Steps to construct complex hydrograph ...................................................................... 37
Table 5-15: The Composites the triangular hydrographs to a single hydrograph ........................... 39
Table 5-16: Example of developing synthetic unit hydrograph ....................................................... 40
Table 5-17: Example for Flow duration curve using gauged data with daily data set ..................... 44
Table 5-18: Example for flow duration curve using gauged data with monthly data set ................. 46
Table 5-19: Finally the monthly different dependable flows for Giligel Abay at Merawi Station ..... 47
Table 5-20: Regionalized FDC adopted from (Tsedey T. and Zelalem H. 2007) .......................... 48
Table 5-21: Flow regime based FDC adopted from (Berhanu B. et.al, 2015) ............................... 49
Table 6-1: Procedure with Example for spring flow analysis .......................................................... 52
Table 8-1: C-factor per different crop type ...................................................................................... 61
Table 8-2: P-factor with different land management options .......................................................... 62
Table 9-1: Elevation-Storage-discharge relation for Arjo-Dedessa reservoir ................................. 68
Table 9-2: Working table for Arjo-Dedessa reservoir...................................................................... 68
Table 9-3: Routing table of Arjo-Dedessa Reservoir ..................................................................... 68
Table 10-1: Example for Scheme water balance (lt/sec) ................................................................ 73
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning ix

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2-1: Sequential steps of catchment delineation in different tools ......................................... 4

Figure 2-2: Terrain preprocessing sequential steps using ArcHydro ................................................ 5
Figure 2-3: Functions and steps in watershed processing in ArcHydro Tools .................................. 6
Figure 2-4: Example for catchment delineation: Petu SSIP Sites at Bench Maji Zone ..................... 6
Figure 2-5: Longest flow computation in watershed processing at Petu site .................................... 7
Figure 2-6: Flow parameters computation watershed processing tools at Petu site ........................ 7
Figure 3-1: Examples of rainfall inconsistency test chart ................................................................ 12
Figure 5-1: SCS triangular hydrograph ........................................................................................... 33
Figure 5-2: Hourly distribution of daily rainfall profile ...................................................................... 35
Figure 5-3: Composite Hydrograph developed with complex hydrograph approach ...................... 39
Figure 5-4: Composite hydrograph developed with complex hydrograph approach ...................... 40
Figure 5-5: Flow duration curve of Meki River at Meki village Gauging station in normal graph .... 45
Figure 8-1: Annual soil loss for Mojo catchment ............................................................................. 63
x SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

ACRONYMS
AGP Agricultural Growth Program

cms cubic meter per second
DEM Digital Elevation Model
EFA Environmental Flow Assessment
EMA Ethiopian Mapping Agency
ERH Rainfall Excess Hyetograph
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
FDC Flow Duration Curve
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GIS Geographic Information System
GPS Global Positioning System
HFR High Flow Requirement
HWSD Harmonized World Soil Database
IDF Rainfall Intensity Duration
ITCZ Inter-tropical Convergence Zone
LFR Low Flow Requirement
MAF Mean Annual Flow
MOWIE Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity
NCEP National Center for Environmental Prediction
NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service
RFE Rainfall estimates
RSCZ Red Sea Convergence Zone
RUSLE Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation
SDR Sediment Delivery Ratio
SNNPR Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region
SSI Small Scale Irrigation
SSID Small Scale Irrigation Development
SSIGL Small Scale Irrigation Guideline
SSIP Small Scale Irrigation Project
SSIS Small Scale Irrigation Scheme
STJ Subtropical Jet
SY Sediment Yield
TEJ Tropical Easterly Jet
TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning xi

xii SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

PREFACE
While irrigation development is at the top of the government‘s priority agendas as it is key to boost
production and improve food security as well as to provide inputs for industrial development.
Accordingly, irrigated land in different scales has been aggressively expanding from time to time.
To this end, to enhance quality delivery of small-scale irrigation development planning,
implementation and management, it has been decided to develop standard SSI guidelines that
must be nationally applied. In September 2017 the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) had entrusted
Generation Integrated Rural Development Consultant (GIRDC) to prepare the National Small-
scale Irrigation Development Guidelines (SSIGLs).
Preparation of the SSIGLs for enhancing development of irrigated agriculture is recognized as one
of the many core initiatives of the MoA to improve its delivery system and achieve the targets in
irrigated agriculture and fulfill its mission for improving agricultural productivity and production. The
core objective of developing SSIGLs is to summarize present thinking, knowledge and practices to
enable irrigation practitioners to properly plan, implement and manage community managed SSI
schemes to develop the full irrigation potential in a sustainable manner.
As the SSIGLs are prepared based on national and international knowledge, experiences and
practices, and describe current and recommended practice and set out the national standard
guides and procedures for SSI development, they serve as a source of information and provide
guidance. Hence, it is believed that the SSIGLs will contribute to ensuring the quality and timely
delivery, operation and maintenance of SSI schemes in the country. The SSIGLs attempt to
explain and illustrate the important concepts, considerations and procedures in SSI planning,
implementation and management; and shall be used as a guiding framework for professionals
engaged in SSI development. Illustrative examples from within the country have been added to
enable the users understand the contents, methodologies presented in the SSIGLs.
The intended audiences of the SSIGLs are government organizations, NGOs, CSOs and the
private sector involved in SSI development. Professionally, the SSIGLs will be beneficial for
experienced and junior planners, experts, contractors, consultants, suppliers, investors, operators
and managers of SSI schemes. The SSIGLs will also serve as a useful reference for academia
and researchers involved and interested in SSI development. The SSIGLs will guide to ensure
that; planning, implementation and management of SSI projects is formalized and set procedures
and processes to be followed. As the SSIGLs provide information and guides they must be always
fully considered and applied by adapting them to the local specific requirements.
In cognizance with the need for quality SSIGLs, the MoA has duly considered quality assurance
and control during preparation of the guidelines. Accordingly, the outlines, contents and scope of
the SSIGLs were thoroughly discussed, reviewed and modified by NAWMP members (senior
professionals from public, national and international stakeholder) with key stakeholders in many
consultative meetings and workshops. Moreover, at each milestone of SSIGL preparation,
resource persons from all stakeholders reviewed and confirmed that SSIGLs have met the
demands and expectations of users.
Moreover, the Ministry has mobilized resource persons from key Federal, National Regional States
level stakeholders and international development partners for review, validation and endorsement
of the SSIGLs.
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning xiii

Several hundreds of experienced professionals (who are very qualified experts in their respective
fields) from government institutions, relevant private sector and international development partners
have significantly contributed to the preparation of the SSIGLs. They have been involved in all
aspects of the development of SSIGLs throughout the preparation process. The preparation
process included a number of consultation meetings and workshops: (i) workshop to review
inception report, (ii) workshop on findings of review of existing guidelines/manuals and proposed
contents of the SSIGLs, (iii) meetings to review zero draft SSI GLs, (iv) review workshop on draft
SSI GLs, (v) small group review meetings on thematic areas, (vi) small group consultation
meetings on its final presentation of contents and layout, (vii) consultation mini-workshops in the
National States on semi-final versions of the SSIGLs, and (viii) final write-shop for the appraisal
and approval of the final versions of SSIGLs.
The deliberations, concerns, suggestions and comments received from professionals have been
duly considered and incorporated by the GIRD Consultant in the final SSIGLs.
There are 34 separate guidelines which are categorized into the following five parts concurrent to
SSI development phases:
Part-I. Project Initiation, Planning and Organization Guideline which deals with key considerations
and procedures on planning and organization of SSI development projects.
Part-II. Site Identification and Prioritization Guideline which treats physical potential identification
and prioritization of investment projects. It presents SSI site selection process and
prioritization criteria.
Part-III. Feasibility Study and Detail Design Guidelines for SSID dealing with feasibility study
and design concepts, approaches, considerations, requirements and procedures in the
study and design of SSI systems.
Part-IV. Contract Administration and Construction Management Guidelines for SSI development
presents the considerations, requirements, and procedures involved in construction of
works, construction supervision and contract administration.
Part-V. SSI Scheme Management, Operation and Maintenance Guidelines which covers SSI
Scheme management and operation.
Moreover, Tools for Small Scale Irrigation development are also prepared as part of SSIGLs.
It is strongly believed and expected that; the SSIGLs will be quickly applied by all stakeholders
involved in SSI development and others as appropriate following the dissemination and
familiarization process of the guidelines in order to ensure efficient, productive and sustainable
irrigation development.
The SSIGLs are envisioned to be updated by incorporating new technologies and experiences
including research findings. Therefore, any suggestions, concerns, recommendations and
comments on the SSIGLs are highly appreciated and welcome for future updates as per the
attached format below. Furthermore, despite efforts in making all types of editorial works, there
may still errors, which similarly shall be handled in future undated versions.
xiv SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

UPDATING AND REVISIONS OF GUIDELINES

The GLs are intended as an up-to-date or a live document enabling revisions, to be updated
periodically to incorporate improvements, when and where necessary; may be due to evolving
demands, technological changes and changing policies, and regulatory frameworks. Planning,
study and design of SSI development interventions is a dynamic process. Advancements in these
aspects are necessary to cope up with the changing environment and advancing techniques. Also,
based on observation feedbacks and experiences gained during application and implementation of
the guidelines, there might be a need to update the requirements, provisions and procedures, as
appropriate. Besides, day-by-day, water is becoming more and more valuable. Hence, for efficient
water development, utilization and management will have to be designed, planned and
constructed with a new set up of mind to keep pace with the changing needs of the time. It may,
therefore, be necessary to take up the work of further revision of these GLs.
This current version of the GLs has particular reference to the prevailing conditions in Ethiopia and
reflects the experience gained through activities within the sub-sector during subsequent years.
This is the first version of the SSI development GLs. This version shall be used as a starting point
for future update, revision and improvement. Future updating and revisions to the GLs are
anticipated as part of the process of strengthening the standards for planning, study, design,
construction, operation and management SSI development in the country.
Completion of the review and updating of the GLs shall be undertaken in close consultation with
the federal and regional irrigation institutions and other stakeholders in the irrigation sub-sector
including the contracting and consulting industry.
In summary, significant changes to criteria, procedures or any other relevant issues related to
technological changes, new policies or revised laws should be incorporated into the GLs from their
date of effectiveness. Other minor changes that will not significantly affect the whole nature of the
GLs may be accumulated and made periodically. When changes are made and approved, new
page(s) incorporating the revision, together with the revision date, will be issued and inserted into
the relevant GL section.
All suggestions to improve the GLs should be made in accordance with the following procedures:
I. Users of the GLs must register on the MOA website: Website: www.moa.gov.et
II. Proposed changes should be outlined on the GLs Change Form and forwarded with a
covering letter or email of its need and purpose to the Ministry.
III. Agreed changes will be approved by the Ministry on recommendation from the Small-scale
Irrigation Directorate and/or other responsible government body.
IV. The release date of the new version will be notified to all registered users and authorities.
Users are kindly requested to present their concerns, suggestions, recommendations and
comments for future updates including any omissions and/or obvious errors by completing the
following revisions form and submitting it to the Ministry. The Ministry shall appraise such requests
for revision and will determine if an update to the guide is justified and necessary; and when such
updates will be published. Revisions may take the form of replacement or additional pages. Upon
receipt, revision pages are to be incorporated in the GLs and all superseded pages removed.
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning xv

Suggested Revisions Request Form (Official Letter or Email)
To: ---------------------------------------------------------------
From: -----------------------------------------------------------
Date: -----------------------------------------------------------
Description of suggested updates/changes: Include GL code and title, section title and #
(heading/subheading #), and page #.
GL Code and Date Sections/ Explanation Comments (proposed

Title Heading/Subheading/ change)
Pages/Table/Figure
Note that be specific and include suggested language if possible and include additional sheets for
comments, reference materials, charts or graphics.
GLs Change Action

Suggested Change Recommended Action Authorized by Date
Director for SSI Directorate: _______________________Date: ________________
The following table helps to track initial issuance of the guidelines and subsequent Updates/Versions and
Revisions (Registration of Amendments/Updates).
Revision Register
Version/Issue/Revision Reference/Revised Description of Authorized Date
No Sections/Pages/topics revision by
(Comments)
xvi SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 GENERAL
Ethiopia has good irrigation potential both in terms of suitable land and availability of fresh water
resources. However, irrigation development in the country is in its infancy stage and does not
significantly contribute its share to the growth of the agriculture sector and the national GDP.
Irrigated agriculture is performing low due to a number of factors one of which is poor system
design due to inadequate hydrological analysis which, in turn, is due to limited hydro-
meteorological data and appropriate methodology for undertaking such analysis.
Hydrological analysis is required for estimating available and reliable of water resources for a
specific purpose such as for irrigation, municipality water supply or for other purposes, flood peaks
and probability of their occurrence for the design of civil or hydraulic structures such as dams,
diversions weir, bridges and others. Poor hydrological analysis due to lack of accurate and
adequate data or inappropriate methodology will result in wrong design hydrological parameters
for the design of civil/hydraulic structures consequently causing their failure. Many irrigation
schemes have totally failed or partially function due to poor hydrological design of the head works
and canal structures.
Therefore, this Guideline is prepared as part of the many guidelines for small-scale irrigation
development to enable undertaking hydro-meteorological analysis and provide hydrologic design
parameters. The Guideline is framed with the understanding of all the complexity in relation to the
hydrological quantification as input for the design of hydraulic structures. The guideline covers:
 Analysis of Catchment features;
 Techniques with steps for analysis of climatic and rainfall data
 Methods of stream and spring flows and design floods
 Water balance analysis linking upstream and downstream conditions
 Sediment analysis
 Drainage-modules
1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE GUIDELINE
Analysis of peak rate of runoff, volume of runoff and time distribution of flow is fundamental for the
design of any hydraulic structures for different purposes. Therefore, the objective of this
hydrological guideline is to provide appropriate and simple methodology and procedures for water
resources assessment and quantification of hydro-meteorological parameters for the design small-
scale irrigation systems including micro-dams, diversion weirs and spring development as well as
drainage of irrigation command areas. It provides an understanding of all the complexity of the
hydrological cycle and their quantification as input for the design of hydraulics structures.
SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning 1

1.3 SCOPE OF THE GUIDELINE
The scope of the guideline is limited to hydro-meteorological analysis of small catchments that
supply water for small-scale irrigation systems. The guideline covers delineation and hydrological
analysis of project catchment area, description of the catchment parameters characteristics
(location, topographic, land cover, soil condition, and climatic features), analysis of climatic and
rainfall, stream and spring flows, drainage-modules, sediment analysis, upstream and downstream
linkage for water balance assessment. The guideline also provides different software‘s and Excel
package tools that support the different hydrological analyses within the scope of the guideline.
The guideline presents different software‘s and Excels package tools to support the different
hydrological computations.
1.4 DEFINITIONS OF TERMINOLOGIES
Catchment features: the features of a catchment that including area, river network, flow length,
catchment slope, and others topographical parameters to be input for hydrological analysis
10-85 percent points: the point on the main channel of a catchment that use its elevations and
length between them to compute the catchment average slope. It is preferred to avoid the extreme
high and extreme low elevations influence on the channel slope computation
CMORPH (CPC MORPHing technique): It produces global precipitation analyses at very high
spatial and temporal resolution. This technique uses precipitation estimates that have been
derived from low orbiter satellite microwave observations exclusively, and whose features are
transported via spatial propagation information that is obtained entirely from geostationary satellite
IR data
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM): satellite based rainfall products developed with a
joint mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, was launched in 1997 to
study rainfall for weather and climate research
Rainfall estimates (RFE): Satellite based rainfall developed as the part of the Early Warning
Focus Area at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) by the USGS FEWS
NET Project,
RAINFALL – INTENSITY – DURATION (IDF): is a mathematical relationship between rainfall

intensity, duration and return period that was developed in several parts of the world for its
practical use
2 SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

2 ANALYSIS OF CATCHMENT FEATURES

Catchment features including, area, channel network, ponds depressions, reservoirs, and other
natural or constructed features, in a catchment affect the runoff from it. Therefore, data that
describe catchment features, which are mainly a function of topography, soil and land use/cove
have significant role on the hydrological analysis for irrigation system design. Therefore, it is
essential to follow step by step approach to analyze such catchment features of project area
hydrological analysis.
2.1 CATCHMENT DELINEATION
2.1.1 Data sources and tools
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and outlet point location are the only data inputs for catchment
delineation. The DEM with 30m resolution or possible smaller resolution can be accessed from
Ethiopian Mapping Agency (EMA), from Ethio-GIS Dataset, SRTM website1 or ASTER website2.
All the DEM data access from different sources or websites may have quality limitations, which
needs quality check and verification using specific location GPS or Surveying data before using for
catchment delineation. The location of outlet points possible get from GPS reading of field
observation, 1:50,000 topographic map of EMA, or Google Earth site view. Catchment delineation
can be made using GIS and hydrological software‘s including ArcHydrotools, Global Mapper,
QGIS, SWAT Delineator, HECGEOHMS, or any other surface analysis tools.
2.1.2 Procedures for catchment delineation
The procedure of the catchment feature analysis is explained with practical illustrations using GPS
location of the catchment of Bench Maji Small Scale Irrigation project in SNNPR as presented in
Table 2-1 below.
Table 2-1 : Identified. Bench Maji SSPI (2015)

Wereda Site Name Easting Northing Wereda Site Name Easting Northing
Petu 793,103.16 788,943.06 Moli 814,804.35 752,404.74
North Me'ent
Dama 794,451.99 784,596.83 Olmu 814,354.74 739,785.68
Bench Goldiya
Gacheb 790,045.81 777,433.04 Shawel 817,232.24 747,099.34
Zelmi 777,366.80 757,290.50 Bayni 804,403.36 770,958.66
South Shewe
Shor 783,751.27 757,080.69 Kashu 804,553.23 758,789.20
Bench Bench
Kaki 788,577.08 754,952.53 Yem 807,610.58 760,557.67
Terrain Preprocessing: use to identify the surface drainage pattern and process with a sequential
steps including DEM manipulation, flow direction, flow accumulation, stream definition, stream
segmentation, catchment grid delineation, catchment polygon processing, drainage line
processing, and Adjoint Catchment Processing (Figures 2.1 and 2.2).
1
https://lta.cr.usgs.gov/SRTM
2
https://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov

Note
Terrain preprocessing has to be proceeded sequentially until Adjoint Catchment Processing. It
does not do particular outlet based analysis rather it does for all drainage features for all DEM data
loaded. Stream definition needs fixing area extent threshold to define streams. If one considers
small stream networks, the threshold has to be small area (cell number). As these sequential steps
may not be available sequentially for all GIS packages as given above, users have to take care of
the procedures in relation to the GIS packages used.
Figure 2-1: Sequential steps of catchment delineation in different tools

Figure 2-2: Terrain preprocessing sequential steps using ArcHydro
Watershed Processing: Delineation of target catchments can be made by using the

preprocessed DEM and the point location of outlets. The preprocessing functions partition terrain
into manageable units to allow fast delineation operations. Catchment delineation can be
performed as point delineation using one catchment at time or batch delineation to process multi-
catchments at a time. The watershed processing menu can perform other catchment attributes
like drainage Area Centroid, longest flow path, flow slope and other parameters (Figure 2-3).

Figure 2-3: Functions and steps in watershed processing in ArcHydro Tools
Figure 2-4: Example for catchment delineation: Petu SSIP Sites at Bench Maji Zone
Flow length computation: the longest flow length of the catchment as one of the input attribute
for hydrological analysis has to be determined using the watershed processing tools. See the
example for Petu SSI site at Bench Maji Zone.

Figure 2-5: Longest flow computation in watershed processing at Petu site
Flow parameters like catchment slope from upstream to downstream points and at 10-85 points
also computed as inputs for hydrological analysis (Figure 2.6).
Figure 2-6: Flow parameters computation watershed processing tools at Petu site

2.2 SOIL DATA AS INPUT FOR HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS
The soil data for the identified project catchment area can be accessed from different sources with
different scales. There are a number of previous studies that analyzed the soils of Ethiopia in
different map scales and extents. The temporal variation of soils has no significance influence on
analysis of catchment features. However, one has to take care for spatial variability of soil
information. Therefore, good spatial resolution dataset has to be used to assess potential sources
of soil information. The key for hydrological analysis is selection of a reasonable, good scale soil
data set that is available. Some potential sources are given below:
 Ethiopian soil dataset of 1: 1 million scale from the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural
Resources data sources developed from the two national studies- Ethiopian Agro-
Ecological classification (FAO, 2001) and Woody biomass inventory studies (MoA,
1998).
 Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD, version 1.2) (FAO/IIASA/ISRIC/ISS-
CAS/JRC, 2012): This database has good spatial soil information at a scale of
1:500,000 for the Ethiopia case. It is freely accessed from the public domain access
viewer3
 Ethiopian geo-Soil Database (Berhanu, et.al 2013): This database has good
hydrological soil attributes organized in shape file sources with 1:250,000 scale. It is
available at School of Civil and Environmental Science in Addis Ababa Institute of
Technology and it is accessible with registered application.
 WLRC 2016, compiled national soil dataset
 It is also possible to use others reliable and possible improved data sources
2.3 LAND USE/COVER ANALYSIS AS INPUT FOR HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS
The land use/cover of a project site with significant spatial and temporal variability has a
significance role for the hydrological analysis of the site. There are different potential sources of
land use/cover information in Ethiopia for the use for studying irrigation development projects.
However, all the land use/cover sources have to be supported by site observation and Ground
truth.
 Landsat 8 image data: The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition of high
resolution multispectral data of the Earth‘s surface on a global basis. All Landsat data in
the USGS archive, freely accessed from in its websites4
 ESA CCI Land Cover (MERIS): It has a new release of 300 m global land cover and
150 m water products (v.1.6.1). This new dataset includes the three land cover
maps corresponding to the different epochs 2000 (from 1998 to 2002), 2005 (from 2003
to 2007), and 2010 (from 2008 to 2012) and can be
 Other national data sources, like Ethio GIS, and Ethiopian Mapping Agency
3
http://harmonized-world-soil-database.software.informer.com/1.2 and
http://webarchive.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/External-World-soil-database/ HWSD_Documentation.pdf
4
https://landsatlook.usgs.gov

3 RAINFALL ANALYSIS
3.1 CLIMATIC MECHANISMS AND WEATHER SYSTEM IN ETHIOPIA
Rainfall is the core element of the hydrological cycle that drives energy circulation in the
atmosphere (Kumar et al., 2006). Many studies highlight the importance of the spatial and
temporal variability of precipitation (Fiener and Auerswald, 2009; Haile et al., 2009), which has
been proved to affect the accuracy of runoff prediction in gauged and ungauged catchments
(Goodrich et al., 1995; Schuurmans and Bierkens, 2007). Rainfall in Ethiopia is the result of multi-
weather systems that include Subtropical Jet (STJ), Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), Red
Sea Convergence Zone (RSCZ), Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ), and Somali Jet (NMA 1996). The
intensity, position, and direction of these weather systems lead the variability of the amount and
distribution of seasonal and inter-annual rainfall in the. Moreover, the spatial distribution of rainfall
in Ethiopia is significantly influenced by topographical variability of the country (NMA 1996;
Camberlin 1997) and this makes the rainfall system of the country more complex. The influence of
the ITCZ movement in led to the classification of Ethiopian climate into four main seasons as
described below.
March-April: The ITCZ is located south of Ethiopia and moving northwards and this cause the
tropical easterlies to have two components: (i) the moist easterly and southeasterly air currents in
eastern and southern parts of the country, and (ii) dry northerly air currents in the northwestern
quadrant.
May-July: In May, the ITCZ starts moving rapidly northwards, and during June and July, it reaches
its northern most position. Hence, the southeastern Ethiopia air masses are in general subsiding
and dry when blowing towards the Horn, after losing their moisture on the East African Highlands.
August-October: In August, the ITCZ starts moving rapidly south from its north position. It is
located in central and south-central Ethiopia in September and October. In southwest the
contribution of the Atlantic equatorial westerlies to autumn rainfall is more than their contribution to
spring rainfall. Hence, the southeast part of Ethiopia receives the year‘s secondary maxima rainfall
in autumn from the Indian Ocean easterlies.
November- February: In November, the ITCZ shifts southwards towards the equator and in
December-February, the main pressure systems which determine surface air circulation and
direction in Ethiopia are the anticyclones over Egypt and Arabia, and the low pressure area over
the Lake Victoria-southwest Ethiopia. It leads to dry climatic situation in Ethiopia.
3.2 SOURCES OF RAINFALL DATA IN ETHIOPIA
I. Ground observed data set

 Sources: Ethiopia National Meteorological Agency5
 Spatial Extent: randomly distributed above 1,200 rainfall gauged stations
 Temporal extent: vary according to the year establishment
 Time Scale: commonly available with daily and monthly
 Quality: observed data is realistic but has temporal and spatial coverage gaps
5
www.nma.gov.et

II. Blending Grid data

 Sources: Ethiopia National Meteorological Agency
 Spatial Extent: Evenly distributed 4km Spatial Resolution grids
 Temporal Extent: available since 1980
 Time Scale: Daily, Monthly and Annually
 Quality: fill coverage gaps of observed data
III. Satellite observed Rainfall estimates (RFE) data set
 Sources: FEWS NET Data Portals6
 Time Scale: Daily, Decadal, Monthly and Annually
 Quality: requires bias correction
IV. Satellite observed Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)
 Sources: NASS portal7
 Spatial Extent: Evenly distributed in 8 km Spatial Resolution grids
 Temporal Extent: Starts from 1998
 Time Scale: Daily, Decadal, monthly and Annually
V. Satellite observed CMORPH
 Sources: National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)8
 Spatial Extent: Evenly distributed in 28 km Spatial Resolution grids
 Temporal Extent: Starts from 2002
 Time Scale: 3hr and daily
VI. Satellite based Reanalysis CFSR data set
 Sources: National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)9
 Spatial Extent: Evenly distributed 38 km Spatial Resolution grids
 Time Scale: Daily and sub-daily data with 3, 6, 12 hr data set
 Quality: requires bias correction; Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) has a bias
corrected dataset
Note
While all remote sensing based rainfall datasets have good coverage and even distribution, the
data has to be bias-corrected and validated with ground observed dataset with local scale before
their use for any scale and type of project design
3.3 CHECKING ADEQUACY OF RAIN GAUGES AND DATA RECORD
The basic instrument for point rainfall measurement is rain gauge. To compute areal rainfall for a
given project area, there should be an optimal number of rain gauges. Statistics has been used in
determining the optimum number of rain gauges required for a given catchment. The basis behind
6
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/fews/rfe.shtml
7
http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/airquality/services/opendap/TRMM/trmm.html
8
https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/cmorph-cpc-morphing-technique-high-resolution-
precipitation-60s-60n
9
http://rda.ucar.edu/pub/cfsr.html

such statistical calculations is that a certain number of rain gauge stations are necessary to give
average rainfall with a certain percentage of error. If the allowable error is more than the calculated
error, lesser number of gauges will be required.
The optimum number of rain gauges (N) can be estimated using Equation 3.1:
2
C 
N  V 
E  (3.1)
Where: Cv = Coefficient of variation of rainfall based on the existing rain gauge stations
E = Allowable percentage error in the estimate of basic mean rainfall
The allowable percentage error (E) should be limited to below 20% or the case of project work
while the maximum allowable percentage of error for research work should not exceed from 10%.
In addition the number of data records in the given rain gauges also has significance important. If
the number of observation increases then the standard deviation and mean value decreases.
Therefore, a data series could be considered reliable and adequate if the coefficient of variation,
CV is less than or equal to 10%.
p
cv 
 (3.2)
Where δP is the standard deviation and μ is the mean
Note
To get optimal rain station network for the given project area, it is possible to combine the
observed gauge stations‘ data with satellite data or re-analysis data grid stations if the quality of
the satellite dataset is validated and the bias correction done.
3.4 FILLING DATA GAP
Rainfall data records occasionally are incomplete due to different reasons like the absence of
observer, instrumental failure and social disorders. In such cases, one can estimate the missing
data by using the nearest stations rainfall data. There are a number of methods to fill the gaps of
the records. The following four methods are suggested for different conditions. Optimal
distribution
Table 3-1: Gap filling methods and their applicability

Name Formula Condition of Applicability
1
1. Arithmetic mean PX  P1  P2  P3  .....Pm  For the coefficient of variation among
stations less than 10%
M
N  P1 P P P 
PX    2  3  ..... m  If the amount of variation has no significance
2. Normal Ratio M  N1 N2 N3 N m  if the stations are in the same rainfall
regimes)
n
1 / d i2
3. Inverse distance Px   wi p i wi  n If the amount of variation has no significance
1 / d i2
i 1
weightage and the stations are in short distance
i 1
4. Regression
Locally developed If there are significant correlation
equation

3.5 TEST FOR CONSISTENCY
Rainfall data a station may not be consistent over the period of observation. Inconsistency may
occur due to due to different reasons: shifting of the rain gauge to new location; changes in the
ecosystem due to calamites, such as forest fires, landslides…etc.; significant construction works
that may change the surrounding or occurrence of observational error of a certain data. Therefore,
testing and adjusting the inconsistency have to be made in the rainfall data processing, which is
often carried out with double mass curve technique. The double mass curve technique is a
graphical approach where the accumulated rainfall at the doubtful gauge will be plotted as ordinate
versus the concurrent accumulated mean rainfall of nearby
Procedures
 Arrange the data with inverse chronological order (the latest data first) and compute the
cumulative amounts of annual rainfall for suspect gauge (gauge X)
 Compute the mean annual rainfall of the nearby stations with reliable dataset (gauges 1,
2, 3 …..n)
 Arrange the mean annual data with inverse chronological order and compute the
cumulative amounts of mean annual rainfall of the group of stations
 Plot cumulative rainfall for suspect gauge on y-axis versus mean cumulative rainfall for
the check gauges in x-axis (Figure 3-1)
 Attempt to construct a straight line through the data points; if there is consistency on the
suspect gauge, all points will fall on a straight line. Accept the data as it is.
 If there is a divergence from a straight line, it indicates an inconsistency in the data of
suspect gauge and the data has to be corrected.
 The year where the divergence started is marked and slopes before divergence (S1)
and after (S2) are computed. A correction factor (k) that adjusts the slope to S1 is
computed by dividing slopes (k=s1/s2)
 Correct the annual rainfall of the suspect station after the break of consistency test by
multiplying the value by the correction factor to avoid the inconsistency in the observed
data set
Figure 3-1: Examples of rainfall inconsistency test chart

3.6 AREAL RAINFALL
In order to estimate the catchment runoff of a given area, it is often necessary to estimate the
average areal rainfall for a catchment using data from number of observed stations within and
around catchment. Depending on the density and distribution of rainfall gauging stations and the
topography of the catchment, an appropriate method has to be selected to estimate the average
areal rainfall for a catchment (some methods are listed in Table 3-2). Procedure as follows:
1. Compute the Thiessen polygon of the stations using proximity analysis and clip it to its
catchment area
2. Compute the weightage of each station by dividing the area of individual polygon by the total
catchment area.
3. Multiply the rainfall within each polygon by its respective weightage
4. The average areal rainfall of the catchment will be the Sum all weighted rainfall.
5. Similarly, GIS tool can be used to compute average areal rainfall using Isohyetal method.
Following the next steps:
6. Construct or development Isohyetal map using one of the interpolation methods to interpolate
rainfall of stations at the surrounding of the catchment.
7. Compute isohyets using the contour tool in GIS, and convert the line to polygon by combing it
with the catchment polygon.
8. T Compute the average rainfall of the two consecutive isohyets and multiply this by the area
between the isohyets to get the weighted rainfall for each isohyets polygon.
9. Sum all the weighted rainfall and divide it by the total catchment area to get the average areal
rainfall of the catchment.
Table 3-2: Different areal rainfall methods

Methods Formula Applicability
1
1. Arithmetic mean P P1  P2  P3  .....Pm  The coefficient of variations
M among stations less than 10%
More accurate If there is no
orographic variation among
A1 P1  A2 P2  ....Am Pm
2. Thiessen Polygon P stations (if the stations are in the
A same face of the mountains and
high hills)
More accurate than for the
 P  P2   P  P3   P  Pn 
a1  1   a2  2 ....a n 1  n 1  above two methods if all the
3. Isohyetal P  2   2   2 
stations are in windward
A
directions
P  Mean Areal Rainfall , P1, P2 …Pm rainfall at different stations , A1, A2….Am, area of the Thiessen
Polygon for different stations , a1, a2,…. an-1, area between different isohyets , A total catchment area
3.7 RAINFALL FREQUENCY ANALYSIS
The term frequency analysis refers to the techniques whose objective is to analyze the occurrence
of hydrologic variable (e.g rainfall) within statistical framework. In many hydraulic-engineering
applications, the probability of occurrence of a particular extreme rainfall, e.g. a 24-h maximum
rainfall, will be of paramount importance. There is a definite relation between the frequency of
occurrences and magnitude; the ordinary events occurring almost regularly than the severe
storms. The reasonable length of record for frequency analysis should be more than 30 years.
However, a record of up to 20 years can be used as sample data set for frequency analysis if data
for longer record is not available. General frequency equation 3.3 (Chow (1951) can be used to
analysis the frequency of annual 24-hr maximum rainfall of the project area.

X T  X av  K T
3.3
Where: XT:=the event (magnitude) at return period of T years

Xav =the mean of the sample data
σ =the standard deviation and
K= frequency factor, which is different for different distribution and is dependent on the
recurrence interval, sample number, and skewness of the distribution.
Therefore, the major question in this frequency analysis is getting the fitted distribution for the
catchment rainfall dataset.
Follow procedure to compute design or maximum 24-hr rainfall:
Procedure
1. Extract the annual maximum time series data from the daily rainfall dataset (it has to be > 15
years of data record)
2. Compute the mean (Xav) and standard deviation (σ) of the data
3. If there is outlier in the annual maximum data series, remove it (them) from the data series
4. Find the fitted probability distribution for the available sample data. The fitting of the
probability distribution can be evaluated with statistical goodness fit tests (Kolmogorov
Smirnov, Anderson Darling, Chi-Squared) using Easy-Fit Excel Add-in or moment diagram
as graphical approach.
5. Using the parameters of the best fitted probability function, compute the KT values for
different return periods using the KT equations of each probability distribution
6. Compute the XT for the different return periods using Chow general frequency equation
Note: An Excel application for moment diagram fit test and quantile computation for the most
common 10 probability distributions are attached with this guideline. With 15 rainfall regimes of
Ethiopia the XT values for return periods 5 -200 years are also included.
3.8 RAINFALL – INTENSITY – DURATION (IDF)
The IDF relationship is a mathematical relationship between rainfall intensity, duration and return
period that was developed in several parts of the world for its practical use. The design rainfall-
intensity-duration relationships are obtained directly from the time distribution of rainfall, simply by
converting the rainfall during a given duration to rainfall intensity in millimeters per hour. Maximum
Intensity in mm per hour is derived for various durations and return periods for short durations of
rainfall ranging from 5 minutes to 120 minutes. The value of rainfall intensity is computed by
considering the proportion of the rainfall at the time of concentration using the of 24-hr rainfall.
Rainfall intensity is the average rainfall rate during the time of concentration. Based on this
definition, it can be calculated with the equation.
Rtc
i
tc (3.4)
Where: I= rainfall intensity (mm/hr),
Rtc=the amount of rainfall during the time of concentration (mm)
tc = the time of concentration for the sub basin (hr) for its detail refer section5.3.2.2

An analysis of rainfall data collected by Hershfield (1961) for different durations and frequencies
showed that the amount of rain falling during the time of concentration was proportional to the
amount of rain falling during the 24-hr period.
Rtc   tc Rday (3.5)

Where Rtc = the amount of rain falling during the time of concentration (mm of water),
αtc = the fraction of daily rainfall that occurs during the time of concentration, R day = the
amount of rain falling during 24-hr (mm of water).
The Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL, UK), Laboratory Report 623, Prediction of
Storm Rainfall in East Africa (D. Fiddes, J.A. Forsegate and A.O. Grigg) give a valuable regional
study on storm rainfalls in East Africa. The regional study is very useful for hydrologists and
engineers involved in determination of peak discharges for bridges and culverts. The research
study used the following model to fit a large number of stations data.
a
i
b  t n c (3.6)
Where i = the intensity or rainfall in mm/hr,

t = the duration in hours, a, b and n are constants.
The best fit was found when b equals 0.33 hours and the index n varies from 0.78 to 1.09.
Adopting 24 hour rainfall value as I24
it 
b  24  * I
b  t n c 24 (3.7)
Therefore, in this case, we adopt the value of ―b‖ is 0.33 and ―n‖ equals 0.9 (the average of n is
0.78 to 1.09 for East Africa).
Note:
Refer Rainfall regimes of Ethiopia from Figure 3-2:
The actually intensity value with different dration and return period is attached with Excel Spread
Sheet for each rainfall regime.


4 EVAPORATION AND EVAPOTRANSPIRATION ANALYSIS

4.1 DATA SOURCES
I. Ground observed dataset

 Sources: Ethiopia National Meteorological Agency10
 Spatial Extent: randomly distributed above 1,200 rainfall gauged stations
 Temporal extent: vary according to the year establishment of a particular station since
1940‘s
 Time Scale: commonly available with monthly rainfall and daily rainfall with special
request while availability of automatic rain gauge rainfall can be accessed for some of
the stations with special request
 Quality: observed data is more realistic and good quality data except record gaps in
some of the years and inclusion of human error through data processing
II. Blending grid data
 Sources: Ethiopia National Meteorological Agency
 Time Scale: Daily, Monthly and Annually
 Quality: not good as ground observed dataset but better from all other gridded data
sets
III. Satellite observed climate datasets
 We have a number of satiates based climate data set, which can be accessed through
internet connection
IV. Atmospheric reanalysis data sets (CFSR)
 Sources: National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)11
 Climatic data types: precipitation, Minimum Temperature, Maximum Temperature, Dew
point Temperature, Relative Humidity,
 Temporal Extent: Starts from 1979 up to date
 Time Scale: Daily and sub daily data with 3, 6, 12 hr data set
 Quality: still not good as ground observed data but much better than pure satellite
datasets
Note
All remote sensing based climatic dataset have good coverage and even distribution; however, the
data should be to validate with ground observed data set with local scale before use for any
project design and analysis. Climate dataset, which related to CROPWAT project is outdated so
not recommended for use
10
www.nma.gov.et
11
http://rda.ucar.edu/pub/cfsr.html or https://globalweather.tamu.edu/

4.2 OPEN WATER EVAPORATION
Estimation of evaporation from open water, such as lakes and reservoirs, has been the subject of
many studies and there are publications dating back to the early 1900s. Because of its nature,
evaporation from water surfaces is rarely measured directly, except over relatively small spatial
and temporal scales (Jones 1992). A wide variety of methods for estimating open water
evaporation has been reported in many literatures and used in practice. They can be categorized
into major types of approach which include pan evaporation, mass balance, energy budget
models, bulk transfer models, combination models, equilibrium temperature methods and empirical
approaches. The selection of the "best" technique to use for a particular location is largely a
function of the data availability, type or size of the water body, and the required accuracy of the
estimated evaporation.
Properties of the water body affecting evaporation include water depth, thermal stratification,
size of surface, rainfall, inflow and outflow, vegetation, turbidity and bottom reflectance and
salinity.
The three methods selected based on their data requirement and relative accuracy includes the
Penman equations, Meyer‘s Formula and empirical methods.
Table 4-1: Selected methods for estimating open evaporation

Name Formula Required input data
1. Penman‘s 1  Rn  C p e s  e a g a  Tmax, Tmin, Wind speed, relative

E  
equation (1947)   
humidity, sunshine hour
 u 
2. Meyer‘s Formula E L  K M ew  ea 1  9  Tmax, Tmin and wind speed
 16 
EL = Kpan Epan
3. Pan Evaporation Pan Evaporation measurement
E = evaporation (kg/m²s)
Δ = Slope of the saturation vapor pressure curve (Pa/ K)
Rn = Net irradiance (W /m2)
ρ = density of air (kg/ m3)
cp = heat capacity of air (J/ kg K)
ga = momentum surface aerodynamic conductance (m/s)
es = Saturation vapor pressure (Pa)
ea = existing vapor pressure (Pa)
λ = latent heat of vaporization (J/ kg)
γ = psychrometric constant (Pa/ K)
EL = Lake evaporation (mm/day)
ew = saturated vapour pressure at the water surface in mm of mercury
ea = actual vapour pressure of over-lying at air in mm of mercury
u9 = monthly mean wind velocity in km/hr at 9m above ground
Km= coefficient accounting for various other factors with a value of 0.36 for deep waters and 0.5
for small, shallow waters
Kpan = pan coefficient
Epan = pan Evaporation

4.3 REFERENCE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ETO)
The determination of irrigation water requirements requires an accurate estimate of the crop water
use rate. Seasonal and annual water use is often required to size irrigated area and to decide on
the application type in irrigation. The estimated irrigation water requirement using monthly
reference evapotranspiration (ETo) can be good indicator for the water demand of potential
irrigated lands. Therefore, ETo should be estimated with different methods. Many methods have
been developed to estimate ETo based on climatic factors. The simplest methods generally
require the average air temperature. The most complex methods require hourly data on solar
radiation, air temperature, wind speed, and vapor pressure. Commonly the methods are
categorized in four groups as
 Combination theory methods e.g. Penman–monteith method
 Temperature based methods – e.g Hargreaves method
 Radiation based methods – e.g. Priestley-Taylor method
 Pan evaporation based methods
Selection of appropriate method of computing ETo depends on:
 Type, accuracy, and duration of available climatic data
 Natural pattern of evapotranspiration during the year
 Intended use of the evapotranspiration estimates
The length of time that different types of data are available may dictate the type of method to use
for estimating ETo. In most of the case, there are not long period data except temperature,
because of more difficulty in measuring them. Therefore, in most locations, we resort to using
temperature-based ETo estimating methods or estimate other inputs based on the temperature,
latitude and altitude of the area. With these conditions three methods, Penman-Monteith, modified
Penman-Monteith and Hargreaves are recommended for ETo estimation in Ethiopian condition.
Table 4-2: Selected ETo estimation methods
Name Formula Required input data

900
1. Penman- 0.408 Rn  G    u 2 es  ea  Tmax, Tmin, Wind speed, relative
ETo  T  273
Monteith humidity, sunshine hour
   1  0.34u 2 
900
2. Modified 0.408 Rn  G    u 2 es  ea  Tmax, Tmin, latitude and altitude
Penman- ETo  T  273
and others estimated
Monteith    1  0.34u 2 
ETo  0.0023 Tmax  Tmin  Tm  17.8Ra
0.5
3. Hargreaves Tmax and Tmin
The details on the computation of Evapotranspiration also describe in the Agronomy guideline in
relation with crop water analysis.


5 STREAM FLOW ANALYSIS

Stream flow or discharge is the volume of water that moves through a specific point in a stream
during a given period of time and is given in units of cubic meter per second (cms). Stream flow
varies with the volume of water, precipitation, surface temperature, and other climatic factors.
Stream flow is important in irrigation project for determining the design flow through the peak flow
analysis and dependable flow estimating the land area to be irrigated.
5.1 DATA SOURCES AND AVAILABILITY
Data on stream flow are obtained by recording the water level at a gauging station on the river and
by relating this level to the corresponding rate of flow using rating curve of the station. The
precision of water level measurements and the sensitivity of the site to changes in water level
when flow rate varies are factors which govern the accuracy and reliability of the data. The
Hydrology Directorate of the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity is responsible for
collecting, processing, quality assurance and dissemination of stream flow data in Ethiopia.
Currently, there are about 570 operational stream flow gauging stations in the country but their
distribution is skewed. Expanding such stations is expensive and technically complex. Therefore, it
prefers to estimate stream flows using rainfall-runoff methods.
5.2 PEAK DISCHARGE AND FREQUENCY RELATIONSHIP
Magnitude of peak discharge is a function of its expected frequency of occurrence, which in turn, is
related to the magnitude of the potential damage and hazard. Engineers are interested in the
development of a flood versus frequency relationship and peak discharges versus the probability
of its occurrence or exceedance as well as in the flood volume and time distribution of runoff.
Sometimes, there might be a requirement to use flood hydrographs to route floods through
drainage or flood storage structures. This is especially important when an embankment is built
across a floodplain and flood compensation storage area is required to be provided to compensate
for the lost natural floodplain storage area taken up for the road embankment and to mitigate the
flood risk to the upstream areas.
5.3 DESIGN FLOOD
Design flood is the flood magnitude, which is expected to occur with a certain return period during
the design period of a hydraulic structure. The selection of the return period is genearly made
based on safety, econmy, size and category of the scheme, and it should be greater than the
design period of the structures. With the national and international expriance, the criteria of design
flood and the methods of flood estimation are recommended in this below.
Table 5-1: Recommended return periods for design of hydraulics structures
Types Return Period (Years)
Field drainages 5
Cross drainage works Side Ditches 10
Pipe Culverts 10
Culverts with 2m<span<6m 25
Short Span Bridges 6m<span<15m 50
Medium Span Bridges15m< span<50m 100
Long Span Bridges spans>50m 200
Diversion weirs 50
Spillways 1,000

5.3.1 Gauged stream flow
Gauged flow data commonly used for computing design flow if the target location coincides with
the point of the gauging stations or if it there is possibility to transfer the gauge data to target area
with homogenous region. The stream flow data has to be tested for its trend and stationary and
homogeneity before we use the flow data to compute design flood
Trend test for stream flow

A steady increase or decrease of the time series characteristics is known as trend. Natural and
man-made changes like deforestation, urbanization, large scale landslide, and large changes in
watershed conditions are the possible causes for the introduction of trend in stream flow time
series data. Test for the presence of trend can be done with turning Point test and Kendal‘s Rank-
Correlation test.
Turning point test

If a value, Xi is either greater or less than both preceding and succeeding values, turning point
occurred. The procedure of testing turning point is outlined below.
 Arrange the data in order of their occurrence (time chronological order)
 Apply either of the conditions, Xi-1 < Xi > Xi+1 or Xi-1 > Xi < Xi+1 and count how many
turning points are there in the series. Let the total number of turning points be P.
2( N  2)
E ( P) 
 Expected number of turning points is 3 , where N is the total number of
data
(16 N  29)
Var( P) 
 Variance of P is, 90
{P  E ( P )}
Z 
 Expressing P in standard normal form {Var ( P )}0.5
 Test it at 5% level of significance, and if Z is less than ±1.96, there is no any trend on
the dataset.
Kendal’s rank-correlation test

 Arrange the data in order of their occurrence (time chronological order)
 Pick up the first value of the series X1 and compare it with the rest of the series, X2,
X3,….Xn. Count the number of times it is greater than the rest, name as P1ex. Repeat
it for X2, X3, ….. Xn and name them P2ex, P3ex ….Pnex.
 Find the sum, P= P1ex +P2ex +P3ex ……….Pnex .
n(n  1)
Pmax 
 Maximum value of P can be 2 , it is for checking the previous analysis, the
previous sum should be less or equal to it.
n(n  1)
E ( P) 
 Expected number of turning points, 4 ,
 4 P  
     1
  n ( n  1)   , E(τ) should be zero
 Kendal‘s τ is computed as

 (2(2n  5)) 
Var( )   
 Variance of τ,  9n(n  1) 

Z
 Standard test for statistics of {Var ( )}0.5
 Test for the hypothesis at 5% level of significance, if Z is less than ±1.96, there is no any
trend on the data set
Note:
 And Excel Add-ins called XLSTAT is available on line that can easily handle both statistical
tests
 If there is a trend in the dataset, the trend has to be removed before using for the computation
of design flood.
Stream-flow data transfer

There is no research in delineating hydrological homogenous regions in Ethiopia. Most of the
researches are limited to defining flow regimes and catchment similarity characterizations, which
do not fully support data transferring from gauging stations to ungagged catchments. Therefore, in
situations where there are not sufficient rainfall data to use rainfall-runoff relations, it is suggested
to use generalized data transfer equation of Admasu Gebeyehu (1986) for Ethiopian basins.
Qu  Qg Au / Ag 
0.7
(5.1)
3
Where: Qu = mean annual daily maximum flow at ungauged site (m /s
Au= ungauged catchment area (km2)
Qg = mean annual daily maximum flow at gauged site (m3/s),
Ag = gauged catchment area (km2),
Peak flow Analysis

Once the daily stream flow data is accessed or obtained for the gauge station and transfers to the
target ungauged catchment is made, the procedures of frequency analysis used in rainfall
analysis is followed based on annual maximum series.
5.3.2 Estimation of design flood using rainfall-runoff relationship
In the absence of gauged stream flows at or near a target site, an accepted practice to estimate
peak runoff rates and hydrographs is using rainfall-runoff methods. There are a number of rainfall-
runoff methods that can be used for estimation of peak flow but all don‘t give reasonably accurate
estimate for a given catchment. In addition, averaging of results of several methods is not
recommended. Therefore, one has to select a method that most expresses the given catchment.
Each method has a range of application and limitations, which the engineer should clearly
understand prior to using them. The hydrologist or engineer must ensure that the selected
hydrologic method is appropriate for target catchment specific conditions and the availability of
inputs data to perform the required calculations using the method selected. If possible, the method
should be calibrated to local conditions and flood history.

5.3.2.1 Selection of the appropriate method for design flood estimation
An appropriate hydrologic analysis method should be selected for the target site and the
hydrologist should consider, at least the following selecting criteria in selecting an appropriate
method:
 Purpose of the design flood: Selection of the method for estimating design flood
depends on type and size of the structures like spillways, bridges, culverts, side ditches
and others. Therefore, the. For example, if the design flood is required for design of side
ditches or simple culverts, rational method, may be adequate to compute the peak flood.
However, if the project site has different detention or retention behaviors, a runoff
hydrograph will be required for estimating design flood.
 Availability of input data to develop the required hydrologic information: different
methods require different input data to relate the rainfall with runoff, therefore selection
of method also consider the availability of required data or information.
 Conditions in the watershed: It may limit applicability of alternative models. For
instance there are ponds, lakes, and depressions in the watershed that affect runoff
characteristics through their water storing nature, the rational equation will not be
appropriate for such cases.
Methods that can be used in estimating peak flood magnitudes for design of irrigation head works
in Ethiopia listed below in Table 5.2.
Table 5-2: Suggested rainfall-runoff methods for estimation of design flood

Maximum Preferable* Available
No Method Input data Catchment Land use packages or
area (km2) Type to use software’s
Catchment area, flow length,
1. Rational Excel and GIS
average slope, catchment 0.5 Urban
Method combination
characteristics, rainfall intensity
Catchment area, flow length, length  Excel and GIS
2.
SCS-CN to catchment centroid, max daily  HEC-HMS
0.5 - 65 Agricultural
Method rainfall, veg. type, soil cover and  SWAT
synthetic regional unit hydrograph  Others also
Synthetic Catchment area, flow length, length
3.
Unit to catchment centroid (center), daily  Excel and GIS
0.5 - 6000 For all
Hydrograph rainfall, veg. type and synthetic  HEC-HMS
Method regional unit hydrograph
Catchment Area, Soil  HEC-HMS
4. Soil
Characteristics, Climate data  WEAP
Moisture All All
(rainfall, temperature, Humidity,  1DMLSS
Method**
Wind speed, Sunshine), latitude,
* The preferable land use type selected based on the original development of the methods, however, it
doesn‘t mean to use it for other land uses.
** The details of the soil moisture methods are not presented here since they have different approach and
algorithms for different packages. Therefore, it is recommended to get the detail approach and algorithms
for each software packages from their technical document

5.3.2.2 Rational method
The Rational Method is logical, generalized and often reasonable. The Rational Method is most
accurate for estimating design storm peak runoff for areas up to 50 hectares (0.5 square km) and
presented from the perspective of each of the three ―independent‖ variables; runoff coefficient,
rainfall intensity and catchment area. Therefore, the peak flow can generally be expressed as
Equation 5.2 with variables in SI units. However, numerical coefficients will be different for other
units of these variables.
QP  0.00278 * CIA (5.2)
Where Qp= Peak runoff rate (m3/s) A= Catchment area (ha)

I = Rainfall intensity (mm/hr) C= Runoff coefficient (decimal)
Runoff Coefficient (C)

The run off coefficient (C) can be expressed in two ways, one as scientific parameter that
expresses the abstractions (infiltration, interception, detention storage, etc.) and diffusion, the
tendency for a hydrograph to spread in time and attenuate in peak as it moves downstream. It is
also expressed as empirical parameter that quantify based on best watershed observation. In both
perspectives, runoff coefficient can be determined from catchment characteristics, land use/cover,
slope and soil type (Tables 5-3 and 5-4).
Table 5-3: Runoff coefficient for rural catchment

Slope factor Cs Soil permeability factor CP Land use/cover Cv
Well drained soil e.g. sand and
< 3.5% Flat 0.05 0.05 Dense forest/thick bush 0.05
gravel
3.5% - 10% Soft to Fair drained soil e.g. sand and 0.1 Sparse forest/dense
0.1 0.1
moderate gravel with fines grass
10% - 25% Rolling 0.15 Poorly drained soil e.g. silt 0.15 Grassland/scrub 0.15
Impervious soil e.g. clay, 0.25
25% - 45% Hilly 0.2 Cultivation 0.2
organic silts and clay
>45% Mountainous 0.25 Rock 0.4 Space grassland 0.25
Water-logged black cotton soil 0.5 Barren 0.3
C= Cs+Cp+Cv
Source: Chow, 1964, p. 21-38; ASCE, 1996, p. 590
Table 5-4: Runoff coefficient for urban catchment

Runoff Runoff
Description of Area Description of Area
Coefficients Coefficients
Business: Downtown areas 0.70-0.95 Neighborhood areas 0.50-0.70
Residential: Multi units,
Residential: Single-family areas 0.30-0.50 0.40-0.60
detached
Residential: Multi units, attached 0.60-0.75 Suburban 0.25-0.40
Residential (0.5 hectare lots or
0.30-0.45 Apartment dwelling areas 0.50-0.70
more)
Industrial: Light areas 0.50-0.80 Industrial: Heavy areas 0.60-0.90
Parks, cemeteries 0.10-0.25 Playgrounds 0.20-0.40
Railroad yard areas 0.20-0.40 Unimproved areas 0.10-0.30
Street : Asphalt 0.70-0.95 Concrete 0.80-0.95
Drives and walks 0.75-0.85 Roofs 0.75-0.95
Source: Chow, 1964, p. 21-38; HEC No. 19, 1984, ASCE, 1996, p. 590,

In addition to the catchment characteristics, the runoff coefficient is affected by the return period of
the design flood to be estimated. The return period of less than 25 years does not have significant
change on the runoff coefficient, but return periods of 25 year and above have effect on the runoff
coefficient and this can be expressed with the multiplier presented in Table 5-5.
Table 5-5: T-year multipliers of runoff coefficient (C )

Return Period < 25 25 50 100
Multiplier 1 1.1 1.2 1.25
Source: Viessman & Lewis (1996), p. 315
To avoid a value of runoff coefficient (C) of more than unit due to multiplier effect, a modification
equation is proposed by Chow (1964) and Singh (1988) to adjust the value of runoff coefficient.
0.075
T 
C  C100  r 
 100  (5.3)
Where Tr is return period in years, C100 is C for the 100-year event
As many catchments are not of a single land treatment, an area-weighted composite C has to be
computed using Equation 5.4 for catchments of multiple land treatments.
n
C A
i 1
i i
C comp  n
(5.4)
 Ai
i 1
Where Ccomp= Composite C Ai= sub-catchment area i

n= number of sub-catchments Ci=C of sub-catchment i
Rainfall Intensity (I)

As discussed in Chapter 3, the rainfall intensity of a catchment is from the time of concentration
(tc) of a catchment and the maximum rainfall for the different return periods.
Time of concentration (tc) is the time required for an entire watershed to contribute to runoff at the
point of interest for hydraulic design, which is calculated by the time of travel of runoff or flow from
the most hydraulically remote point to the point under investigation. Time of travel is function of
length and velocity of flow for a particular watercourse. There may be multiple paths to consider in
determining the longest travel time. The hydrologist/engineer must identify the flow path along
which the longest travel time is likely to occur. Roussel et al. 2005 recommended the use of Kerby-
Kirpich approach for estimating watershed time of concentration. The Kerby-Kirpich approach
requires comparatively a few input parameters, straightforward to apply, and produces readily
interpretable results. The Kerby-Kirpich approach produces time of concentration by adding the
overland flow time (Kerby) and the channel flow time (Kirpich):
t c  Tov  TCh
(5.5)
Where: Tov = overland flow time and Tch = channel flow time
Kerby Method
Kerby method is provided in Equation 5.6 for estimating overland flow time from small catchments
where overland flow is an important component of overall travel time.

Tov  K L  N 
0.467
S 0.235 (5.6)
Where: Tov is as defined above and is given in minutes
L = the overland-flow length, in meters
K = units conversion coefficient
K = 1.44 for SI units
N = a dimensionless retardance coefficient
S = the slope of terrain conveying the overland flow
Table 5-6: Retardance Coefficients of Kerby Equation

Generalized terrain Retardance Generalized terrain Retardance
description coefficient (N) description coefficient (N)
Pavement 0.02 Smooth, bare, packed soil 0.10
Deciduous forest 0.60 Pasture, average grass 0.40
Poor grass, cultivated row crops, 0.20 Dense grass, coniferous forest, 0.80
or moderately rough packed surfaces or deciduous forest with deep litter
Kirpich Method
For channel-flow, Kirpich equation is:
Tch  KL0.770S 0.385 (5.7)

Where: Tch is as defined above and is given in minutes
L = the overland-flow length, in meters;
S = slope of main channel (m/m)
K = a unit conversion coefficient (K = 0.0195 for SI units)
For the existence of a low slope or a transitional slope condition, an adjusted slope should be
used in calculating the time of concentration.
Example on computation of peak flood using rational formula

Data is from Shewu Small Scale Irrigation Project, Bench Maji Zone, SNNPR
The drainage area = 21ha more 60% land covered with cultivation
The main flow length = 641.39m Soil Hydrological Group = B
 Upstream Elevation (Elvus) = 1419m Downstream Elevation (Elvds) = 1368m
Maximum daily rainfall for 25 year return period (P24) = 197.54mm
Computation of Time of Concentration

Slope (S) = ( Elus – Elds)/L = (1419-1368)/641.39 = 0.08
For over land flow use Kerby‘s retardance coefficient, N= 0.2 for cultivated land and K= 1.44 for SI
unit.
For the channel flow use the Kirpich ‗s K= 0.0195 for SI units
Tov  K L  N 
0.467
S 0.235= 1.44*(641.39*0.2)0.467*(0.08) -0.235) = 25.16min
Tch  KL0.770S 0.385 = 0.0195*(641.39)0.77*(0.08)-0.385 = 7.49 min
tc = Tov + Tch = 25.16 + 7.49 = 32.65 min
Runoff coefficient

Values for catchment characteristics:

S = 8%; CT = 0.1; Cs = 0.1 for hydrological soil group B; Cv =0.2 for cultivated land
C= CT +CS+CV = 0.1+0.1+0.2 = 0.4
Rainfall Intensity
24hr maximum precipitation = 197.54mm; it implies I24 = 197.54/24 = 8.23mm/hr
Time of concentration = 32.65min (0.544hr), b=0.33 and n=0.9
Itc = (b+24)/(b+tc)^n *I24 = (0.33+24)/(0.33+0.544)^0.9 *8.23 = 226.04mm/hr
Peak Runoff rate will then be

Qp = 0.00278CIA = 0.00278*0.4*226.04mm/hr*21 ha = 5.278 m3/sec
5.3.2.3 SCS-CN method
The SCS method is widely used for estimating floods on small to medium-sized ungauged
catchments around the world. The method was developed based on 24-hr rainfall and runoff data
in USA. Its derivation assumed that no runoff occurs until rainfall equals an initial abstraction, Ia
(losses before runoff begins) and satisfies cumulative infiltration, F (the actual retention before
runoff begins) or water retained in the catchment, excluding Ia. The potential retention before
runoff begins (S) is the value F + Ia that would be attained in a very long storm. The SCS runoff
equation is therefore a method of estimating direct runoff from 24-hour or daily storm rainfall. The
relationship is given Equation 5.8 below:
P  I a 2
Q (5.8)
P  I a   S
Where: Q = accumulated direct runoff, mm
P = accumulated rainfall (potential maximum runoff), mm;
Ia = initial abstraction (surface storage, interception, and infiltration prior to runoff), mm;
S = potential maximum retention, mm.
The relationship between Ia and S was developed from experimental data is given as Ia =
0.2STheredfore, Equation 5.8 is given as Equation 5.9 below.
Q
P  0.2S 2
P  0.8S (5.9)
S is related with soil and land cover through the empirical value called Curve Number (CN), the
values which ranges 0 - 100. The relationship between S and CN is expressed as in Equation 5.10
 100 
S  254   1
 CN  (5.10)
Curve number depends on land use/cover, treatment practices and the soil in the catchment. Land
use/cover of the catchment area refers all the cover types, including agricultural and non-
agricultural uses, vegetation, water bodies, roads, roofs, etc. The treatment practice address
different land practice on the cultivation and non-cultivated process it includes cultivation practice
as straight, contour or seeding practice as closed seeded, row and other related practices.
Similarly, soil properties influence the relationship between rainfall and runoff by affecting the rate
of infiltration. The SCS has divided soils into four hydrologic soil groups based on infiltration rates
(Groups A, B, C, and D) as presented in Table 5.6. The determination of runoff curve number has
also considered the effects of land-treatment measures in cultivated land use including mechanical

practices such as contouring or terracing and management practices such as rotation of crops.
Therefore, CN has to be selected based on the combination all aspects. CNs for different land
use/cover, hydrologic soul groups and land treatment are given in Tables 5-8 to 5-11.
The CN values give in these tables are based on an average antecedent moisture condition
(AMC), i.e., soils that are neither very wet nor very dry when the design storm begins. CNs can be
selected only after a field inspection of the catchment area and a review of cover type and soil
maps. Table 5.11 gives the antecedent conditions for the three classifications. Empirical
relationships have been developed between the CN for average AMC and CNs for dry and we
conditions to enable convert the normal CN to wet and dry CNs as shown by Equations 5.11 and
5.12 below.
CN II
CN I  (5.11)
2.3  0.013CN II
CN II
CN III 
0.43  0.0057 CN II (5.12)
The selection of CN value is always subjective and requires experience and understanding of the
catchment. Selection of overly conservative CN‘s will result in the estimation of excessively high
runoff and consequently costly structures while selection of conservatively low values will result in
economic loss due to underestimation of design floods. Therefore, care has to be taken in
selecting the CN value. This subjectivity of CN selection is the major limitation the method.
Table 5-7: Hydrologic soil group (HSG) classification according to SCS (1972)
Runoff
Group Description
Potential
Soils having high infiltration rates even when thoroughly wetted and consisting
A Low chiefly of deep, well to excessively drained sands or gravels. These soils have a
high rate of water transmission.
Soil having moderate infiltration rates when thoroughly wetted and consisting
chiefly of moderately deep to deep, moderately well to well drained soils with
B Low -moderate
moderately fine to moderately coarse textures. These soils have a moderate rate
of water transmission.
Soils having slow infiltration rates when thoroughly wetted and consisting chiefly of
C Moderate- high soils with a layer that impedes downward movement of water, or soils with
moderately fine to fine texture. These soils have a slow rate of water transmission.
Soils having very slow infiltration rates when thoroughly wetted and consisting
chiefly of clay soils with a high swelling potential, soils with a permanent high water
D High table, soils with a clay pan or clay layer at or near the surface, and shallow soils
over nearly impervious material. These soils have a very slow rate of water
transmission.

Table 5-8: Cultivated agricultural land*

Curve numbers for
Cover description
Hydrologic soil group
Cover Type Treatment** Hydrologic Condition*** A B C D
Bare soil - 77 86 91 94
Fallow Crop residue Poor 76 85 90 93
cover (CR) Good 74 83 88 90
Row Poor 72 81 88 91
Straight row (SR)
Crops Good 67 78 85 89
SR + CR Poor 71 80 87 90
Good 64 75 82 85
Poor 70 79 84 88
Contoured (C)
Good 65 75 82 86
Poor 69 78 83 87
C + CR
Good 64 74 81 85
Contoured & Poor 66 74 80 82
terraced (C & T) Good 62 71 78 81
C&T + CR Poor 65 73 79 81
Good 61 70 77 80
Poor 65 76 84 88
Small grain SR
Good 63 75 83 87
Poor 64 75 83 86
SR + CR
Good 60 72 80 84
C Poor 63 74 82 85
Good 61 73 81 84
Poor 62 73 81 84
C + CR
Good 60 72 80 83
C&T Poor 61 72 79 82
Good 59 70 78 81
Poor 60 71 78 81
C&T + CR
Good 58 69 77 80
Close-seeded SR Poor 66 77 85 89
or broadcast Good 58 72 81 85
Legumes or C Poor 64 75 83 85
Rotation Good 55 69 78 83
Poor 63 73 80 83
Meadow C&T
Good 51 67 76 80
*Average runoff condition, and Ia = 0.2S.
** Crop residue cover applies only if residue is on at least 5% of the surface throughout the year.
***Hydrologic condition is based on a combination of factors that affect infiltration and runoff, including (a)
density and canopy of vegetative areas, (b) amount of year-round cover, (c) amount of grass or closed-
seeded legumes in rotations, (d) percent of residue cover on the land surface (good > 20%), and (e) degree
of roughness.
Poor: Factors impair infiltration and tend to increase runoff.
Good: Factors encourage average and better than average infiltration and tend to decrease runoff.

Table 5-9: Other agricultural lands1

Curve numbers for
Cover description
hydrologic soil group
Cover type Hydrologic condition A B C D
Poor 68 79 86 89
Pasture, grassland, orange continuous forage for
Fair 49 69 79 84
grazing2
Good 39 61 74 80
Meadow-continuous grass, protected from grazing 35 59 72 79
Poor 48 67 77 83
Brush-weed-grass mixture with brush the major
Fair 35 56 70 77
element3
Good 304 48 65 73
Poor 57 73 82 86
Woods-grass combination5 Fair 43 65 76 82
Good 32 58 72 79
Poor 45 66 77 83
Woods6 Fair 36 60 73 79
Good 304 55 70 77
Farms—buildings, lanes, driveways, and
59 74 82 86
surrounding lots
1
Average runoff condition, and Ia = 0.2S
2
Poor: < 50% ground cover or heavily grazed with no mulch, Fair: 50 to 75% ground cover and not heavily
grazed, Good >75% ground cover and lightly or only occasionally grazed
3
Poor: < 50% ground cover, Fair: 50 to 75% ground cover, Good: > 75% ground cover
4
Actual curve number is less than 30; use CN = 30 for runoff computations.
5
CNs shown were computed for areas with 50% grass (pasture) cover. Other combinations of conditions
may be computed from CNs for woods and pasture.
6
Poor: Forest litter, small trees, and brush are destroyed by heavy grazing or regular burning. , Fair : Woods
grazed but not burned, and some forest litter covers the soil. , Good : Woods protected from grazing, litter
and brush adequately cover soil.
Table 5-10: Arid and semi-arid rangelands*

Cover description Curve numbers for hydrologic soil group
Hydrologic
Cover type A B C D
condition
Poor 80 87 93
Mixture of grass, weeds, and low-growing
Fair 71 81 89
brush, with brush the minor element
Good 62 74 85
Poor 66 74 79
Mountain brush mixture of small trees and
Fair 48 57 63
brush
Good 30 41 48
Poor 75 85 89
Small trees with grass understory Fair 58 73 80
Good 41 61 71
Poor 63 67 80 85
Brush with grass understory Fair 55 51 63 70
Good 49 35 47 55
Poor 77 85 88
Desert shrub brush Fair 72 81 86
Good 68 79 84
*Average runoff condition, and Ia=0.2S
**Poor < 30 % ground cover (litter, grass, and brush over story), Fair : 30 to 70 % ground cover Good: > 70
% ground cover
***Curve numbers for Group A have been developed only for desert shrub.

Table 5-11: Runoff curve numbers- urban areas*

Cover description Curve numbers for hydrologic soil groups
Average %
Cover type and Hydrologic condition A B C D
impervious area**
Open space (lawns, parks, cemeteries, etc.)***
Poor condition (grass cover <50%) 68 79 86 89
Fair condition (grass cover 50 % to 75%) 49 69 79 84
Good condition (grass cover >75%) 39 61 74 80
Impervious areas: Paved parking lots, roofs, driveways, etc.) 98 98 98 98
Streets and roads:
Paved; curbs and storm drains (excluding right-of way) 98 98 98 98
Paved; open ditches (including right-of-way) 83 89 92 93
Gravel (including right-of-way) 76 85 89 91
Dirt (including right-of-way) 72 82 87 89
Desert urban areas: Natural desert cover 63 77 85 88
Urban districts:
Commercial and business 85 89 92 94 95
Industrial 72 81 88 91 93
Residential districts by average lot size:
0.05 hectare or less 65 77 85 90 92
0.1 hectare 38 61 75 83 87
0.135 hectare 30 57 72 81 86
0.2 hectare 25 54 70 80 85
0.4 hectare 20 51 68 79 84
0.8 hectare 12 46 65 77 82
Developing urban areas
Newly graded areas (pervious areas only, no vegetation) 77 86 91 94
* Average runoff condition, and Ia=0.2S
** The average percent impervious area shown was used to develop the composite CNs. Other assumptions
are as follows: impervious areas are directly connected to the drainage system, impervious areas have a CN
of 98, and pervious areas are considered equivalent to open space in good hydrologic condition. If the
impervious area is not connected, the SCS method has an adjustment to reduce the effect.
*** CNs shown equivalent to those of pasture. Composite CNs may be computed for other combinations of
open space cover type.
Table 5-12: Rainfall ranges for amc, growing and dormant seasons
Growing Season Dormant Season
Antecedent
Conditions Description Five-Day Antecedent Five-Day Antecedent
Condition
Rainfall Rainfall
An optimum Condition of catchment area
Dry
soils, where soils are dry but not to the
Less than 36 mm Less than 13 mm
wilting point, and when satisfactory
plowing or cultivation takes place
Average The average case for annual floods 36 to 53 mm 13 to 28 mm
When a heavy rainfall, or light rainfall
Wet and low temperatures, have occurred
Over 53 mm Over 28 mm
during the five days previous to a given
storm

SCS Peak Discharge Equation

The peak discharge is computed by developing hydrograph using the time conditions and the
computed runoff depth (Q) based on the maximum daily rainfall (P) of a given return period.
Hydrograph development depends on the catchment area. If the catchment area is less than 10
km2; we can approximate it with single triangular hydrograph analysis otherwise has to be
computed with multiple triangular hydrographs analysis based on rainfall profile.
Single Hydrograph analysis

Once Q is computed from P using SCS-CN equation and the catchment area is less than 10km2,
the peak discharge is approximated with single triangular hydrograph shown in Figure 5.1.
The base of the hydrograph is the time, named as Time of base (Tb) and it is computed from the
different time components of the hydrograph as duration of rainfall excess (D), lag time of the peak
(La), time of peak (Tp).
Time of the peak is estimated from half of the rainfall excess and large portion of time of
concentration as Tp = 0.5D +0.6Tc.
The base length of the hydrograph is given as Tb= 2.67Tp.
From a triangular hydrograph with the assumption that excess rainfall depth equals runoff depth,
the peak discharge can be estimated by Equation 5.13.
0.208 AQ 0.208 AQ
qp  
TP 0.5D  0.6Tc (5.13)
Where:
qp = peak discharge (m3/s)
Q = the excess rainfall depth (mm) or the
runoff depth computed with SCS-CN
equation;
A = watershed area (km2)
Tc = time of concentration (hr);
D = duration of excess rainfall (hr), which can
be approximated as follows:
Figure 5-1: SCS triangular hydrograph
Tc
D , if Tc  3hrs
6
D  1hr if 3hrs  Tc  6hrs
D  1.5hr if 6hrs  Tc  9hrs
D  2hr if Tc  9hrs

Calculation Example
This example is taken from Shewu Small Scale Irrigation Project in Bench Maji Zone of SNNPR.
The example is taken for the analysis of peak discharge for the design of cross drainage structure
(Shewu_CD_L2) on the main canal.
The drainage area = 298.1ha The main flow length = 3,686.01m
 Upstream Elevation = 1,481m asl Downstream Elevation = 1,359m asl
 Soil Hydrological Group = B Land use condition
 (60% cultivated, 40% wood lands
Computation of Time of Concentration

Slope = ( Elus– Elds)/L = (1481-1359)/3686.01 = 0.033
Calculation of Tov
K= 1.44 for SI unit; N= 0.2 for 60% cultivated land; N=0.6 for 40% of woodlands
Weighted N =0.6*0.2 + 0.4*0.6) = 0.36
Tov = K(L*N)0.467 S-0.235 = 1.44*(3686.01*0.36)0.467 *(0.033)-0.235 = 92.23min
Calculation of Tch calculation
Kirpich K= 0.0195 for SI units
Tch = KL0.770 S-0.385 = 0.0195*(3686.010.770)*(0.033-0.385) = 40.43min
tc = Tov +Tch = 92.23 + 40.43 = 132.66min = 2.211hr
Curve Number (CN) and potential maximum retention(S)

For 60% cultivated catchment with ‗B‘ hydrological soil group; CNII = 81
For 40% woodland catchment with ‗B‘ hydrological soil group CNII = 66
Weighted curve number CNII= (0.6*81+0.4*66) = 75
Runoff depth and peak discharge

Based on the rainfall frequency analysis, the maximum daily areal rainfall in the catchment with 25
years of return period is 197.54 mm.
D =tc/6= 2.21/6= 0.37 hrs Tp=D/2 +0.6 tc = 0.37/2 = 0.6*2.21 =1.51 hrs
For Average condition

S= 254*(100/CNIII – 1) = 254*(100/75 -1) = 84.67mm
Q = (P- 0.2S)2/(P+0.8S) =(197.54 - 0.2*84.67)^2/(197.54+0.8*84.67) = 122.96 mm
0.208 * A * Q 0.208 * 2.981 *122 .96
Qp    50.49 m3/s
Tp 1.51
For saturated condition
CN II 75
CN III   = 87.23
0.43  0.0057 CN II 0.43  0.057 * 75
S= 254*(100/CNIII – 1) = 254*(100/87.23 -1) = 37.18 mm
Q = (P- 0.2S)2/(P+0.8S) = (197.54 - 0.2*37.18)2/(197.54+0.8*37.18) = 159.01 mm
0.208 * A * Q 0.208 * 2.981 * 159 .01
Qp    65.29 m3/s
Tp 1.51

Complex Hydrograph
For a catchment area of over 10km2, the peak discharge has to be computed with
complex/combined triangular hydrograph approach. The complex triangular hydrograph is
constructed for six durational storms derived from the 24-hr rainfall profile.
The steps and procedures to construct complex hydrograph and compute peak discharge is
described in the following example using data from Shewu weir site .
1. Catchment area = 2,146 ha
2. Weighted curve number for the catchment using the land use, soil and hydrologic condition
of the catchment, use weighted CN = 65
3. Compute maximum potential retention (S) between rainfall (P) and direct runoff (Q) using
25400
S  254 , in this example, the weighted S = 136.8mm
CN
4. Time of concentration (Tc) = 3.26 hr
5. Rainfall excess duration (D): approximated based on the time of concentration of the
catchment as
 If Tc < =3hr, as D= Tc/6
 If 3 < Tc < =6hr as D=1hr
 If 6 <Tc<=9hr as D=1.5hr
 For Tc >9hr as D=2 hr
6. Time of peak (Tp) = 0.5D+0.6Tc = 0.5 *1 + 0.6*3.26 = 2.46hr
7. Time of base (Tb) = 2.67Tp = 2.67*2.46 = 6.56hr
8. 24-hr Design storm (P) for 100 year return period = 224.99mm
9. The peak discharge is computed with six triangular hydrographs that constructed for
different excess rainfall in the 24 hr. To construct the six complex triangular hydrograph we
use the 24hr rainfall profile chart (Figure 5.2) and point areal to point rainfall ration (Table
5.13). The steps constructed in table 5.14
Figure 5-2: Hourly distribution of daily rainfall profile

Table 5-13: Areal to point rainfall ratio (%)

Area Duration (hr)
(km2) 0.5 1 2 3 4 5 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
25 88 78 82 85 87 88 88 91 92 93 93 94 94
50 61 71 78 82 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 92 93
75 57 67 75 79 82 84 83 87 89 90 91 91 92
100 54 65 73 78 80 82 83 86 88 89 90 91 91
125 52 63 72 76 79 81 82 85 87 88 89 90 91
150 50 61 70 75 78 80 81 84 86 88 89 89 90
175 48 59 69 74 77 79 81 84 86 87 88 89 90
200 46 58 68 73 76 78 80 83 85 87 88 88 89
225 45 57 57 72 75 77 72 82 85 86 87 88 89
250 44 55 66 71 74 77 78 82 84 86 87 88 88
275 42 54 65 70 74 76 78 81 84 85 86 87 88
300 41 53 54 70 73 75 77 81 83 85 86 87 88
325 40 53 63 58 72 73 77 80 83 84 86 87 87
350 38 52 63 68 72 74 76 80 82 84 85 86 87
375 39 51 62 68 71 74 78 80 82 84 85 86 87
400 38 50 61 67 71 73 75 79 82 83 85 86 87
425 37 50 61 67 70 73 75 79 81 83 84 85 86
450 36 49 60 66 70 72 74 79 81 83 84 85 86
475 36 48 60 66 69 72 74 78 81 83 84 85 86
500 35 48 59 66 69 72 74 78 80 82 84 85 86
525 34 47 59 65 68 71 73 78 80 82 83 85 85
550 34 47 58 64 68 71 73 77 80 82 83 84 85
575 33 46 58 64 68 71 73 77 80 82 83 84 85
600 33 45 57 63 67 71 72 77 79 81 83 84 85
625 32 45 57 63 67 70 72 76 79 81 83 84 85
650 32 45 56 63 67 70 72 76 79 81 82 84 84
675 31 44 56 62 66 69 71 76 79 81 82 83 84
700 31 44 56 62 66 69 71 76 78 80 82 83 84
725 31 43 55 62 66 69 71 75 78 80 82 83 84
750 30 43 55 61 65 68 71 75 78 80 82 83 84

Table 5-14: Steps to construct complex hydrograph

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Duration Daily point R.F profile R.F profile Areal to point Areal to point Incremental Descending Rearranged Rearranged cumulative
(hr) R.F (mm) (%) (mm) R.F Ratio (%) R.F Ratio(mm) R.F (mm) order (No) order (No) Incremental RF(mm) Rainfall (mm)
1 224.99 34.94 78.61 78 61.31 61.31 1 5 20.68 20.68
2 44.66 100.47 82 82.39 21.07 4 3 21.47 42.15
3 54.37 122.33 85 103.98 21.60 2 1 61.31 103.46
4 64.09 144.19 87 125.45 21.47 3 2 21.60 125.06
5 73.80 166.05 88 146.13 20.68 5 4 21.07 146.13
6 83.52 187.91 88 165.36 19.24 6 6 19.24 165.37
Brief descriptions for the columns to construct complex Hydrograph
1 Fill the six rows with the duration value as D, 2D, 3D, 4D, 5D and 6D
2 Bring the computed design storm with the required recurrence interval (return period)
3 Read the rainfall profile with D, 2D, 3D ….6D from chart presented in Figure 5.2 below
4 Multiply the rainfall profile with the design storm presented in #2 and fill #4
5 Read areal to point ratio for different duration and catchment area from Table 5.14 below
6 Multiply #4 by #5 and fill in #6
7 Calculate incremental rainfall by deducing current areal rainfall from succeeding areal rainfall in #6
8 Assign 1-6 order values with their descending order of the incremental rainfall as listed in #7
9 Rearrange the order value arbitrary but keep the highest as middle of them and check with the cumulative to be a continuous incremental in this Example
5,3,1,2,4,6
10 Fill in the corresponding incremental rainfall value to the rearranged order of #9 from #7
11 Fill in the cumulative rainfall values of #10 by adding the rainfall values in the preceding duration

Continue Table 5-14

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Direct Incremental Time of Time of Time of Equation for Equation for Construct each hydrograph
Time (hr) qp (m3/sec)
Runoff (mm) Runoff (mm) beginning Peak End Resign limp Recession limp individual for a given time in
0 -1 0 0 0 2.46 6.56 0.00 0.2525T 0.992-0.1512T between beginning and end
1-2 1.44 1.47 1 3.46 7.56 2.67 0.5772T-0.5772 2.6183-0.3463T time
2-3 27.21 25.84 2 4.46 8.56 46.90 10.484T-20.967 53.844-6.2902T
3-4 40.71 13.18 3 5.46 9.56 23.92 4.4878T-13.463 25.742-2.6827T
4-5 55.21 14.76 4 6.46 10.56 26.79 4.0691T-16.276 25.782-2.4415T
5-6 69.32 14.11 5 7.46 11.56 25.61 3.435T-17.175 23.825-2.061
Brief descriptions for the columns to construct complex Hydrograph
12 Compute the direct runoff for each cumulative rainfall with weighted curve number(CN) and maximum retention capacity (S) for the catchment
13 Find incremental runoff by reducing the values of #12 by proceeding values
14 Fill in the time of beginning of hydrograph as 0, D, 2D, ……5Dhr
15 Fill in the time to peak as, add tp computed for the catchment on the time of beginning
16 Fill in the time to end as, add tb computed for the catchment on the time of beginning
17 Calculate peak discharge with qp = 0.208AQ/tp, using the tp for each duration;
18 Construct the triangular hydrograph and Drive the linear equation for rising limp for each time duration
19 Construct the triangular hydrograph and Drive the linear equation for recession limp
20 Construct each hydrograph individual for a given time in between beginning and end time
Equation for rising limp

Q pT
Tp
(5.14)
Equation for recession limp

(T  T p )
Qp  Qp
(Tb  T p )
(5.15)

50
40
Discharge (cms)
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Time (hr)
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6
Figure 5-3: Composite Hydrograph developed with complex hydrograph approach
Table 5-15: The Composites the triangular hydrographs to a single hydrograph

Time (hr) Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Qt
0.00 0.00 0.00
1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
2.00 0.00 1.09 0.00 1.09
2.46 0.00 1.59 8.72 10.31
3.00 0.00 2.18 19.12 0.00 21.30
3.46 0.00 2.68 27.84 4.45 34.97
4.00 0.00 2.32 38.25 9.75 0.00 50.32
4.46 0.00 2.03 46.97 14.20 4.98 68.17
5.00 0.00 1.67 40.74 19.51 10.93 0.00 72.84
5.46 0.00 1.37 35.52 23.95 15.91 4.76 81.51
6.00 0.00 1.02 29.29 20.78 21.85 10.44 83.37
6.46 0.00 0.72 24.06 18.11 26.83 15.21 84.94
6.56 0.00 0.65 22.90 17.52 26.17 16.27 83.51
7.00 0.00 0.36 17.84 14.94 23.27 20.89 77.30
7.46 0.00 0.07 12.61 12.27 20.29 25.65 70.89
7.56 0.00 0.00 11.45 11.68 19.63 25.02 67.77
8.00 0.00 0.00 6.38 9.10 16.73 22.25 54.46
8.56 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.84 13.08 18.76 37.69
9.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.26 10.19 15.99 29.44
9.56 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.54 12.51 19.05
10.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.65 9.74 13.39
10.56 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.25 6.25
11.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.49 3.49
11.56 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Figure 5-4: Composite hydrograph developed with complex hydrograph approach
5.3.3 Synthetic Unit Hydrograph Method
The derivation of unit hydrograph always depends on the observed rainfall excess hyetograph
(ERH) and direct runoff hydrograph (DRH). However, these values are not available for ungauged
catchments and this needs the development of an empirical relation that relates the unit
hydrograph ordinate with the catchment characteristics. This process is known as synthetic unit
hydrograph development. For this, Snyder‘s approach in combination with other supportive
researches conducted in Ethiopia (Mulugteta, 2004) is selected for the derivation of the synthetic
unit hydrograph. Using the synthetic unit hydrograph and the rainfall distribution of the daily
maximum rainfall for a given return period will help to compute peak discharge of ungauged
catchments. Table 5-16 provides the procedures to be followed for deriving synthetic hydrograph.
Table 5-16: Example of developing synthetic unit hydrograph

Example
No Procedure Remark
(Arjo Catchment)
1 Catchment area (A), km2 5,488.77
2 Longest flow length (L) , Km 205.52
Catchment shape factor (flow length from centroid of
3 111.270
basin to outlet (Lc), km
4 Basin average slope (S), m/m 0.00539
Compute the lag time (Tl) of the basin, which is the
time from the midpoint of rainfall excess (Dhr) to the
5 peak of the unit direct runoff hydrograph. 10.901

Tl  0.127  LLc / S 0.352
Compute duration of excess rainfall (D hrs); Adjust to the nearest standard

6 T 1.98 ≈ 2 rainfall excess duration (D)
D  l
5.5 (take 2 hrs in this case)
Adjust the time of lag with respect to the adjusted
7 10.906 Explain Ds
excess rainfall duration Tla  Tl  0.25( DS  D)

Example
No Procedure Remark
(Arjo Catchment)
Round to whole number as
8 Compute time of peak as Tp = 0.5D +Tla 11.91≈12 hr
multiple of D
Time of base for the unit hydrograph
9 60
(Tb) = 5(Tla +0.5D)
Compute the peak discharge (qp) of the Unit
3 0.208 A
10 hydrograph in m /sec/mm as q p  95.15m3/sec/mm
Tp
Where A is drainage area in(km2), Tp is peak time in hr
Plot the UH with a smooth line with the three know values, Tp, Tb, and qp
The volume of 1 mm runoff in the catmint area should be equal to the volume of the UH. Therefore,
13
using an iterative process in Excel, adjust the ordinates of the UH until the two volumes are equal. .
Read the ordinates of the UH from the iteratively developed UH as given below.
Time 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Quh 0 9 18 34 52 76 95.15 86 64 48 38 33 29 26 23 20
Time 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60
Quh 18 14 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.18 0
Consider the daily rainfall distribution to get the rainfall excess. If the distribution of the rainfall excess
15 duration is different from the duration of the UH, the UH has to be converted to the duration of excess
rainfall using S-UH.
The 24hr peak rainfall has to take from the regional IDF of 175.2 In this example, take 100
16 the site or it can be computed based on the frequency year return period
analysis.
Compute the 0.5hr MRF using exponential equation 0.5
17
α0.5= 1-exp(-125/(Rday +5)).
Procedural note for column 18 -22
The time for the rainfall distribution is taken based on the rainfall duration computed in synthetic UH
18
and it has to be extended up to the time of lag of the synthetic UH
The intensity of the rainfall is computed based on the 24hr peak rainfall and 0.5hr MRF is computed in
step 16 and 17 using the following intensity exponential equation.
19
The infiltration rate of the catchment is computed based on the Horton equation, with parameters
given below for the following soil hydrological groups:
HSG fo (mm/hr) fc (mm/hr) K (1/hr)
A 127.00 25.40 0.20
B 105.00 15.24 0.18
20 C 81.28 12.70 0.17
D 71.12 10.16 0.16
In the example catchment, is the dominant hydrological soil group is B for which the Horton equation
fp = 15.24 + 89.76e-0.18t. Then the infiltration rate at each time is computed as presented above. If a
catchment has different hydrological soil groups one has to compute the weighted average values of
the parameters based on the area proportion covered by each hydrological soil group.
The rate of excess rainfall can then be simply computed by subtracting the infiltration rate from rainfall
21
intensity. (i.e., column 19 – column 20)
To get the excess rainfall depth, multiply the excess rainfall rate with the time of excess rainfall, 2hr in
22
the current example,

Computed values with Arjo Example data

18 19 20 21 22
Time Intensity Infiltration Rate Excess Rainfall rate Excess Rainfall
(hr) (mm/hr) (mm/hr) (mm/hr) (mm)
2 0.00 105.00 0.00 0.000
4 82.14 77.86 4.27 8.546 The only excess rainfall
6 43.63 58.93 0.00 0.000
8 29.19 45.72 0.00 0.000
10 21.90 36.51 0.00 0.000
12 17.52 30.08 0.00 0.000
Steps 23 -28 computation of stream flow using the synthetic unit hydrograph and Excess rainfall
Time distribution based on the rainfall excess duration up to the base time of the unit Hydrograph
23
(i.e., 60hr , ref. row 9)
24 Use the computed UH with reference in column 14
Use the excess rainfall computed in column 22 and multiply the excess rainfall for each UH ordinate. If
25
there is two or more excess rainfall multiply with keeping the lag time.
Compute the direct runoff by summing all the ordinate in the same row; for the current example, there
26
is only one time excess rainfall so the sum is the same.
Compute the base flow based on the relationship fixed for the river basin using UH sequential
27
approach, for example, the dry flow observed at UH
Compute the total discharge by adding the direct runoff and the base flow to get the stream flow with
28
peak rainfall for the given catchment.

23 24 25 26 27 28
Excess Rainfall
Time UH Direct Runoff Base Flow Total Runoff
(mm)
(hr) (m3/sec/mm) (m3/sec) (m3/sec) (m3/sec)
8.546
0 0 0.00 0.00 45.12 45.12
2 9 76.91 76.91 54.12 131.03
4 18 153.83 153.83 63.12 216.95
6 34 290.56 290.56 79.12 369.68
8 52 444.39 444.39 97.12 541.51
10 76 649.50 649.50 121.12 770.62
12 95.14 813.15 813.15 140.26 953.33
14 86 734.96 734.96 131.12 866.08
16 64 546.94 546.94 109.12 656.06
18 48 410.21 410.21 93.12 503.33
20 38 324.75 324.75 83.12 407.87
22 33 282.02 282.02 78.12 360.14
24 29 247.83 247.83 74.12 321.95
26 26 222.20 222.20 71.12 293.32
28 23 196.56 196.56 68.12 264.68
30 20 170.92 170.92 65.12 236.04
32 18 153.83 153.83 63.12 216.95
34 14 119.64 119.64 59.12 178.76
36 13 111.10 111.10 58.12 169.22


23 24 25 26 27 28
Excess Rainfall
Time UH Direct Runoff Base Flow Total Runoff
(mm)
(hr) (m3/sec/mm) (m3/sec) (m3/sec) (m3/sec)
8.546
38 11 94.01 94.01 56.12 150.13
40 10 85.46 85.46 55.12 140.58
42 9 76.91 76.91 54.12 131.03
44 8 68.37 68.37 53.12 121.49
46 7 59.82 59.82 52.12 111.94
48 6 51.28 51.28 51.12 102.40
50 5 42.73 42.73 50.12 92.85
52 4 34.18 34.18 49.12 83.30
54 3 25.64 25.64 48.12 73.76
56 2 17.09 17.09 47.12 64.21
58 1.189 10.08 10.08 46.31 56.47
60 0 0.00 0.00 45.12 45.12
The peak discharge is 953.41m3/sec and this can be the design discharge
5.4 DEPENDABLE FLOW
Dependable flow is defined as the flow of stream flow with different probability of exceedence (60-
90%) in a flow duration curve under a quasi-natural flow condition. A-thumb-of-rule 75%, 90% and
100% dependable flow for irrigation, power supply and drinking water supply respectively. The
dependable flow can be approximated by the computed value from monthly simulated discharge
as a first order approximation. A popular method of studying the dependability of stream flow is
through flow duration curves which can be regarded as a standard reporting output from
hydrological data processing. A flow-duration curve is a plot of discharge against the percentage of
time the flow was equaled or exceeded. This may also be referred to as a cumulative discharge
frequency curve and it is usually applied to daily mean discharges.
5.4.1 Understanding of flow-duration curve
Characteristics of the flow duration curve

 The virgin-flow duration curve when plotted on a log probability paper follows as a
straight line at least over the central region. From this property, various coefficients
expressing the variability of the flow in a stream can be developed for the description
and comparison of different streams.
 The presence of a reservoir in a stream considerably modifies the virgin-flow duration
curve depending on the nature of flow regulation.
 The chronological sequence of occurrence of the flow is masked in the flow-duration
curve. A discharge of say 1,000 m3/s in a stream will have the same percentage Pp
whether it has occurred in January or June. This is a serious handicap and must be kept
in mind while interpreting a flow- duration curve.
 The slope of a flow duration curve depends on the interval of data selected. For
example, a daily stream flow data gives a steeper curve than a curve based on monthly
data for the same stream.
 For a flow-duration curve plotted on a log-log paper, a steep slope of the curve indicates
a stream with a highly variable discharge whereas a flat slope indicates a slow response
of the catchment to the rainfall and small variability.

 At the lower end of the curve, a flat portion indicates considerable base flow while a flat
curve on the upper portion is typical of river basins having large flood plains and large
snowfall during a wet season.
Flow-duration curves find considerable use in water-resources planning and development
activities. Some of the important uses are:
 I Evaluating various dependable flows in the planning of water-resources engineering
projects;
 Evaluating the characteristics of the hydropower potential of a river;
 Design of drainage systems and flood-control studies;
 In Computing sediment and dissolved solids load of a stream; and
 Comparing adjacent catchments with a view to extend the stream flow data
5.4.2 Flow Duration Curve for Gauged Stream
The first step in developing flow duration curve is collecting all available stream flow data. This will
then be followed by developing the flow duration curve with different approach and cases.
Case 1: flow duration curves from daily flow data

Steps
i. Choose a constant width class interval (ci) that can result in about 25 to 30 classes with
the ranges of the available data sets
ii. Develop the classes from upper to lower class ranges for each class and arrange them in
their descending order
iii. Count total number of days in each class equal and greater than the lower bound
iv. Cumulate the number of days in each class interval to get the number of days above the
lower limit of each class interval.
v. Compute the probabilities of exceedence dividing the quantities obtained from step (iv) by
the total number of days in the record (for example, 365 if one year record is considered for
the construction of flow duration curve).
vi. Multiply the probabilities of exceedence obtained from step (v) by 100 to get percentage
exceedence.
vii. Plot the probabilities of exceedence in percentage against the corresponding lower bound
of class interval on linear graph paper. Sometimes, the flow duration curve better
approximates to a straight line if lognormal probability paper is used in place of linear graph
paper.
Example
A daily flow data from Mike River at Mike village gauging station from 2 Jan, 1985 to 23 Dec, 2010
with a total of 7054 data set is used to develop flow duration curve at the gauged station. The data
set has a maximum of 139.68m3/sec and a minimum of 0 m3/sec discharge. With class interval of
5, 28 classes are constructed.
Table 5-17: Example for Flow duration curve using gauged data with daily data set
Number of days Cumulative Probability
Upper Lower
in the class (m) (m/(N+1)*100
140 135 1 1 0.014
135 130 0 1 0.014
130 125 0 1 0.014
125 120 1 2 0.028
120 115 1 3 0.043
115 110 1 4 0.057
110 105 1 5 0.071

Number of days Cumulative Probability

Upper Lower
in the class (m) (m/(N+1)*100
105 100 2 7 0.099
100 95 2 9 0.128
95 90 0 9 0.128
90 85 6 15 0.213
85 80 4 19 0.269
80 75 7 26 0.369
75 70 10 36 0.510
70 65 10 46 0.652
65 60 30 76 1.077
60 55 32 108 1.531
55 50 42 150 2.126
50 45 53 203 2.877
45 40 71 274 3.884
40 35 86 360 5.103
35 30 113 473 6.704
30 25 171 644 9.128
25 20 296 940 13.324
20 15 449 1389 19.688
15 10 517 1906 27.016
10 5 799 2705 38.342
5 0 4349 7054 99.986
Figure 5-5: Flow duration curve of Meki River at Meki village Gauging station in normal graph
With this analysis, the following dependable flows can be read from the curve:
70% dependable daily flow = 2.433 75% dependable daily flow = 2.028

Case 2: flow duration curves from monthly or any other duration larger than ‘daily’ flow
i. Arrange the flow data in descending order for each month or required duration
ii. Rank them with, m = 1 for the highest flow values to m=N for the lowest value (or variant).
iii. Assign the probability of exceedences to each data item obtained from step (i) using the
Weibull plotting position formula
(5.16)
Note: If the flow duration curve is required to be linearized on normal probability paper or
lognormal probability paper, the probability of exceedences may be assigned using Blomb plotting
position formula
(5.17)
iv. Plot the ranked flow values against the probabilities of exceedence (computed using
Weibull plotting position) on linear graph paper to get the flow duration curve. Use normal
probability paper if the required dependable flow (or probability of exceedence) is to be
extrapolated.
Note:
In order to linearize the flow duration curve, the probabilities of exceedence may be computed
using Blomb plotting position.
For this analysis, monthly data for 30 years become reasonable for the computation of the
dependable flow; however at the time of data shortage, it is possible to compute using 20 years
data as minimum data year requirement
Example
The mean monthly flow of Gilgel Abay gauge station at Merawi was collected from the Hydrology
Directorate of MoWIE; The monthly flow is arranged in descending order for each month and
assigned with the rank starting from 1 to N=51. The probabilities of exceedences are then
computed with Weibull plotting position.
Table 5-18: Example for flow duration curve using gauged data with monthly data set
YEAR JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC m P
1960 17.92 15.53 11.72 10.96 22.74 37.47 122.80 181.30 734.00 70.00 35.20 42.20 1 0.02
1961 15.99 12.51 11.34 10.59 10.59 29.57 93.90 179.56 161.83 66.96 29.75 26.33 2 0.04
1962 14.63 12.11 10.96 10.59 10.59 28.85 90.43 169.77 146.80 50.02 25.10 17.92 3 0.06
1963 14.19 11.34 10.59 10.23 9.87 28.25 84.00 169.50 135.20 44.70 22.74 17.42 4 0.08
1964 13.76 11.34 10.23 9.18 9.87 26.33 82.48 168.00 121.69 39.80 22.74 16.46 5 0.10
1965 10.96 10.96 10.23 8.52 9.18 23.36 81.88 168.00 121.40 39.02 21.61 16.46 6 0.12
1966 10.59 9.18 8.21 7.89 7.89 20.63 80.56 160.70 104.47 38.21 21.61 15.99 7 0.13
1967 8.72 5.67 3.97 2.94 3.29 16.69 77.20 160.70 104.40 37.47 21.40 15.99 8 0.15
1968 6.98 5.37 3.88 2.78 3.29 16.21 74.20 158.90 99.10 37.43 21.06 14.50 9 0.17
1969 6.96 4.53 3.68 2.78 2.94 14.80 73.40 153.50 97.80 34.47 20.28 13.69 10 0.19
1971 6.40 4.53 3.68 2.78 2.94 14.48 71.36 151.70 97.58 34.41 19.73 11.14 11 0.21
1972 6.30 4.29 3.60 2.63 2.94 13.76 69.00 151.14 93.69 33.03 18.75 10.59 12 0.23
1973 6.12 4.29 3.40 2.50 2.78 12.92 67.90 150.40 92.60 33.02 17.65 9.86 13 0.25
1974 5.97 4.29 3.27 2.49 2.78 12.51 66.96 150.00 92.60 33.02 16.78 9.52 14 0.27

YEAR JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC m P
1975 5.71 4.28 3.21 2.46 2.78 12.18 66.28 145.99 92.60 32.36 16.21 9.18 15 0.29
1976 5.67 4.08 3.21 2.46 2.78 12.11 65.88 139.80 87.60 32.25 15.73 9.09 16 0.31
1977 5.67 4.08 3.11 2.39 2.63 11.37 65.80 138.20 85.57 31.55 14.80 7.90 17 0.33
1978 5.46 4.04 3.11 2.39 2.55 10.60 64.28 137.98 83.10 30.92 14.80 7.89 18 0.35
1979 5.21 3.97 3.06 2.35 2.55 10.26 61.69 135.60 82.48 30.86 14.38 7.64 19 0.37
1980 5.21 3.97 3.00 2.35 2.49 9.18 60.80 135.60 81.60 30.24 14.15 7.59 20 0.38
1981 5.04 3.71 2.97 2.35 2.46 9.18 58.80 134.09 80.40 29.75 13.76 7.30 21 0.40
1982 5.04 3.68 2.94 2.35 2.35 9.18 58.80 134.00 79.07 27.56 13.45 7.30 22 0.42
1983 4.79 3.68 2.88 2.28 2.28 8.72 58.64 132.40 78.28 27.52 12.60 7.30 23 0.44
1984 4.74 3.65 2.82 2.21 2.26 8.52 57.65 129.50 75.60 26.93 12.30 7.30 24 0.46
1985 4.51 3.65 2.78 2.12 2.21 7.30 56.80 129.20 74.50 26.31 12.18 7.20 25 0.48
1986 4.51 3.48 2.78 2.05 2.21 6.75 56.80 125.75 73.73 25.53 11.37 6.75 26 0.50
1987 4.29 3.29 2.63 1.93 2.21 6.68 54.72 124.40 73.40 24.51 11.37 6.68 27 0.52
1988 4.29 3.11 2.63 1.93 2.07 6.12 54.12 121.69 72.49 23.36 11.14 6.23 28 0.54
1989 4.29 3.11 2.49 1.79 2.07 5.71 52.54 118.00 72.49 23.13 10.98 6.23 29 0.56
1990 4.08 3.11 2.49 1.79 2.05 5.21 52.05 114.90 71.36 22.80 10.98 6.23 30 0.58
1991 4.08 3.11 2.35 1.65 1.93 4.69 50.96 114.16 70.14 21.96 10.60 6.12 31 0.60
1992 3.88 2.94 2.35 1.65 1.93 4.53 47.36 113.40 69.00 21.70 10.59 5.81 32 0.62
1993 3.88 2.78 2.21 1.65 1.93 4.51 46.70 100.40 65.80 21.60 10.23 5.71 33 0.63
1994 3.68 2.78 2.21 1.65 1.65 4.08 44.70 97.80 63.80 21.16 10.23 5.71 34 0.65
1995 3.60 2.74 2.07 1.65 1.65 3.68 44.70 95.90 62.40 20.85 9.87 5.71 35 0.67
1996 3.48 2.63 2.07 1.61 1.65 3.65 43.80 94.60 60.80 20.51 9.87 5.71 36 0.69
1997 3.48 2.49 1.93 1.61 1.65 3.48 43.80 94.57 58.64 19.60 9.86 5.46 37 0.71
1998 3.48 2.49 1.93 1.51 1.61 3.26 43.40 93.90 57.80 18.61 9.52 5.42 38 0.73
1999 3.48 2.46 1.65 1.39 1.61 3.25 42.24 93.90 56.77 18.61 9.18 5.40 39 0.75
2000 3.48 2.21 1.65 1.26 1.61 3.11 42.24 90.65 56.66 18.25 8.85 5.37 40 0.77
2001 3.11 2.21 1.65 1.24 1.51 2.97 42.24 90.65 55.80 18.13 8.52 4.98 41 0.79
2002 3.11 2.11 1.59 1.23 1.51 2.97 35.90 89.36 54.72 17.42 8.20 4.97 42 0.81
2003 3.08 1.98 1.51 1.15 1.49 2.82 34.47 87.60 53.80 17.17 8.20 4.97 43 0.83
2004 2.94 1.72 1.49 1.06 1.49 2.78 32.96 82.80 53.25 17.08 7.89 4.74 44 0.85
2005 2.73 1.65 1.26 1.01 1.47 2.78 32.96 82.20 51.90 15.81 7.59 4.69 45 0.87
2006 2.57 1.65 1.15 1.01 1.39 2.27 31.55 80.67 50.10 14.80 7.29 4.51 46 0.88
2007 2.49 1.59 1.15 0.91 1.06 2.21 31.42 68.05 47.36 14.63 7.02 4.29 47 0.90
2008 2.26 1.47 1.12 0.72 0.64 2.07 29.51 67.90 46.50 14.63 6.23 4.29 48 0.92
2009 1.98 1.26 1.01 0.64 0.64 1.84 26.93 65.89 42.24 14.34 6.17 3.44 49 0.94
2010 1.84 1.15 0.96 0.58 0.58 1.63 22.80 60.80 42.20 13.45 6.17 3.44 50 0.96
2011 1.72 1.06 0.88 0.51 0.51 1.36 21.70 60.66 41.40 12.18 5.71 2.90 51 0.98
Table 5-19: Finally the monthly different dependable flows for Giligel Abay at Merawi Station
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
60% 4.08 3.11 2.35 1.65 1.93 4.69 50.96 114.16 70.14 21.96 10.60 6.12
70% 3.48 2.63 2.07 1.61 1.65 3.65 43.80 94.60 60.80 20.51 9.87 5.71
80% 3.11 2.11 1.59 1.23 1.51 2.97 35.90 89.36 54.72 17.42 8.20 4.97
90% 2.49 1.59 1.15 0.91 1.06 2.21 31.42 68.05 47.36 14.63 7.02 4.29
5.4.3 Flow duration curve for ungauged stream
If there is no gauged stream flow data on the targeted point, the issue has to be addressed in
different ways.

Case 1: There is no observed stream flow data on the site but there is stream flow data with
similar stream flow data in the homogeneous region
(i) Transfer the daily or monthly flow data according to the data availability from the gauged site
to ungauged site. One can use the gauged and ungagged data transfer relation proposed by
Admasu Gebeyehu (1986)
Qu  Qg Au / Ag 
0.7
(5.18)
(ii) Develop the flow duration curve using the procedure stated in Case 1 or Case 2 for gauged
site according to the transferred data type.
Case 2: If neither gauged data nor transferrable data is available one has to resort to the following
model based steps
i. Develop the rainfall-runoff relationship using any possible available hydrological models
(HEC-HMS, SWAT, WEAP, HBV etc….) for the existing site for the specific duration,
analyzing the available rainfall-runoff records of concurrent periods.
Note: hydrological model is used, continuous rainfall-runoff methods have to be selected.
ii. Develop the flow duration curve using the procedure described the section 5.4.2.
Case 3: Use regionalized flow duration curve

Regionalization of flow duration curve (FDC) is a tool for flow estimation at ungauged sites.
Various researchers have developed different methods for regionalization of flow in the past.
For the estimation of regional FDC, physiographic parameters play an important role. The flow
at geologically similar ungauged sites can be predicted by parametric method using regression
techniques. In the absence of these parameters, other methods like dimensionless flow and
drainage area methods can be used. Although, there is an uncertainty associated with the such
estimation methods, they are useful for areas where there is no sufficient stream flow and
rainfall data for developing flow duration curves using gauged flow or hydrological modeled flow.
In this regionalized flow duration curve, one should have a tested mean annual rainfall, drainage
area and stream length based relations for the development of Q70 and Q80 with different
catchment area ranges.
Table 5-20: Regionalized FDC adopted from (Tsedey T. and Zelalem H. 2007)
Catchment Area range Regional FDC relationships
Q70 = 0.001681MARF + 0.00238A -2.36144
Q80 = 0.0012MARF + 0.00169A – 1.69041
Less than 3000km2
Qmean = 76.56419Q70 + 28.42441
Qmean = 10.67323Q80 + 29.4947
Q70 = 0.00171MARF + 0.00251A -2.58325
2 Q80 = 0.00122MARF + 0.00176A – 1.84521
3000 – 10000 km
Qmean = 60.9579Q70 + 46.82427
Qmean = 87.10567Q80 + 46.6525
MARF = Mean Annual Rainfall (mm); A = Catchment area of the basin (km2)

Table 5-21: Flow regime based FDC adopted from (Berhanu B. et.al, 2015)
Flow Regime Linear Relationship R-Square
Q10 = −3.7621 + 0.3614L − 0.0077 A 0.642
Q20 = −1.4761 + 0.1540 L − 0.0042A 0.533
Q33 = −0.3934 + 0.0500 L − 0.0014 A 0.640
Ephemeral streams
Q66 = −0.0988 + 0.0122 L − 0.0003 A 0.624
Q80 = −0.0833 + 0.0084 L − 0.0002 A 0.605
Q90 = −0.0465 + 0.0049 L − 0.0002 A 0.570
Q10 = 10.0137 − 0.0870 L + 0.0138 A 0.913
Q20 = 3.0111 + 0.0294 L + 0.0045 A 0.805
Q33 = 1.2064 + 0.0114 L + 0.0017 A 0.738
Intermittent streams
Q66 = 0.5749 − 0.0061 L + 0.0005 A 0.864
Q80 = 0.3164 − 0.0033 L + 0.0002 A 0.836
Q90 = 0.1823 − 0.0007 L + 0.0001 A 0.665
Q10 = 13.756 − 0.2223 L + 0.0274 A 0.976
Q20 = 6.7423 + 0.0916 L + 0.0111 A 0.915
Q33 = 5.5108 + 0.0552 L + 0.0053A 0.858
Perennial streams
Q66 = 1.2939 − 0.0036L + 0.0018 A 0.959
Q80 = 0.6057 + 0.0062 L + 0.0009 A 0.952
Q90 = 0.4870 − 0.0021L + 0.0006 A 0.959
L = Length of the longest river in the catchment (km); A = Catchment area of the basin (km2)
Note:
These regional flow duration computation methods should only be used when there is no any
observed or transferrable stream flow data set In addition, these regional equations should be
used to estimate the capacity of the stream as input for site identification before going to feasibility
studies.


6 SPRING FLOW ANALYSIS

6.1 BASIC CONCEPT
Springs are scattered throughout hillsides, most of which are the products of perched water tables
within the limestone. In order to sustain spring flow through the dry season, rain must infiltrate and
percolate into the karst. Outflow of springs for one or more days after precipitation in a karst region
can be assumed to occur from upstream aquifers along the underground flow path to the spring.
This type of flow is known variously as base flow, drought flow, or low flow (Brutsaert W and Lopez
JP, 1998).
6.2 SPRING DISCHARGES MEASUREMENT METHODS
1. Bucket/stopwatch. Try to concentrate the flow in one channel/drain and collect it in a bucket or
container. The volume of the bucket divided by the filling time is the discharge. One might apply
a correction factor if it is difficult to concentrate the entire flow. Repeat the measurement several
times and calculate the average, excluding the extremes. Preferably, the ‗constructions that
were made for easier measurement‘ should remain, to facilitate later measurement and to
improve the comparability.
2. Velocity/area. Try to find a downstream stretch with smooth flow and semi-constant cross
section (or make one). Measure the time it takes a leave (or other floating material) to pass a
certain distance at the heart of the flow. Distance divided by time gives velocity. The velocity at
the surface is to be corrected to get the mean velocity in the central cross section. The
correction factors for stream velocity for float method with different character of stream bed is
given as, 0.85 for rectangular, smooth concrete channel; 0.75 for large and slow clear stream;
0.65 for small regular streams; 0.45 for shallow turbulent stream; 0.25 for very shallow rocky
stream (Harvey, 1993). Repeat this at least 4 times and determine the average. Determine the
average area of cross section, excluding areas with stagnant water (width time‘s average
depth). Finally calculate the yield as Yield = Area times Velocity.
3. Spring outflow analysis without Measurement:

The procedure developed by Brutsaert and Nieber (1977) can be used for stream flow recession
analysis, when one is not able to measure it. As declining groundwater reservoirs control both
stream base flow recession and upland spring outflow recession, the method is equally valid for
both situations. One advantage of this method is that it is independent of the ambiguity inherent in
identifying when drought flow starts. This drought flow analysis is based on the Boussinesq
equation (Boussinesq, 1903 & 1904), which describes flow in unconfined aquifers.
dQ
 aQb (6.1)
dt
Where ―Q‖ is the recession flow [L3/T], ―t‖ is time, and ―a‖ and ―b‖ are constants. The coefficient ―a‖
can be directly related to the groundwater reservoir characteristics; ‖b‖ is an exponent whose value
depends on the time scale, The negative sign show the flow direction as decline (outflow). There
are three theoretical solutions of the Boussinesq equation that have the general form of a power
function (Brutsaert and Nieber, 1977):
1. Short-time flows generally have a higher Q than long time flows. Brutsaert and Lopez
(1998) showed the following solution for short-time flow:
1.13
a , b3 (6.2)
kfD3 L2

Where K is the hydraulic conductivity [L/T], f is the drainable porosity, D is the aquifer thickness
[L], and L is the total length of upstream channel intercepting groundwater flow [L].
2. One long-time flow
4.8K 0.5 DL2

a , b  1.5
fA1.5 (6.3)
Where A is the upland drainage area
3. Another long-time flow that is frequently used is the linear reservoir solution
0.35 2 KDL2
a , b 1 (6.4)
fA2
Table 6-1: Procedure with Example for spring flow analysis

Example
Procedure Remark
(Bereda Lencha)
Hydraulic conductivity (k) accessed from different
1 0.0508 Ref. Berhanu et.al, (2013)
studies
Drainable Porosity (f) accessed from geological
2 investigation of the site and also textural based 0.04
studies
Check the thickness
Aquifer Thickness (D):accessed from geological
3 30 characteristics if there is full
investigation of the site (m)
or perched clay pan
Upstream channel Drainage Area (A): compute
4 210000000
using GIS as catchment delineation techniques (m2)
Upland Recession flow Length (L): compute it
5 47312
from catchment analysis (m)
Recession flow (Q): compute it using one of
Section 5.2 stream flow
6 catchment runoff methods, example SCS-CN 0.48
analysis
(m3/sec)
Boussinesq equation coefficients
a =0.597
7 4.8K 0.5 DL2
a , b  1.5 b=1.500
fA1.5
Yield (Low flow) (m3/sec)
8 dQ 0.198
 aQb
dt

7 DRAINAGE MODULE
7.1 BASIC CONCEPT
Drainage is the removal and disposal of excess water from a field. Drainage flow is the volume (or
discharge) of water diverted or removed by collector and drainage network from a reclaimed area
for a certain period of time. Drainage flow depends on soil permeability, slope of drainage area,
depth of laying collector, drainage network, groundwater recharging conditions, specific rate of
drainage flow (drainage module), and other factors. Drainage flow module is a quantitative
characteristic of the groundwater flow from a unit of a drained land (ha). Drainage flow modulus
(qd) is measured in l/s per hectare. Drainage flow modulus is used to determine the design
discharge of drains and collectors provided that optimal ameliorative regime is maintained.
Determining the correct or a reasonable design flow for any drainage structure is critically
important, both for the structure to perform properly and to prevent failures of structures. A
reasonable design flow is commonly estimated based on a storm event of a certain recurrence
frequency (return interval). Therefore, cross drainage facilities and field drainage network should
be designed for recurrence interval of 25 year and 5 year respectively.
7.2 CROSS DRAINAGE
In an irrigation project, when the network of canals are provided, then these canals may have to
cross natural drainage lines like rivers/ streams gullies, at different points within the irrigated area.
So, suitable structures must be provided at the crossing points for proper flow in the canal and
disposal in the drainage systems. These structures are known as cross-drainage works. The
design of these structures needs reasonable estimation of peak flows from a catchment with the
outlet at cross structure points.
Note:
For the peak flow analysis for design of cross drainage structures, use the methods describe in
Chapter 5 in this guideline.
7.3 FIELD DRAINAGE MODULE
Field drainage structures are designed to dispose excess water from a command area. In most
cases, the common sources of the excess water is precipitation, over-irrigation and extra water
needed for flushing away of salts from the root zone. The amount of water in the field drain can be
estimated using different methods and set as drainage module.
The watershed characteristics particularly the storm characteristics have significant role in the
determination of drainage coefficient. The drainage coefficient for the given irrigated field can be
computed using a regression equation called the Cypress Creek equation (NRCS, 1998) that
correlate the drainage module (Eq 7.1) with the 24hr maximum rainfall of 5 years return period.

q  0.21  0.00744 P24 (7.1)
Where q = drainage coefficient related to the drainage area and the magnitude of the storm
(cubic meters per second per square kilometer)
P24= the 24 hr. maximum rainfall (mm) with 5 years of return period preferred
Example
Suppose the 24hr Max rainfall of Shewu small scale irrigation site in Bench Majj Zone is
162.83mm for 5 years return period, compute the drainage module.
Therefore, the drainage module for this site is computed as
q= 0.21 +0.00744 (162.83) = 1.421m3/sec/km2 Or q=1.421m3/sec/km2 * 1000/100 =
14.l/sec/has

8 SEDIMENT ANALYSIS AND SEDIMENTATION

8.1 INTRODUCTION
Sedimentation is a global issue where land-use change has resulted in excess sediment being
delivered to and deposited on the beds of streams, rivers, estuaries and reservoirs. Excess
sediment directly affects the health of a waterway, decreasing life-supporting capacity of the
reservoirs. Deposited fine sediment occurs naturally in the beds of rivers and streams. It usually
enters a stream either because of terrestrial weathering processes, or bank erosion and in-stream
fluvial processes. Sediment particles are transported and deposited in streams and receiving
waters, such as lakes, estuaries and reservoirs, as the result of flowing water. Because sediment
is naturally transported longitudinally through a river network, its state at any given point will be
influenced by climate, geology, topography and current velocity. Human activities can impact on
this natural sediment cycle by accelerating the delivery of sediment to streams and increasing the
quantity of smaller particle sizes.
Although, Ethiopia has long experience on erosion quantification and soil and water conservation
practices to minimize sedimentation, there are well tested techniques to quantify the magnitude of
sediments in a given flow and its distribution in the bed of rivers and reservoirs to enable design
different water hydraulic structures. Therefore, simplified methods of estimating (predicting) the
magnitude of erosion and deposition are suggested with the improvement of computing input
parameters more accurately using the GIS support. In addition, the simplified methods given in
this guideline are proposed based on local experience, and their application for specific local
situations have been checked through detailed investigation and adjusted through practices.
8.2 SEDIMENT YIELD
Sediment yield is the fraction of material eroded from a catchment and entering into a storage
reservoir or a diversion pool. It is commonly expressed in units of weight, volume, or uniformly
eroded depth of soils. Sediment yield decreases from arid to humid regions and it can be
estimated by one of the following methods:
a) Measuring the sediment discharge of the streams at the inlet of reservoirs or pools,
b) Surveying of sediment deposits in reservoirs and measuring sediment discharge at the
reservoir outlet,
c) Estimating wash load from catchment erosion and bed material load by sediment transport
equations,
d) Adopting sediment yield of other places.
8.2.1 Measurement of sediment load in stream flow
Sediment yield can be obtained directly by measuring the sediment load of a stream at the inlet of
a reservoir. The total sediment load of a stream is composed of wash load and bed material load
and measured in respect of the volume of the total flow. Wash load consists of fine particles, and
depends mainly upon supply from the source area. It moves entirely in suspension form. Bed load
consists of fine as well as coarse or heavy particles eroded from the bed and banks of the stream
channel or rolling materials from slopes. It is controlled by the transport capacity of the stream
which depends upon the bed material composition and the relevant hydraulic parameters. Bed
material load may move either as temporarily suspended load or as bed load. It is recommended

to have sediment load measurement at least one season with 50-60 sample data depending on
project duration.
a) Selection of sampling site:
The following general requirements shall be fulfilled in selecting a sampling site for measurement
of sediment.
 The site should be located in a straight reach for over five channel widths) both
upstream and downstream from the measuring location.
 It should be located in a stable section (no erosion or deposition) to take highest
discharge within banks.
 It should have uniform bed slope
 The water flow should have sufficient depth with respect to the dimensions of the
sampling equipment (minimum one meter).
 The site should be accessible and clear of natural and/or artificial obstacles (frees,
bridge piers, etc.).
 It should have well defined geometrical dimensions (local depth, width and position).
b) Measurement of suspended sediment discharge
Standard methods of measurement require the entire cross-section to be subdivided into a number
of vertical sections. Normally, the number of subdivisions is in the order of 5 to 7. Sediment
discharge passing through each section is obtained by taking measurements along tile vertical
within the portion of section it represents for measurement of stream flow as well as sediment
load. However, for small scale irrigation systems small streams are usually developed to supply
the required amount of water, and adoption of the standard methods of sediment measurement
will not be technically and economically feasible.
Selection of measuring vertical: For streams of SSIS where the strength of flow at the
measuring section is highly variable in the section, tile measuring section should be divided into a
minimum of three subsections – one containing the main current and the two tile containing the
secondary currents on either side. Measuring verticals for each subsection may be taken at the
middle of the subsection where velocity and depth of flow are also recorded instantaneously. If the
pattern of the flow is symmetrical about the middle of the channel, only measuring vertical for the
main current and for one of tile secondary currents can be considered. For streams which have no
significant difference in strength of the flow on the measuring cross-section, the transverse
distribution of sediment is expected to be fairly uniform, and one measurement of vertical located
at the middle of the section can be taken to be representative.
Sampling by selecting sampling points:-The commonly used standard methods consider a

minimum number of three points on a vertical in a stream of ordinary size. Simplified methods are
usually adopted for lessening tile work involved in taking and processing samples. The simplest of
all the commonly used simplified methods is to take sample at one point at a relative depth (ratio
of depth of sampling point to stream depth of 0.5 or 0.6). Time integrated sample should be taken
at this point using a sampler that can be easily handled.
Sampling by depth integration: Sediment samples can be also collected by depth integration by
round trips of lifting and lowering the sampler or only by a single trip from the surface to the bottom
or from the bottom to the surface of the stream. The volume of sample at each point shall be
proportional to the local velocity. This can be achieved if the intake velocity of the nozzle is

approximately equal to the local velocity of the stream. The sample bottle shall not be allowed to
fill completely.
c) Computation of sediment discharge
For point samples:
Sediment discharge per unit width: qs = CsiVid
Where: Csi = the sediment concentration at the measuring point as determined in the laboratory;
g/1 or kg/m3;
Vi= the velocity at the measuring point recorded simultaneously as the sediment water
sample is being taken; m/s; and
d = depth of flow; m.
N
Sediment discharge of the entire cross-section, Q   q si b j
i 1
Where j = No of the sampling Vertical;
qsi = sediment discharge per unit width at the j sampling vertical
bj = channel width represented by J the vertical
For depth integrated samples:

Sediment discharge in the vertical, qs = Csqq
Where Csq = average sediment concentration in the vertical; g/1 or kg/m;
q = discharge per unit width, m3/s/m
Sediment discharge of the entire cross - section is computed by the same method used for point
samples.
d) Bed Load Estimation

It is customarily assumed that the total sediment load consists of suspended and bed load.
Furthermore, certain relationships show the existing bed load in relation to suspended load and,
hence, for such small scale reservoirs 15% up to 20% is considered to account for the bed load as
percentage of the suspended load
e) Grain Size Analysis of Sediment

Grain size distributions of the sediment samples should be determined for a better understanding
of the sediment transport of various size groups. Standard procedures of sieve analysis for coarse
grains and hydrometric analysis for fine grains of sediment have to be employed.
f) Frequency and Timing of Sampling

Timing and frequency of sampling depends on the runoff characteristics of the catchment. For
many streams, an average of 70 to 90% of the annual sediment load is carried down the river
during the flood season. During rainy seasons, sampling of sediment should be made at two hour
intervals or at lesser intervals based on occurrence of flood to obtain a reliable estimate of
sediment concentration. During the rest of the year, sampling frequency can be reduced to daily or
even weekly sampling.

8.2.2 Estimation of sediment using reservoir capacity survey
Reservoir Capacity Survey is a direct measurement carried out periodically to assess the volume
of deposit along with its location in the reservoirs. This method, however, indicates the total
sediment yield of the entire catchment but not for sub-catchments for which sediment yield is
required as sediment sampling of the different streams is necessary. The main survey methods
are the contour method and the range line method. The contour method of survey is generally
applicable for all types of reservoir shapes and this guideline recommends it to be used. In contour
method, a contour map of the reservoir with suitable scale and contour interval is prepared, from
which the capacity of the reservoir at the time of survey is computed. The difference in capacity
between two surveys indicates the loss of capacity due to sediment deposition during the
intervening period.
Computational procedure for capacity survey

The contour map of the reservoir is prepared and the successive areas enclosed by the contours
are computed using any spatial analysis tools (ArcGIS, Global mapper, AutoCAD 3D, etc). Starting
from the lowest contour, a submergence area-elevation curve is first prepared. From this curve the
area between different elevations can be obtained. The capacity can then be computed using
either Contour area interval method, or Modified prismoidal formula
Contour area interval method

The capacity between two successive elevations/contours can be obtained arithmetically by taking
the average submergence area and multiplying by the unit height.
Modified prismoidal formula

The capacity between the successive unit elevations can also be estimated by the modified
prisrnoidal formula:
H
Vs   A  4B  C   Vy
3 (8.1)
Where Vs = capacity between middle and top contours;
H = contour interval between A and B;
A = area of the bottom contour;
B = area of the middle contour;
C = area of the top contour; and
Vy = capacity between middle and bottom contours previously determined.
The capacity below the lowest contour may be computed by the contour area interval method
which provides Vy. After finding the volume below the lowest contour, this formula can be used
progressively for each succeeding higher contour. The cumulative value of the capacity between
the successive unit elevations will give the new capacity of reservoir at different elevations. The
difference between the old capacity and the new capacity at any elevation will provide the
accumulation of silt deposit between the surveys.

8.2.3 Estimation of wash load from catchment erosion
8.2.3.1 Estimation of Catchment Erosion
Soil erosion takes place mainly in cultivated lands, sparsely vegetated non-cultivated lands,
grazing lands and road construction sites. The amount of eroded soil in a catchment can be fairly
estimated by delineating the different sources of erosion and identifying their relative importance in
contributing to the total erosion. Usually cultivated lands form the major source of sediment as
cultivation is the main disturbing activity in a catchment. Soil erosion from the sources takes place
as sheet-rill erosion, gully erosion and stream bank erosion. Erosion in cultivated lands takes place
mainly as sheet-rill erosion and forms the major contribution to the soil eroded in a catchment. The
contribution from other types of erosion is relatively low compared to that from sheet-rill erosion.
The rate at which soil is eroded from a given area is expressed in volume or weight units per unit
area and time. Usually, it is given as m3/km2/year or tons/ ha/ year.
I Sheet-Rill Erosion
Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) computes average annual erosion from field
slopes in tons/ha/year (Renard, 1997)
A = R*K*(LS)*C*P (8.2)
Where A = Average Annual Soil Loss (tons/ha/year)
R = Rainfall-Runoff Erosivity factor (MJ*mm*ha-1*hr-1) K = Soil Erodibility Factor
LS = Slope Length-Steepness Factor C = Land Cover-Management Factor
P = Conservation Practice
R factor: The R-Factor is the rainfall and runoff factor spatially distributed by geographic location,
as the greater intensity and duration of the rainstorm has higher the erosion potential. There was a
well-known empirical relationship between R-factor and annual precipitation proposed by Hurni
(1978) but it was found to give overestimates the R-factor. Therefore, empirical equation
developed by Kurt Cooper (2011) is evaluated and recommend adopting for Ethiopian condition
(Berhanu B. et.al, 2015), which use the mean annual rainfall (P) in mm as input.
R = 0.01523P1.36 , (8.3)
Example with Mojo catchment

 Define the target watershed and available rainfall stations with mean annual rainfall
within and at the surrounding of the catchment. Moji Watershed with 12 rainfall stations
of mean annual data is used in this example.
 Interpolate areal rainfall using IDW/Co-Krkining or Thesisen Polygon. Here, IDW is used
to interpolate the annual rainfall of the stations.
 Compute R-factor using the above formula

K-factor: The K-Factor is the average soil loss in tons per unit area for a particular soil in
cultivated, continuous fallow with an arbitrarily selected slope length of 22.1 m and slope
steepness of 9%. Soil-texture is the principal factor affecting K, but structure, organic matter and
permeability also contribute. Therefore, Williams (1995) developed an equation for k-factor based
on the different soil erodoblity factors of soil textures, which also is adopted by Berhanu etal.
(2013) for the development of Ethiopian geo-soil database.
(8.4)
Where
 fcsand is a factor that gives a low soil erodibility value for soils with high coarse-sand
contents and high values with less sand,
 fci–si is a factor that gives a low soil erodibility value for soils with high clay to silt ratios,
 forgc is a factor that reduces the soil erodibility for soils with high organic carbon content,
 fhisand is a factor that reduces the soil erodibility for soils with extremely high sand
contents.
The computed k-factor for the whole country is available in the Etho-geosoil database (Berhanu,
et.al, 2013)

 Access the Eth-geoSoil data base and clip the data with the target catchment,
 Convert the data set to raster format
LS-Factor: The LS-Factor represents a ratio of soil loss under given conditions to that at a site
with the "standard" slope steepness of 9% and slope length of 22.1 m.
The topographic calculations for the RUSLE are shown separately in the following Equations
( )
Where, L is the slope length factor,
is the horizontal plot length, and
m is a variable exponent calculated from the ratio of rill-to-inter rill erosion, as described in
the following equations.
Where, is the slope factor, and is the slope angle.

Depending on the measured slope gradient, a different equation for must be used. Choosing
allows the RUSLE to be more finely tuned for different terrains. This is important because the
topographic factor (and the RUSLE entirely) is very sensitive to the slope factor ( ). The RUSLE
method of calculating L and S terms are not directly applicable to the out-of-box functionality of
ArcMap. However, there are programmatic methods for calculating the L and S factors from the
empirical models in Equations.

 Access the national DEM dataset and extract the DEM for the target catchment
 Fill the DEM to correct errors in the DEM sets
 Use the Fill DEM compute the flow direction and flow accumulation consecutively
 Compute the Slope in Degree
 Compute the LS factor copy the following equation in raster calculator
Power(flowacc*[cellresolution]/22.1,0.4)*Power(Sin(sloperasterdeg*0.01745)/0.09, 1.4)*1.4
C-factor: - The C-Factor is used to determine the relative effectiveness of soil and crop
management systems in terms of preventing soil loss. It is a ratio comparing the soil loss from land
under a specific crop and management system.
Important Note: The C factor resulting from this calculation is a generalized C factor value for a
specific crop that does not account for crop rotations.
Table 8-1: C-factor per different crop type

Cover type C-value Cover type C-value
Bad land hard 0.050 Sorghum-maize 0.10
Bad land soft 0.400 Cereals, pulses 0.15
Dense grass 0.010 Teff 0.25
Degraded grass 0.050 Fallow hard 0.05
Dense forest 0.001 Fallow ploughed 0.60
Other forest 0.010 Continuous fallow 1.00
(with modest ground cover) (without cover)
Source Hurni (1988)

 Access the land use dataset from recognized data sources
 Assign the crop factor value according to the table using conditional function in GIS
 convert it to raster with C-factor value

P-Factor: - The P-Factor is known as the support practice factor. It reflects the effects of practices
that will reduce the amount and rate of the water runoff and thus reduce the amount of erosion.
The P factor represents the ratio of soil loss by a support practice to that of straight-row farming up
and down the slope.
P = Pc × Ps × Pt
Table 8-2: P-factor with different land management options

Terrace factor
Land slope % Contour factor Strip crop factor
Closed outlet Open outlet
1-2 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.7
3-8 0.5 0.25 0.6 0.8
9-12 0.6 0.3 0.7 0.8
13-16 0.7 0.35 0.8 0.9
17-20 0.8 0.4 0.9 0.9
21-25 0.9 0.45 1.0 1.0
Sources: Wischmeier and Smith (1978) and USDA-ARS (1997)

 Add DEM and compute slope in Percent
 Reclassify the slope according to the p-factor table
 Select the treatment type and use the conditional equation for the selected treatment
 Here use contour factor (Pc)
Finally multiply all the factor raster in raster calculator to get the annual soil loss rate with ton/ha/yr.

Figure 8-1: Annual soil loss for Mojo catchment

II. Gully Erosion
Gully erosion is usually less than sheet-rill erosion. The percentage of gully erosion to sheet-rill
erosion (or total erosion) is a useful recommendation leading to the estimation of total erosion. The
progress of gully erosion can be estimated from time sequence comparisons of surveyed cross-
section. When the development of gully erosion is being studied, measurements of the horizontal
spread of the gully and the vertical changes are needed. One method is to put in a line of pegs at
a fixed distance from the gully; another is to lay out a rectangular grid of pegs. In either case
measurements from the datum are repeated at regular intervals to establish the rate at which the
edge of the gully is moving. For this type of survey a photographic record is also useful, and
quantitative estimates can be made provided the photographs are taken accurately. Markers
should be established so that subsequent photographs can be taken from precisely the same point
and direction, and the photographs must include some means of measuring the scale. The
percentage of gully erosion to sheet erosion can be estimated by a wise judgment by using the
observed gully expansion rate and the proportion of gullied area to the total catchment area.
Channel Erosion
Erosion of stream bed and banks are obtained from time sequence comparisons of surveyed cross
sections from maps and aerial photographs and from historical records. If data is not available
consider 10 -20% of the wash load
8.2.3.2 Sediment delivery
All the eroded material is not delivered to the reservoirs. The percentage of sediment delivered
from the erosion source to a stream is affected by size and texture of erodible material, climate,
land use, local environment and general physiographic position. The sediment entering a reservoir
from a catchment is expressed by sediment delivery ratio (SDR), where
SDR = SY/A; Where SY = the sediment yield at the measuring point (inlet into reservoir);
tons/ha/yr, and A = the total erosion (soil loss) from the catchment; tons /ha/yr.

The sediment delivery ratio value in a given watershed indicates the integrated capability of a
catchment for storing and transporting the eroded soil. It compensates for areas of sediment
deposition that become increasingly important with increasing catchment area and therefore,
determines the relative significance of sediment sources and their delivery (Lu H, et.al 2003). It is
affected by many highly variable physical characteristics of a watershed such as drainage area,
slope, relief-length ratio, runoff-rainfall factors, land use land cover and sediment particle size
(Benedict MM, and Andreas K, 2006). Numerous Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR) relationships
have been developed based on combinations of the variable physical characteristics of a
watershed. There two sediment delivery ratio (SDR) relations based on the drainage area and
main channel slope are suggested to use. Although both were developed outside of Ethiopia, both
have adaptation and customization with the Ethiopia case with different studies.
SDR  0.37 A0.125
SDR  0.627 S 0.403
Where, Where, SDR = sediment delivery ratio,
A = catchment area in Km2 and
S = main channel slope in m/m
Example Based on main Channel Slope (adopted from

Based on Drainage Area Gelagay HS (2016))
Drainage area of the mojo catchment in the above
example = 2075km2
Therefore the sediment deliver ratio (SED) is simple
computed as
= 0.37A-0.125 = 0.37*(2075)-0.125 = 0.014
Average annual soil loss rate of the catchment (A)
= 6.78ton/ha/yr
SY= SEDSRD*A = 6.78*0.014 = 0.095ton/ha/yr
Mean annual sediment inter in koka reservoir from

mojo catchment (SY ton/yr)
= 0.095*2075*100
= 19712.5 ton/yr inter to the reservoir
8.2.4 Amount and distribution of sediment deposit in reservoirs
8.2.4.1 Amount of sediment deposit in reservoirs
The capacity of a reservoir to capture some part or all of the sediment entering the pool is known
as trap efficiency; i.e,
Se dim entDeposted
TrapEfficency 
Se dim entInflow
The Brune (1953) curve relates the long term average trap efficiency of storage reservoirs with the
ratio of reservoir capacity to average annual inflow. Through long time research Jothiprakash and
Garg (2008) modified the Brune curves that it considers the age of the reservoirs. Here also
suggested to use this relationship to determine the sediment deposit in reservoirs.

 CT 
 
 I T 
TeT 
  CT  CT 
0.00025  0.01   0.0000045 aT 
  IT  I T 
Where TeT is the trap efficiency of the reservoir at time 'T', CT, is the capacity of the reservoir at
time 'T', IT, is the inflow during the time 'T' and aT, is the age of the reservoir in years at 'T' from its
inception.
Once the trap efficiency computed based on the above relation the deposited sediment at the year
‗T‘ is simple computed as
Sediment deposited = Trap efficiency X sediment inflow
8.2.4.2 Distribution of sediment deposit in reservoirs
For small reservoirs, all the trapped sediment should be assumed to be deposited in the deep area
(dead storage area) of the reservoir, i.e., starting from the deepest section the sediment gradually
accumulates in the reservoir encroaching the dead storage area. For small reservoir, it is
reasonable to consider a life span of 20 to 25 years. The volume of sediment deposited in the
reservoir, in the manner recommended above during the life of the reservoir, gives dead storage
capacity. However, a maximum limit of dead storage capacity of 20% of the total reservoir capacity
should be adopted.


9 RESERVOIR ROUTING
Water storage reservoirs may be created by constructing a dam across a river, along with suitable
appurtenant structures. Routing of reservoir is essential to study the relation between flood
discharge, reservoirs capacity and spillway size in order to design, construct and optimally
operated reservoirs. Fundamentally, a reservoir serves to store water and the size of the reservoir
is governed by the volume of the water that must be stored, which in turn is affected by the
variability of the inflow available for the reservoir.
Flow routing is a mathematical procedure for predicting the changing magnitude, speed, and
shape of a flood wave as a function of time at one or more points along a watercourse (waterway
or channel). The routing of flood through the reservoir and the spillway is done by solving the
continuity of flow within reservoir, which may simply be stated as:
Inflow to reservoir - Outflow to reservoir = increase in the storage of the reservoir. That is,
( I  O) * t  S (9.1)
Where, I is the inflow discharge (m3/s),
O is the Outflow discharge (m3/s),
Δs is the in storage volume (m3)
Δt (h).time interval
If consider different inflow, outflow and storage volume at the beginning and end of the time
interval, it is possible to rewrite the continuity equation as:
I I   O  O2 
t  1 2   t  1   S 2  S1 (9.2)
 2   2 
Suppose, the following values are known:
I1 = Inflow (m3/s) at the beginning of the time interval
O1= Outflow (m3/s) at the beginning of the time interval
S1= Total storage volume of the reservoir (m3) at the beginning of the time interval
I2 = Inflow (m3/s) At the end of the time interval
And the unknown values are
S2= Total storage volume of the reservoir (m3/s) at the end of the interval
O2= Outflow (m3/s) at the end of the time interval
Then, the continuity equation rewrite as the known items in one side and unknown in the other
side as
I I   tQ1  tQ2
t  1 2    S1    S2  (9.3)
 2   2  2
This equation use to route the reservoir as modified-Pul‘s routing methods. The procedure
describe with the example below
Example of Reservoir Routing using the case of Arjo-Dedessa Reservoir

Step 1: organize the elevation-capacity-discharge relation, which is the major input for reservoir
routing. Table 9.1 present it for the case of Arjo-Dedessa reservoir
Table 9-1: Elevation-Storage-discharge relation for Arjo-Dedessa reservoir

Elevation (m) 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318 1319 1320
S (mcm) 0.00 0.26 0.58 2.65 6.57 10.72 16.64 24.74
Q(m3/sec) 0.00 34.12 59.09 76.29 90.27 102.35 113.16 123.01
Elevation (m) 1321 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326 1327 1328
S (mcm) 34.20 45.83 59.57 74.91 91.78 110.27 132.36 158.23
Q(m3/sec) 132.14 140.67 148.72 156.35 163.63 170.59 177.28 183.73
Elevation (m) 1329 1330 1331 1332 1333 1334 1335 1336
S (mcm) 186.07 215.85 247.84 283.45 322.92 365.83 411.98 460.72
Q(m3/sec) 189.96 195.99 201.85 207.53 213.07 218.46 223.73 228.87
Step 2: select the time interval for routing it has to depend on the inflow data interval and to be a
multiple of the time for maximum inflow; for the case of Arjo-Dedessa select 5hr
Step 3: prepare the working table using the elevation-storage-discharge relation table and the
selected time interval by computing S+QΔt/2; for Arjo-Dedessa presented in Table 9.2
Table 9-2: Working table for Arjo-Dedessa reservoir

Elevation (m) 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318 1319 1320
S (mcm) 0 0.26 0.575 2.653 6.574 10.72 16.64 24.74
Q(m3/sec) 0 34.12 59.09 76.29 90.27 102.4 113.2 123
S+QΔt/2 0 0.523 1.03 3.24 7.268 11.5 17.51 25.69
Elevation (m) 1321 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326 1327 1328
S (mcm) 34.2 45.83 59.57 74.91 91.78 110.3 132.4 158.2
Q(m3/sec) 132.1 140.7 148.7 156.3 163.6 170.6 177.3 183.7
S+QΔt/2 35.21 46.91 60.71 76.11 93.04 111.6 133.7 159.6
Elevation (m) 1329 1330 1331 1332 1333 1334 1335 1336
S (mcm) 186.1 215.9 247.8 283.4 322.9 365.8 412 460.7
Q(m3/sec) 190 196 201.8 207.5 213.1 218.5 223.7 228.9
S+QΔt/2 187.5 217.4 249.4 285 324.6 367.5 413.7 462.5
Step 4: Develop routing table and compute the unknown values (S 2 and Q2) using the inflow, the
working table as presented in Table 9.3.
Table 9-3: Routing table of Arjo-Dedessa Reservoir

Inflow av. I av.IΔt S-QΔt/2 S+QΔt/2 Elev. S Q
Hr. (m3/sec) (m3/sec) (MCM) (MCM) (MCM) (m) (MCM) (m3/sec)
1 0 150 1313 0.00 0.00
2 5 283 216.5 3.897 0.00 3.90 1316.16 3.29 78.57
3 10 440 361.5 6.507 2.59 9.09 1317.43 8.36 95.48
4 15 550 495.0 8.910 7.50 16.41 1318.82 15.55 111.18
5 20 675 612.5 11.025 14.55 25.58 1319.99 24.63 122.88
6 25 800 737.5 13.275 23.53 36.80 1321.14 35.78 133.30
7 30 835 817.5 14.715 34.58 49.29 1322.17 48.20 142.06
8 35 871 853.0 15.354 46.92 62.28 1323.10 61.13 149.49
9 40 800 835.5 15.039 59.78 74.82 1323.92 73.62 155.71
10 45 720 760.0 13.680 72.22 85.90 1324.58 84.67 160.56
11 50 630 675.0 12.150 83.22 95.37 1325.13 94.11 164.50

Inflow av. I av.IΔt S-QΔt/2 S+QΔt/2 Elev. S Q

Hr. (m3/sec) (m3/sec) (MCM) (MCM) (MCM) (m) (MCM) (m3/sec)
12 55 580 605.0 10.890 92.63 103.52 1325.56 102.23 167.56
13 60 530 555.0 9.990 100.72 110.71 1325.95 109.40 170.26
14 65 480 505.0 9.090 107.87 116.96 1326.24 115.63 172.22
15 70 440 460.0 8.280 114.08 122.36 1326.49 121.03 173.85
16 75 400 420.0 7.560 119.46 127.02 1326.70 125.67 175.26
17 80 380 390.0 7.020 124.10 131.12 1326.88 129.76 176.50
18 85 360 370.0 6.660 128.17 134.83 1327.04 133.46 177.56
19 90 340 350.0 6.300 131.87 138.17 1327.17 136.79 178.39
20 95 320 330.0 5.940 135.19 141.13 1327.29 139.75 179.13
21 100 300 310.0 5.580 138.14 143.72 1327.39 142.34 179.77
22 105 294 297.0 5.346 140.72 146.07 1327.48 144.68 180.35
23 110 288 291.0 5.238 143.06 148.29 1327.56 146.90 180.91
24 115 282 285.0 5.130 145.27 150.40 1327.64 149.01 181.43
25 120 274 278.0 5.004 147.38 152.38 1327.72 150.98 181.92
26 125 266 270.0 4.860 149.34 154.20 1327.79 152.80 182.38
27 130 260 263.0 4.734 151.16 155.89 1327.86 154.49 182.80
28 135 254 257.0 4.626 152.84 157.47 1327.92 156.06 183.19
29 140 247 250.5 4.509 154.41 158.92 1327.97 157.51 183.55
30 145 245 246.0 4.428 155.86 160.28 1328.02 158.87 183.87
31 150 240 242.5 4.365 157.22 161.58 1328.07 160.16 184.16
32 155 237 238.5 4.293 158.51 162.80 1328.11 161.38 184.44
33 160 236 236.5 4.257 159.72 163.98 1328.16 162.56 184.70
34 165 234 235.0 4.230 160.90 165.13 1328.20 163.70 184.96
35 170 232 233.0 4.194 162.04 166.23 1328.24 164.81 185.20
36 175 230 231.0 4.158 163.14 167.30 1328.27 165.87 185.44
37 180 228 229.0 4.122 164.20 168.33 1328.31 166.90 185.67
38 185 226 227.0 4.086 165.23 169.31 1328.35 167.88 185.89
39 190 224 225.0 4.050 166.21 170.26 1328.38 168.83 186.10
40 195 222 223.0 4.014 167.15 171.17 1328.41 169.74 186.31
41 200 220 221.0 3.978 168.06 172.04 1328.44 170.60 186.50
42 205 214 217.0 3.906 168.92 172.83 1328.47 171.39 186.68
43 210 208 211.0 3.798 169.71 173.51 1328.50 172.08 186.83
44 215 206 207.0 3.726 170.39 174.12 1328.52 172.68 186.97
45 220 196 201.0 3.618 171.00 174.62 1328.54 173.18 187.08
46 225 190 193.0 3.474 171.50 174.97 1328.55 173.53 187.16
47 230 184 187.0 3.366 171.85 175.21 1328.56 173.77 187.21
48 235 180 182.0 3.276 172.09 175.36 1328.56 173.92 187.24
49 240 172 176.0 3.168 172.24 175.41 1328.57 173.97 187.25
50 245 166 169.0 3.042 172.28 175.32 1328.56 173.88 187.23
51 250 160 163.0 2.934 172.20 175.13 1328.56 173.69 187.19
52 255 152 156.0 2.808 172.01 174.82 1328.54 173.38 187.12
53 260 145 148.5 2.673 171.69 174.37 1328.53 172.93 187.02
54 265 142 143.5 2.583 171.24 173.83 1328.51 172.39 186.90
55 270 140 141.0 2.538 170.71 173.25 1328.49 171.81 186.77
56 275 130 135.0 2.430 170.13 172.56 1328.46 171.12 186.62
57 280 122 126.0 2.268 169.44 171.71 1328.43 170.28 186.43
58 285 114 118.0 2.124 168.60 170.72 1328.40 169.29 186.21
59 290 108 111.0 1.998 167.62 169.61 1328.36 168.18 185.96
60 295 100 104.0 1.872 166.51 168.38 1328.31 166.95 185.68


10 WATER BALANCE AND UPSTREAM-DOWNSTREAM

RELATIONSHIPS
10.1 GENERAL
With regard to hydrology, as surface waters flow from headwaters (upstream) to lower-elevation
floodplains (downstream), it creates linkages between upstream and downstream areas. The
linkages are relative to the physical hydrologic system in nature. Understanding of this upstream-
downstream linkage in hydrological processes is essential for water resources planning in river
basins. The activities in upstream areas have both beneficial and adverse effects on downstream
communities. Good watershed management practices provide better opportunities to downstream
communities, for example, a clean and sustainable water supply for irrigation. However, bad
watershed management practices do not only degrade upstream environmental conditions, but
also adversely affect the opportunities in downstream areas. Hence, as the ‗opportunities‘ and
‗threats‘ flow from upstream to downstream areas, the users in downstream areas often have great
‗concerns‘ about upstream land-use and water management practices (Santosh, 2012).
A point in a mountain (e.g. irrigation land) is considered as downstream from the upstream
catchment area which provides water to the irrigation land. However, both catchment and irrigation
land could be upstream relative to the area below which receives water after irrigation. Therefore,
upstream and downstream relationships can be seen throughout a river basin at different scales.
As a common tool, these upstream –downstream relationships can be evaluated using water
balance equations at catchment and scheme levels. The water balance of a given irrigated area is
special tools that confirm the upstream-downstream relationship of the irrigation sites, which is
based on the continuity, momentum, and energy equations for various hydrologic processes
(Chow et al. 1988).
Equation of continuity
The integral equation of continuity follows from Reynolds theorem and is the basis for the water
balance equation. By the law of conservation of mass, dm/dt=0 because mass cannot be created
or destroyed, which is the basis for the water budget concept, widely used in the field of hydrology
and rewritten as
ds
 Ot   I t   0
dt (10.1)
S
I (t )  O(t ) 
t (10.2)
3
Where I = the inflow in [L /T],
O = the outflow in [L3/T], and
ΔS/Δt = the rate of change in storage over a finite time step in [L3/T] of the considered
control volume in the system.
The equation holds true for a specific period of time and may be applied to any given system
provided that the boundaries are well defined.

10.2 WATER BALANCE AT CATCHMENT SCALE

The water balance in this scale is often applied to a diversion/storage work. The input equals the
precipitation P while the output comprises the evapotranspiration ET and the river discharge Q at
the outlet of the catchment. Hence, the water balance may be written as
P  ET  Q  0
Where ΔS is the change of storage over the time step Δt.
The water balance in this scale is computed in annual time step considering the change in storage
of the catchment to be zero. Therefore, the water balance equation is articulated as.
S
P  ET  Q  (9.3)
t
Example
The mean annual rainfall and evapotranspiration for Shew SSI catchment is computed as
1,739mm and 1,337mm respectively. Therefore, the surface flow in the catchment is computed as
(Q= P-ET; Q= 1739 – 1337= 402mm). If this computed annual surface flow is multiplied by the
catchment area (2147ha), it gives 8.631MCM runoff volume or 0.274m3/sec average flow rate
which is much greater than the annual designed diverted water at weir site (0.61MCM). Therefore,
the catchment can provide sufficient water for the proposed irrigated command area and
downstream uses in the stream condition.
10.3 WATER BALANCE AT SCHEME LEVEL

Similarly, the water balance analysis can be done for the irrigation scheme to confirm the
availability of water for the command area and release for downstream users with 70%
dependable monthly flow in the stream system. The diverted water compares with the gross
irrigation requirement as allocated water flow. The return flow will account for the downstream
users. If diverted water covers the gross demand and deliver significant return flow for the
downstream users, the irrigation system is accepted without negative impact in the downstream.
Describe the terms

 Available water: the flow water in the sources (Stream or spring or others sources) in
other words it is the dependable flow of the stream.
 Diverted Water: the water captured with the structure that diverted to the main canal.
 Actual Consumed: the water demand of the target crop type which computed as
CROPWAT computation as net Irrigation requirements
 Return flow: the part of the diverted water that return back to the system through
drainage system of the command area (i.e, it simply computed as subtraction of
actual consumed from diverted water )
 Downstream flow: It is the part of the stream flow which will available for different uses
downstream of the target scheme. (i.e., it computed as Available Water – Diverted
Water + Return flow )

Table 10-1: Example for Scheme water balance (lt/sec)

Available water Diverted Actual Return
Downstream flow
(Dependable flow) water Consumed flow
Jan 100 54.2 51 3.2 49
Feb 70 60 60 0 10
Mar 90 40.6 31 9.6 59
Apr 210 13.5 7 6.5 203
May 370 0 0 0 370
Jun 920 0 0 0 920
Jul 1960 1.7 0 1.7 1960
Aug 1810 0 0 0 1810
Sep 1660 0 0 0 1660
Oct 730 3.4 2 1.4 728
Nov 310 13.5 7 6.5 303
Dec 180 45.7 24 21.7 156
10.4 ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW REQUIREMENT

10.4.1 Environmental flow assessment
Environmental flow Assessment (EFA) is used to identify the reliance of different ecosystems on
the different components of flows and their sensitivity to changes in these components. EFA
provides the scientific basis for understanding the relationship between the different flow
components and ecosystem responses. But deciding on how much and at what time(s) water
should be allocated to the environment at either the river basin or project level is a decision that
can only be taken in the context of all the demands on the water resource. There is no absolute
quantity and timing of flows that are required for the environment or for that matter for any other
use. Instead, a social choice has to be made about what uses are important, to what degree they
need to be addressed, and which ecosystem services need to be preserved (and to what degree)
to meet society‘s objectives for a particular water resource. This choice will then determine the
flows that are needed to deliver those services. For example, society may decide to increase
irrigated agriculture using a particular groundwater resource—at the expense of some
groundwater-dependent wetlands that rely on high water tables—because the net societal benefits
are greater when irrigated agriculture is increased and wetlands are decreased.
These choices have always been made in water resources planning and management. The
contribution of environmental flows is that the EFA makes explicit the consequences of different
choices on aquatic ecosystems and communities that depend on those ecosystem services and so
leads to a more informed decision-making process. It enhances equity and sustainability in the
decision-making process
10.4.2 Estimation of environmental water use
Environmental water uses may include water stored in impoundments and released for
environmental purposes (held environmental water). Environmental water usage includes watering
of natural or artificial wetlands, artificial lakes intended to create wildlife habitat, fish ladders, and
water releases from reservoirs timed to help fish spawn, or to restore more natural flow regimes.
Environmental water requirements of an aquatic ecosystem are defined as the quality and quantity
of water for protection of the structure and functioning of an ecosystem and its dependent species
in order to ensure ecologically sustainable development and utilization of water resources

Total annual environmental water requirement of an aquatic ecosystem in this pilot assessment
was made of two components: environmental low flow requirement (LFR) and environmental high
flow requirement (HFR). The LFR indicates the basic requirements of aquatic life throughout the
year. The HFR is important for river channel maintenance, wetland flooding, fish and other aquatic
species, and riparian vegetation to flow variability. The existing experience in this method for
environmental flow estimation is quantify with the sum of HFR and LFR, which accounted as 20%
of the mean annual flow (MAF) of the targeted river (Hughes & Münster 2000).
Example
The mean annual flow for Shew SSI catchment is computed as 0.274m3/sec or 8.63MCM as
presented above; therefore, the Environmental requirement of this project computed as 20% of
this average flow, which is 0.055m3/sec or 1.73MCM if we add the diverted flow requirement at
weir site (0.61MCM), the total water requirement become 2.34MCM, which is fully covered by the
average flow of the river and it has a relief for downstream use also.

REFERENCE
 ASCE (1996): Hydrology Handbook , ASCE Manuals and Reports on Engineering
Practice No28, American Society of Civil Engineers, New York
 Berhanu, B.K. , Assefa M. M. and Seleshi, Y.(2013), GIS-based hydrological zones and
soil geo-database of Ethiopia, Catena 104 (2013) 21–31, 0341-8162, Elsevier publisher
 Berhanu, B.K (2015): Development of Rainfall-Runoff Method based on Hydrological
Regimes of Ethiopia, PhD thesis, Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources, Addis Ababa
University, Ethiopia
 Berhanu, B.K. and Seleshi Y. Demise, S.S. and Melesse, A.M. (2016): Rainfall
Characterization and Bias Correction of Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR)
Daily Precipitation Data in Ethiopia Using Fuzzy overlay, Meteorol. Appl. (2016), DOI:
10.1002/met.1549
 Boussinesq, J. (1903), Sur le de´bit, en temps de sećheresse, d‘une source alimenteé
par une nappe d‘eaux d‘infiltration, C. R. Hebd. Seanc. Acad. Sci. Paris, 136, 1511 –
1517
 Boussinesq, J. (1904), Recherches theóriques sur l‘ećoulement des nappes d‘eau
infiltreés dans le sol et sur de´bit de sources, J. Math. Pures Appl,10, 5 – 78.
 Brune G. M, 1953. Trap Efficiency of Reservoirs. American Geophysical Union, 34(3),
pp. 407-419.
 Chow, V. T. (1964): Statistical and probability analysis of hydrologic data: Part 1.
Frequency analysis, Section 8 in Handbook of Applied :yd;r-;;gy, ed. by V. T. Chow,
McGraw-Hi 11 Book Co., New York
 Chow V.T. maidment. D.R. and Mays. I. w. (1988). Applied hydrology. McGrawHill Book
Company, New York.
 Gebeyehu, Admasu (1989), Regional Flood Frequency Analysis, Hydraulics Laboratory,
The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Bulletin No. TRITA-VBI-148, Sweden
 Gelagay HS (2016) RUSLE and SDR Model Based Sediment Yield Assessment in a
GIS and Remote Sensing Environment; A Case Study of Koga Watershed, Upper Blue
Nile Basin, Ethiopia. Hydrol Current Res 7: 239. doi:10.4172/2157-7587.1000239
 Highway Drainage Guidelines, Volume 11, Guidelines for Hydrology, Task Force on
Hydrology and Hydraulics, AASHTO Highway Subcommittee on Design.
 Hurni, H. (1987). Applied soil conservation in Ethiopia. Department of Agricultural
Engineering, Nairobi University, Kenya. 15 pp
 Hurni H. (1988). Degradation and Conservation of the Resources in the Ethiopian
Highlands. Mountain Research and Development 8 (2/3): 123-130
 Jothiprakash, V.,Garg, V.,2008. Re-took to Conventional Techniques for Trapping
Efficiency Estimation of a Reservoir. International Journal of Sediment Research,23 (I),
76-84
 Kurt Cooper, 2011 Evaluation of the relationships between the RUSLE R-factor and
mean annual precipitation,
http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~pierre/ce_old/Projects/linkfiles/Cooper%20R-
factorFinal.pdf
 Mesay Daniel Tulu (2010) ―Event based rainfall-runoff modelling in semi-arid regions,
PhD Thesis
 Mohammed Abdulkadir Abdurahman (2009) Assessment of micro-dam irrigation
projects and runoff predictions for ungauged catchments in Northern Ethiopia, PhD
Thesis
 Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1998. Conservation in the 1996 Farm Bill:
Social Factors Influencing Program Implementation. Social Sciences Team
 Regan, R. M., A (1971) Nomograph Based on Kinematic Wave Theory for Determining
Time of Concentration for Overland Flow,‖ Report No. 44, Civil Engineering Department,
University of Maryland at College Park

 Santosh Nepal (2012) Evaluating Upstream-Downstream Linkages of Hydrological

Dynamics in the Himalayan Region, Dissertation, submitted to the Faculty of Chemical
and Earth Sciences of the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, JENA
 Sauer, V. B., Thomas, W. O., Stricker, V. A., and Wilson, K. V. 1983.Flood
Characteristics of Urban Catchment areas in the United States -- Techniques for
Estimating Magnitude and Frequency of Urban Floods.U. S. Geological Survey Water-
Supply Paper 2204
 SCS (1954) National Engineering Handbook, Section 4, Hydrology
 Soil Conservation Service (SCS) Technical Release No. 55 (2nd Edition)
 Tsedey Teshome Zelalem Hailu (2007) Regionalization of flow duration curve for Abbay
Basin using GIS technique , MSc Thesis, Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
 US Department of Agriculture (1972) SCS National Engineering Handbook, Section 4,
Hydrology
 USDA Soil Conservation Service TP-149 (SCS-TP-149), ―A Method for Estimating
Volume and Rate of Runoff in Small Watersheds,‖ revised April 1973.
 Water Resources Council Bulletin 17B (1981) Guidelines for determining flood flow
frequency
 Wischmeier, W. H. and Smith, D. D. (1978) : Predicting Rainfall Erosion Losses – A
guide to Conservation Planning, Agriculture Handbook No. 537, USDA-Agricultural
Research Service, Washington, DC,

SUGGESTED READING
 Baxter E. Vieux (2004): DISTRIBUTED HYDROLOGIC MODELING USING GIS, Water
Science and Technology Library, Volume 48 2004, ISBN: 978-1-4020-2459-7
(Print) 978-1-4020-2460-3 (Online)
 Bras, R. L. (1990). HYDROLOGY -AN INTRODUCTION TO HYDROLOGIC SCIENCE,
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
 Chong-yu Xu (2002) TEXTBOOK OF HYDROLOGIC MODELS , Uppsala University,
Department of Earth Sciences and Hydrology
 Chow, V. T., Maidment, D. R., Mays, L. W. (1988) APPLIED HYDROLOGY, McGraw-
Hill Book Co.
 Keith J. Beven (2009), ENVIROMENTAL MODELING: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE? 1ST
Edition, ISBNI3: 978-0-415-46302-7, Routledge, 2 park Square, Milton park, Abingdom
 Keith J. Beven (2012), RAINFALL-RUNOFF MODELLING: THE PRIMER, 2nd Edition,
ISBN: 978-0-470-71459-1, 488 pages, February 2012, Wiley-Blackwell
 McCuen, Richard H (1998). HYDROLOGIC ANALYSIS AND DESIGN, 2ed, Prentice
Hall Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 074
 Paul J. Wood, David M. Hannah , Dr Jonathan P. Sadler (Editors)(2007)
HYDROECOLOGY AND ECOHYDROLOGY: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, 1st
Edition, John Wiley & Sons Ltd
 Paul Schiariti, P.E., CPESC, Basic Hydrology, Runoff Curve Numbers, Mercy County
 Rao A. Ramachandra (2000) FLOOD FREQUENCY ANALYSIS, CRC Press. Boca
Raton, London New work, Washington D.C.
 Yen, B. C. and Lee, K. T. (1997). ―UNIT HYDROGRAPH DERIVATION FOR
UNGAUGED WATERSHEDS BY STREAM-ORDER LAWS,‖ J. Hydrologic Engrg.,
ASCE, 2(1), 1-9.


SIGL-3 Hydrology and Water Resources Planning Ver-6

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MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

National Guidelines for Small Scale Irrigation Development in Ethiopia

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

Financed by Agricultural Growth Program (AGP)

Enforceability, standardization, social and environmental safeguard mechanisms are well

H.E. Dr. Kaba Urgessa

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning i

SMALL SCALE IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT VISION

ii SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning iii

iv SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

SSIGL 4: Topographic and Irrigation Infrastructures Surveying

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning v

Part IV: Contract Administration & Construction Management

SSIGL 27: Contract Administration

Part V: SSI Scheme Operation, Maintenance and Management

SSIGL 30: Scheme Operation, Maintenance and Management

Ancillary Tools for National Guidelines of Small Scale Irrigation Development

SSIGL 33: Participatory Irrigation Development and Management (PIDM)

vi SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning vii

7 DRAINAGE MODULE ............................................................................................... 53

viii SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

Table 2-1 : Identified. Bench Maji SSPI (2015)................................................................................. 3

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning ix

Figure 2-1: Sequential steps of catchment delineation in different tools ......................................... 4

x SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

AGP Agricultural Growth Program

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning xi

xii SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning xiii

xiv SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

UPDATING AND REVISIONS OF GUIDELINES

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning xv

Suggested Revisions Request Form (Official Letter or Email)

GL Code and Date Sections/ Explanation Comments (proposed

GLs Change Action

Director for SSI Directorate: _______________________Date: ________________

xvi SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE GUIDELINE

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning 1

1.3 SCOPE OF THE GUIDELINE

1.4 DEFINITIONS OF TERMINOLOGIES

RAINFALL – INTENSITY – DURATION (IDF): is a mathematical relationship between rainfall

2 SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

2 ANALYSIS OF CATCHMENT FEATURES

2.1 CATCHMENT DELINEATION

2.1.1 Data sources and tools

2.1.2 Procedures for catchment delineation

Table 2-1 : Identified. Bench Maji SSPI (2015)

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning 3

Figure 2-1: Sequential steps of catchment delineation in different tools

4 SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

Figure 2-2: Terrain preprocessing sequential steps using ArcHydro

Watershed Processing: Delineation of target catchments can be made by using the

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning 5

Figure 2-3: Functions and steps in watershed processing in ArcHydro Tools

6 SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

Figure 2-5: Longest flow computation in watershed processing at Petu site

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning 7

2.2 SOIL DATA AS INPUT FOR HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS

2.3 LAND USE/COVER ANALYSIS AS INPUT FOR HYDROLOGICAL ANALYSIS

8 SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

3.2 SOURCES OF RAINFALL DATA IN ETHIOPIA

I. Ground observed data set

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning 9

II. Blending Grid data

3.3 CHECKING ADEQUACY OF RAIN GAUGES AND DATA RECORD

10 SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

3.4 FILLING DATA GAP

Table 3-1: Gap filling methods and their applicability

SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning 11

3.5 TEST FOR CONSISTENCY

Figure 3-1: Examples of rainfall inconsistency test chart

12 SSIGL 3: Hydrology and Water Resources Planning

Director for SSI Directorate: _______Date: