Precipitation (Water Falling from the Sky)

There are many different types of precipitation

—rain, snow, hail, and sleet for example—yet
they all have a few things in common. They all
come from clouds. They are all forms of water
that fall from the sky. Additionally, they all affect
life on Earth, causing some people to leap with
glee while making others scowl, mumbling about
umbrellas or snow shovels, causing garden
flowers to grow or causing massive crop
damage.

The most common types of precipitation:

Rain
Drops of liquid water fall from the clouds when water vapor condenses around dust
particles in the clouds, forming tiny droplets that eventually get too big for the cloud
to hold so they fall, growing larger as they collect more water on their way down.

Snow
Snow is ice that falls from the sky. Each snowflake is a delicately complex
arrangement of ice crystals. A snowflake forms when water vapor sublimates, or
turns directly from a gas into its solid form, ice.

Hail
Hail is ice that falls from the sky, often in round shapes. Hailstones form within
thunderstorm clouds when upward moving air keeps pellets of frozen water from
falling. The pellets grow larger as drops of very cold water hit them and freeze.
Eventually the balls of ice become so large and heavy that they fall to the ground as
hailstones. The largest documented hailstone weighted more than one and a half
pounds! Scientists estimate that it reached a speed of more than 80 mph as it fell
toward Earth.

Sleet
Sleet is like slush falling from the sky. Sleet forms when raindrops freeze into ice as
they fall to the ground. They are usually smaller and wetter than hailstones.

Urbinization and its impact omn water cycle

The water cycle, also known as the hydrological cycle, is the continuous exchange of water
between land, waterbodies, and the atmosphere. Approximately 97% of the earth’s water
is stored in the oceans, and only a fraction of the remaining portion is usable freshwater.
When precipitation falls over the land, it follows various routes. Some of it evaporates,
returning to the atmosphere, some seeps into the ground, and the remainder becomes
surface water, traveling to oceans and lakes by way of rivers and streams. Impervious
surfaces associated with urbanization alter the natural amount of water that takes each
route. The consequences of this change are a decrease in the volume of water that percolates
into the ground, and a resulting increase in volume and decrease in quality of surface water.
These hydrological changes have significant implications for the quantity of fresh, clean
water that is available for use by humans, fish and wildlife 1 .

Urbanization, which essentially create more impervious surface, is an inevitable

part of modern societal development throughout the world. It produces several
changes in the natural hydrological cycle by adding several processes. A better
understanding of the impacts of urbanization, will allow policy makers to balance
development and environment sustainability needs. It also helps underdeveloped
countries make strategic decisions in their development process. The objective
of this study is to understand and quantify the sensitivity of the urban-rural water
cycle to urbanisation. A coupled hydrological model, MODCYCLE, was set up
to simulate the effect of changes in landuse on daily streamflow and groundwater
and applied to the Tianjin municipality, a rapidly urbanising mega-city on the
east coast of China. The model uses landuse, land cover, soil, meteorological and
climatic data to represent important parameters in the catchment. The fraction of
impervious surface was used as a surrogate to quantify the degree of landuse
change. In this work, we analysed the water cycle process under current
urbanization situation in Tianjin. A number of different future development
scenarios on based on increasing urbanisation intensity is explored. The results
show that the expansion of urban areas had a great influence on generation of
flow process and on ET, and the surface runoff was most sensitive to
urbanisation. The results of these scenarios-based study about future urbanisation
on hydrological system will help planners and managers in taking proper
decisions regarding sustainable development.

Urban hydrological cycle

The Urban Water Cycle: Sustaining Our Modern Cities

March 19, 2014

By Robert B. Sowby

Most of us understand the basics of the hydrologic cycle—condensation, precipitation,

transportation, and evaporation. These processes operate on global scales and in natural
environments. But on local scales and in engineered environments like cities, a different
cycle dominates: the urban water cycle.

For the first time in history, slightly more than half of Earth’s population resides in cities. (In
the U.S., the number is already 80 percent.) The world continues to urbanize, with 70
percent projected by 2050. Providing safe, reliable water to urban populations will be a
defining challenge of the 21st century.

Water, of course, is a part of everyday life, from supplying our drinking water to removing
our wastes. It is also the largest mass flux into and out of cities—more than food, freight,
people, or anything else. Just as water circulates in the global hydrologic cycle, water in our
cities flows in an urban water cycle, one of the modern world’s fundamental systems.

Source

Many freshwater sources are found in the environment as a result of geological and
meteorological phenomena. Surface waters such as lakes, reservoirs, and rivers are the most
visible and are often tapped for public water supply. Groundwater, which exists almost
everywhere at some depth, can be extracted by wells. The choice of a water source
depends on many factors, including quality, availability, proximity, economics, and legal
issues.

Water Treatment

To be suitable for distribution and human use, raw water must be treated to remove
contaminants and pathogens. Design of appropriate treatment processes depends on water
quality. At a basic level, disinfection is necessary to deactivate harmful microorganisms.
More advanced treatment involves a sequence of screening, settling, filtering, disinfection,
and chemical adjustments at a water treatment facility.

Water Distribution

After treatment, finished water is distributed to customers through a pressurized system of

pipes, pumps, valves, and storage reservoirs. While much of this infrastructure is buried and
invisible, it is an important system that ensures that water is available when and where we
need it.

Use

Water customers use the supplied water for various purposes. Industries use water for
manufacturing and cleaning. Businesses and offices use water for daily operations. At home,
residents use water for cooking, bathing, laundry, drinking, and landscaping.

Wastewater Collection

The opposite of distribution, wastewater collection systems (sewers) collect used water and
convey it, usually by gravity, to a wastewater treatment facility. This occurs through a
network of increasingly large pipes. A typical urban wastewater stream is more than 99%
water and less than 1% waste.

Wastewater Treatment

After use, water quality has been degraded and requires treatment before it can be
reintroduced into the environment. Wastewater treatment uses physical, chemical, and
biological processes to remove wastes from the influent and restore water quality. Once
treated, the effluent is discharged to the environment and the cycle begins anew.

While these six components are typical, the urban water cycle varies among cities, or even
among parts of cities. Sometimes an intermediate transmission step conveys raw water from
a source to a treatment facility. In one shortcut, treated wastewater can be reused directly
as reclaimed water; this can be practical when the effluent quality exceeds the natural
source quality. Singapore, for example—highly populated but geographically small—is known
for NEWater, its brand-name reclaimed wastewater.

While not directly included in the cycle, stormwater runoff can be transformed from a
waste product into a resource by practices of low-impact development (LID). Rainwater
harvesting is a shortcut from source to use, where rainwater is collected for outdoor
applications such as gardening. A given urban system may combine all of these methods in
varying degrees.

Each component in the urban water cycle brings its own benefits and challenges, and
understanding them is the first step to developing sustainable water solutions for our
growing population.

Trends of urbinization
Urbanization in India began to accelerate after, due to the country's adoption of a mixed
economy, which gave rise to the development of the private sector. Urbanisation is taking place
at a faster rate in India. Population residing in urban areas in India, according to 1901 census,
was 11.4%.[1] This count increased to 28.53% according to 2001 census, and crossing 30% as
per 2011 census, standing at 31.16%.[2][3] In 2017, the numbers increased to 34%, according to
The World Bank.[4] According to a survey by UN State of the World Population report in 2007, by
2030, 40.76% of country's population is expected to reside in urban areas.[5] As per World Bank,
India, along with China, Indonesia, Nigeria, and the United States, will lead the world's urban
population surge by 2050.[2]
Mumbai saw large scale rural-urban migration in the 20th century.[see main] Mumbai, in 2018,
accommodates 22.1 million people, and is the largest metropolis by population in India, followed
by Delhi with 28 million inhabitants. Witnessing the fastest rate of urbanisation in the world, as
per 2011 census, Delhi's population rises by 4.1%, Mumbai's by 3.1% and Kolkata's by 2% as
per 2011 census compared to 2001 census.

Effects of urbinization on hydrology

Changes/Alteration in the:

 Urban streams

 Shape of runoff hydrograph

 Water/river body functions

Increasing/intensification the:

 Peak flow rates of runoff

 Total volume of runoff

 Severity of flooding

 Bankfull flow

 Water velocities
 Frequency of high stream flows
 Contaminants/pollutions to river systems
Decreasing/Destruction the:

 Infiltration rate

 The time of flow concentration

 Base flow

 Downstream channel erosion

 Groundwater recharge
 Water levels during the dry season

 Water quality
 Aquatic environment

Here is a file to compare the urban water cycle in Natural, Conventional and Sustainable urban landscapes.

DISCUSSION ON OVERLAND DRAINAGE

1 Introduction
Overland flow (surface runoff) occurs when intense rain falls onto a soil of low
infiltrability, or where ground or soil water intersects the soil surface. The first
situation gives rise to infiltration‐excess or Horton overland flow (HOF), while
extremely wet conditions may result in saturation‐excess overland flow (SOF) or
return flow (RF). These mechanisms of overland‐flow generation can be tightly
linked: SOF and RF, for instance, were reported to coexist in some catchments
[Elsenbeer and Vertessy, 2000; Sayer et al., 2006].

Regardless of the type of overland flow, it is increasingly recognized that its mere
documentation cannot explain whole watershed behavior, because surface runoff
may or may not be captured by the channel system; reinfiltration reduces the
significance of overland flow for water and solute fluxes.

DRAINAGE
6.1 Need for drainage

During rain or irrigation, the fields become wet. The water infiltrates into the soil and is stored
in its pores. When all the pores are filled with water, the soil is said to be saturated and no
more water can be absorbed; when rain or irrigation continues, pools may form on the soil
surface (Fig. 96).
 Fig. 96. During heavy rainfall the upper soil layers become saturated and pools may
form. Water percolates to deeper layers and infiltrates from the pools.

Part of the water present in the saturated upper soil layers flows downward into deeper
layers and is replaced by water infiltrating from the surface pools.

When there is no more water left on the soil surface, the downward flow continues for a
while and air re-enters in the pores of the soil. This soil is not saturated anymore.

However, saturation may have lasted too long for the plants' health. Plant roots require air as
well as water and most plants cannot withstand saturated soil for long periods (rice is an
exception).

Besides damage to the crop, a very wet soil makes the use of machinery difficult, if not
impossible.

The water flowing from the saturated soil downward to deeper layers, feeds the groundwater
reservoir. As a result, the groundwater level (often called groundwater table or simply water
table) rises. Following heavy rainfall or continuous over-irrigation, the groundwater table may
even reach and saturate part of the rootzone (see Fig. 97). Again, if this situation lasts too
long, the plants may suffer. Measures to control the rise of the water table are thus
necessary.

Fig. 97. After heavy rainfall the groundwater table may rise and reach the rootzone

BEFORE HEAVY RAINFALL

AFTER HEAVY RAINFALL

The removal of excess water either from the ground surface or from the rootzone, is called
drainage.

Excess water may be caused by rainfall or by using too much irrigation water, but may also
have other origins such as canal seepage or floods.

In very dry areas there is often accumulation of salts in the soil. Most crops do not grow well
on salty soil. Salts can be washed out by percolating irrigation water through the rootzone of
the crops. To achieve sufficient percolation, farmers will apply more water to the field than
the crops need. But the salty percolation water will cause the water table to rise. Drainage to
control the water table, therefore, also serves to control the salinity of the soil (see Chapter
7).

6.2 Different types of drainage

6.2.1 Surface drainage

6.2.2 Subsurface drainage

Drainage can be either natural or artificial. Many areas have some natural drainage; this
means that excess water flows from the farmers' fields to swamps or to lakes and rivers.
Natural drainage, however, is often inadequate and artificial or man-made drainage is
required.
There are two types of artificial drainage: surface drainage and subsurface drainage.

6.2.1 Surface drainage

Surface drainage is the removal of excess water from the surface of the land. This is
normally accomplished by shallow ditches, also called open drains. The shallow ditches
discharge into larger and deeper collector drains. In order to facilitate the flow of excess
water toward the drains, the field is given an artificial slope by means of land grading (see
Fig. 98).

Fig. 98. The field is given an artificial slope to facilitate drainage

6.2.2 Subsurface drainage

Subsurface drainage is the removal of water from the rootzone. It is accomplished by deep
open drains or buried pipe drains.

i. Deep open drains

The excess water from the rootzone flows into the open drains (see Fig. 99). The
disadvantage of this type of subsurface drainage is that it makes the use of machinery
difficult.

Fig. 99. Control of the groundwater table by means of deep open drains

ii. Pipe drains

Pipe drains are buried pipes with openings through which the soil water can enter. The
pipes convey the water to a collector drain (see Fig. 100).

Fig. 100. Control of the groundwater table by means of buried pipes

Drain pipes are made of clay, concrete or plastic. They are usually placed in trenches by
machines. In clay and concrete pipes (usually 30 cm long and 5 - 10 cm in diameter)
drainage water enters the pipes through the joints (see Fig. 101, top). Flexible plastic drains
are much longer (up to 200 m) and the water enters through perforations distributed over the
entire length of the pipe (see Fig. 101, bottom).

Fig. 101. Clay pipes (top) and flexible plastic pipe (bottom)

iii. Deep open drains versus pipe drains

Open drains use land that otherwise could be used for crops. They restrict the use of
machines. They also require a large number of bridges and culverts for road crossings
and access to the fields. Open drains require frequent maintenance (weed control, repairs,
etc.).

In contrast to open drains, buried pipes cause no loss of cultivable land and maintenance
requirements are very limited. The installation costs, however, of pipe drains may be higher
due to the materials, the equipment and the skilled manpower involved.