Chapter Three

Water resources The hydrological cycle Water balances Groundwater resources How to determine the blue and green water resources The rainbow of water

The hydrological cycle The hydrological cycle can be studied at different spatial scales
an individual plant a farmers field
a watershed

A catchment area an international river basin an ocean, the earth

cont
It is useful to distinguish three different types of water depending on their occurrence in the water cycle (Falkenmark, 1995):
white water = rainfall and that part of rainfall which is intercepted and immediately evaporates back to the atmosphere green water = soil moisture in the unsaturated soil layer, stemming directly from rainfall, that is transpired by vegetation blue water = water involved in the runoff (sub-)cycle, consisting of surface water and groundwater (below the unsaturated zone

Water balances
Water balances are based on the principleof conservation of mass.

S/T=O(t)-I(t) (3.1)whereI is the inflow in [L3 /T] L = unit of length; T = unit of time] O is the outflow in [L 3/T] S /t is the change in storage over a time step [L3 /T

The water balance of the earth (Savenije, 2000

Amount of water on earth (UN World Water Development Report, 2003 amount of water % Volume 1012m3 World oceans 1,338,000 96.5 Groundwater (non-fresh) 12,870 0.93 Salt water lakes 85.4 0.006 Ice and snow 24,364 1.76 69.6 Groundwater (fresh) 10,530 0.76 30.1 Atmospheric water 12.9 0.001 0.037 Fresh water lakes 91 0.007 0.260 Marshes & swamps 11.5 0.001 0.033 River water 2.12 0.0000.006 0.006 Soil moisture 16.5 0.001 0.047 Water in organisms 1.12 0.000 0.003

cont
The water balance as a result of human interference . interference of man in the hydrological cycle through the introduction of the water diversion cycle .

The water balance of a crop

water balance of a rainfed crop is presented
P = E + E + E + R + Q +ISTSS/t Where P : precipitation (L /T; e.g. m /day or, if divided by area mm/day) interception (L3 /T) E : soil evaporation (L3 /T) E : transpiration (L3 /T)T R : deep percolation = recharge of aquifers (L3 /T) Q : Surface run-off S/t : change of soil moisture over the considered period (L3 /T

Groundwater resources
Groundwater can be split up into - fossil groundwater Fossil ground water should be considered a finite mineral resource - renewable groundwateris ground water that takes an active part in the hydrological cycle
Fossil G .W Renewable G.W Overland flow

Slow run off

Fast run off

Blue water

How to determine the blue and green water resources

Precipitation ( P ) and the blue water ( Q ) can be determined through measurement

Interception

EI =Min (p. D)
D is the threshold evaporation

The effective precipitation can now be defined as the

remainder of the rainfall afterinterception has occurred

Peff=Max (pd ,o)

The rainbow of water revisited

The concept of "green water" was first introduced by Falkenmark (1995), to distinguishit from "blue water", water that occurs in rivers, lakes and aquifers The process through which green water is consumed is transpiration. Green water is a very important resource for global food production colour of the rainbow is the ultra-violet water, the invisible water, or the"virtual water". Virtual water is the amount of water required to produce a certain good