Engineering Hydrology An Introduction

Abstract

Of the three principal components of our environment - air, water and soil, the water occupies a central position in the environmental makeup and so do the water resources in environmental resources. Hydrology - the science of water, plays a vital role not only in the protection and management of water resources but also the environmental resources. Therefore, Hydrology forms an essential part of undergraduate curricula of such diverse disciplines as Civil Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Climatology, Geography, Geology, Earth Sciences, Forestry and Watershed Sciences. Students are exposed to hydrology primarily through this course and they might not have had an opportunity to be exposed to hydrologic phenomenon before. So they need to be taught right from the basic level. This book has been written right from the basic level and requires no previous background of hydrology for its study and indeed the students can understand the book, for most part, by themselves. Considerable efforts have been made to discuss the basic concepts and illustrate them with examples with respect to Pakistan. Lastly, I earnestly wait for valuable feedback from my learned colleagues and dear students. It is only with their help that we can build upon this foundation.