Technical

Report:
Johanna Vo

Professor Emma Witt

R i c h a r d S t o c k t o n C o l l e g e W a t e r s h e d H y d r o l o g y

Fall

14

I.

WATER BUDGET FOR STOCKTON COLLEGE

Water budgets account for the inputs, outputs, and changes in the amount of water stored by breaking
the water cycle down into components. They provide scientific measurements and estimates of the amount of
water in each component. Basic components of water budgets are precipitation, in flows (surface runoff and
groundwater (seepage) for the Inputs. For the Outputs there are evapotranspiration, out flows (surface runoff)
and groundwater out of the watershed. Lastly the changes in storage will result in change in surface-water and
groundwater storage, storage for streams, wetlands, soil and vegetation.
Precipitation is the primary water input to the hydrologic cycle and is evaluated for all water budget
calculations. Precipitation data for a normal year should be used to evaluate the long- term impacts of a project.
In this project the precipitation data are obtained from National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Here I have
precipitation input of both AC airport and NCDC long-term data of each month in 2013. By comparing these
data we can see that in 2013 it was a good year to for conducting this experiment for Richard Stockton College
although a couple of the months of the long term data soar abnormally.
Graph 1: Long-term Data VS. AC Airport Precipitation Data of 2013

To estimate evapotranspiration, the upward flux of water from the land surface to the atmosphere, a
combination of evaporation from the soil and transpiration by plants, I used 3 method called Thornthwaite,
Penman-Monteith and Hargreaves Samani.

Thornwaithe Method :
First, I used Egg Harbor Township data from NJ Weather site to determine the reference ET for each
month of 2013. Calculating through excel, as a result my PET using Thornwaithe method was 73.8924389 as a
total for the year 2013.

Table 1: Thronwaite Method

For Penman-Monteith and Hargreaves Samani Method:

I used a program that is based on the standardized Penman Monteith equation from the Environmental
Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This program calculates
evapotranspiration for short (ETo) and tall (ETr) canopies using monthly weather data. The results were found
by manually inputting data for,
In calculating each method I can compare all three method. By
Rs = solar radiation(monthly average)
analyzing the data there is a similar trend in each of the method.
Tx = monthly max temperature
Evapotranspiration increases toward the summer for three
Tn = monthly min temperature
method however Hargreaves Samani slightly decreased. In
RHx = monthly max relative humidity
general, in the month from December to February showed the
RHn = monthly min relative humidity
least amount of evapotranspiration mostly due to the fully
Us = wind speed (monthly average)
developed plants in the summer.

Graph 2: Thronwaite, Penman-Monteith and Hargreaves Samani Method Compared

Furthermore canopy interception is needed to calculate interception. It is an important part of ET that

represents a loss from measured precipitation. Precipitation that is not intercepted will fall as throughfall or
stemflow on the forest floor. However in this particular project stemflow was not calculated. The method that
we used was scattering total of 9 bucket Richard Stockton Colleges woods, 4 of the bucket located on
northwest side of Lake Pam, the other 4 on southeast side of Lake Pam, 8 which have a radius of 8.5cm and the
last one was a control bucket where it was left away from any interception with a radius of 14cm. The bucket

was left over night through the rain and the next afternoon after the rain stopped, it was collected. The
controlled bucket collected total of 710mL. Using this formula
Ic = Pg-Th-Sf, Ic = Canopy interception
Pg = Gross Precipitation
Th = Throughfall
Sf = Stemflow = Water that flows down stems to the ground

Table 2: Northwest and Southeast of Lake Pam, RSC

Graph 3: Throughfall and Canopy Trend Line on September 15

Analyzing the result, we can see that canopy cover increases, and as throughfall decreases, storage
capacity of the canopy increase resulting in a decrease in the water that was capture in the bucket, our
throughfall. In comparing our bigger bucket without any interception with our small bucket, it was found that a
significant amount of precipitation was left in our small bucket which can be calculated to find our canopy
interception. Each bucket varied because all the variable that comes between them such as canopy coverage,
leaf area, vegetative layers, rainfall intensity, canopy openings and probably more. However we also need to
include the limitations of the methodology we used, such as 8 weak buckets is not going to be to accurate
especially for the entire forest, stemfall wasnt measure, and tools like bucket arent as accurate compared to
higher quality tool rain gauges.

Groundwater is rain water or water from the surface like streams or lake that is soaking into the soil to
store groundwater aquifers, which is important to keep uncontaminated by physical, biological, and chemical
pollution. Being that is significantly apart of our drinking water. Therefore it is critical to be knowledgeable in
where our water is coming from.
Figure 1:

New Jersey has 5 Coastal Plain Aquifers; Kirkwood
Cohensey, Atlantic City 800ft Sand, Wenonah Mount
Laurel, Englishtown and Potomac-Raritan Magothy.
Beneath Stockton Colleges Pine Barrens there are aquifers
that can be used for domestic water use, most important is
Kirkwood Cohensey system, with unconfined sand, fine to
coarse grained, and a well depth of 20-350 ft. Most people
living in the Pine Barrens have their own wells, others rely
on the local water company to provide them with water,
either way, most of that water is comes from groundwater
sources that are use daily, therefore it is important to
develop cleaning methods.

II.

COMPARING DISCHARGE STREAMS ON CAMPUS

In order to calculate our stream discharge, the amount of water that flows down a stream per unit time, I need
to find stream measurement. Using a tape measurement, string, stakes, ruler and current meter. To start we have
to measure the bank width of my stream, which is the water level at which it is at the top of its banks. String
should be tied to each stake between bank width. It is important to recognize that the velocity of moving water
varies both across the stream channel. In this method, the stream channel cross section is divided into numerous
vertical subsections. In each subsection, the area is obtained by measuring the width and depth of the
subsection, and the water velocity is determined using a current meter discharge in each subsection is computed
by multiplying the subsection area by the measured velocity. The total discharge is then computed by summing
the discharge of each subsection. The areas are summed to determine the entire cross- sectional area and
discharges to get my total discharge.
Another method is Manning equation:

I chose .1 as my n for Mannings equation because both were similar in and had a floodplain with stands of
timber, a few down trees, little undergrowth, flood stage below branches. Below shows both my method for
Lake Fred and My stream.

-DATA: BOTH LAKE FRED AND MY STREAMS DISCHARGE USING VELOCITY DATA AND
MANNINGS EQUATION
Table 3: Lake Freds Total Discharge (m^3/sec)

Lake Freds Discharge Using Manning Equation:

Watershed = 3500acres (152460000ft ! )A = .97m!
WP = 9.8m Slope = .0011m Rh = .09898 n = .1

V =

!.!"
.!

!!

. 09898 ! . 0011 !! = V= .106 m/sec (.348ft/sec)

Q= A*V = 53056080 ft^3/sec

Graph 4: Cross-section of Lake Fred

Figure Not d rawn scale

Table 4: My Stream on RSC

MyStream Discharge Using Manning Equation:

Watershed = 3500acres (152460000ft ! )A = 2.99m!
WP = 2.4m Slope = .02m Rh = 1.25 n = .1

V =

Graph 5: Cross- section View on My Stream4

!.!"
.!

!!

1.25 ! . 02 !! = V= 2.44 m/sec (8ft/sec)

Q= A*V = 1219680000 ft^3/sec

-FINAL DATA ANALYSIS FOR BOTH MY STREAM AND LAKE FRED

Lake Fred Total Discharge:

My final discharges in both methods for each
Q = 53056080 ft^3/sec

stream,
Lake Fred and my stream was significantly
Excel= Q= 2.84 m^3/sec

different. In comparing the different method, it was
My Stream on RSC Discharge:

very different to analyzing due to variety of factors. For
Q = 1219680000 ft^3/sec

example in using the equation Q= A*V in excel did not
Excel= Q= 9.89 m^3/sec

include factors like slope and coefficient which can
Natural mechanisms
fluctuate the result.
Runoff from rainfall and snowmelt
In comparing my stream to Lake Fred my
Evaporation from soil and surfacewater bodies
streams discharge was very large compared to Lake
Transpiration by vegetation
Fred. This could be due to vegetation coverage, rock and
Groundwater recharge from surfacewater bodies
soil type, slope and other factors are includes.

Sedimentation of lakes and wetlands

Human induced mechanisms

Riverflow regulation for hydropower and navigation

Construction, removal, and sedimentation of reservoirs
Stream channelization and levee construction
Drainage or restoration of wetlands
Landuse changes such as urbanization

-STREAM MORPHOLOGY (ROSGEN CLASSIFICATION OF YOUR STREAM)
Figure 3: Cross-section and Plan View of my
stream

III.

Water Quality

Parameter for assessing my stream health:

Ive got my water sample from Lake Fred, which is 3500 acres surrounded by forest and urban
development, which could be expected to contaminate Lake Freds water quality. Pour 100mL sample water
into the tube and through a filtration, where I got my sediment left over. Using my volume I found my
concentration for turbidity, which is 16.99g/mL. .004g was the weight of my sediment out of a 100mL
volume, I say my stream quality nothing concerning.

Initial Weight (g): 17.46

Final Weight (g): 17.464
Volume (mL): 100

Turbidity- is a measure of suspended particles including clay, silt, organic and inorganic matter, algae,
and microorganisms.
DO- aquatic organisms need oxygen to live. As water moves past their gills oxygen gas in the water,
called dissolved oxygen (DO), are transferred from the water to their blood.
pH- is a measure of the acidity of alkalinity of the water, expressed in terms of its concentration of
hydrogen ions. The pH of water determines the solubility (amount that can be dissolved in the water) and
biological availability (amount that can be utilized by aquatic life). pH also determine nutrient available, low
soil pH have the cation exchange site occupied by H+ therefore cannot hold other cations therefore low pH are
likely to be deficient in nutrient.
Electrical Conductivity (EC)- estimates the amount of total dissolved salts (TDS), or the total amount of
dissolved ions in the water.
Temperature- The rate of chemical reactions generally increases at higher temperature, which in turn
affects biological activity. In addition, as temperatures get too far above or below this preferred range, the
number of individuals of the species decreases.

Cedick Run Stream

Temp 11.4
DO% 51.8
DO 5.61mg/L
Conductivity 83
pH 4.16

By analyzing each parameter taken by water quality high automatic technology, I found that pH was
Toxic according to this parameter, PH GREATER THAN 9.2 OR LESS THAN 4.8 ARE GENERALLY
TOXIC. My conductivity was average according to EPA standards, The conductivity of rivers in the United
States generally ranges from 50 to 1500 mhos/cm. Temperature has much variation to affect it, it is generally
sample often to see change in temperature. Lastly DO should also have a lot of variation, factor due to
temperature, as water becomes warmer it can hold less and less DO. High temperatures reduce the solubility of
oxygen in water. High nutrients can lead to excessive plant growth, resulting in DO declines due to respiration
and decomposition. Embedded sediments can prevent DO, showing that sediments reduce water quality,
smother bottom-dwelling plants and animals and reduce light penetration, litter causes release in toxic substance
to fish.

IV.

Best Management Practices

If Stockton campus double, there would be many source and amount of pollutant of concerns that
will affect our water resources. There are a lot of sustainable practices for make sure our water quality
wont be contaminated.
Bioretention system- Building a landscaped used to slow and treat on-site stormwater runoff.
Stormwater is directed to the basin and then percolates through the system where it is treated.
Grass buffer strip- reduces runoff velocity and removes suspended solids
Vegetation Help remove water through process of evapotranspiration and remove excess nutrients
through nutrient cycling
Constructed wetland- engineered wetland system to remove some pollutant
Dry well revieve and stored stormwater from roof
Detention basin- dry ponds, are stormwater basins that are designed to intercept stormwater runoff and
gradual release to the receiving stream

Infiltration basin like retention basin but no outlet and promotes groundwater infiltration
Pervious pave- Any rain that falls on the permeable paver percolates between the pavers and, depending
on the soil type, the water infiltrates back into the ground, slowly releases to the nearest storm sewer or
waterway instead of runoff,
In addition, in groundwater contamination some method are:

Groundwater Cleaning Methods include:
PUMP AND TREAT
BIOREMEDIATION
REMOVAL TO HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY
HEAT TO VAPORIZE ORGANICS