Surface and subsurface water balance estimation 209

Table 1 Guidelines for surface runoff coefficients by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology, Japan.
Type of ground surface Coefficient of surface runoff, Fi’
Road:
Pavement 0.70–0.90
Permeable pavement 0.30–0.40
Gravel road 0.30–0.70
Shoulder or top of slope:
Fine soil 0.40–0.65
Coarse soil 0.10–0.30
Hard rock 0.70–0.85
Soft rock 0.50–0.75
Grass plot of sand:
Slope 0–2% 0.05–0.10
Slope 2–7% 0.10–0.15
Slope 7% 0.15–0.20
Grass plot of clay:
Slope 0–2% 0.13–0.17
Slope 2–7% 0.18–0.22
Slope 7% 0.25–0.35
Roof 1.00
Unused bare land 0.20–0.40
Athletic field 0.40–0.80
Park with vegetation 0.10–0.25
Mountain with a gentle slope 0.30
Mountain with a steep slope 0.50
A paddy field or water 0.70–0.80
Farmland 0.10–0.30

permeability of the aquifer may have to be adjusted. However, this approach requires
much calculation effort and may result in unreliable parameter estimation.
It is assumed that significant horizontal groundwater flow will not occur until
infiltrated rainwater reaches the groundwater table. This assumption enables one to
identify the parameters used in the groundwater recharge model independently of the
numerical simulation of groundwater flow. The four unknown parameters in the
groundwater recharge model can be determined in the following way. The outlet level
R0 is defined as the maximum value of the total rainfall amount that does not induce a
significant rise in the groundwater table at a certain observation well. Thus, R0 is
empirically estimated from observations. The effective porosity can be evaluated by
traditional soil analysis, but can also be evaluated by dividing the groundwater
recharge by the observed rise in the groundwater table for each rainfall event. The
values of (r)1/2 and aL can be found by minimizing the function J:
N [h (i, t ) − h fcal (i, t ) ] 2

å
fobs
J= (5)
t =1 N
where hfobs(i,t) and hfcal(i,t) represent observed and calculated groundwater level by
equations (1)–(4), respectively, and N is the number of time steps for selected rainfall
events.