Hortonian runoff was measured in the laboratory from uniform slopes of lengths of 1.5, 3.0, and 6.0 m for steady, high-intensity rainstorms with durations of 1·0 to 7.5 min. A clear reduction in runoff per unit slope length was found as slope lengths were increased. This effect becomes more pronounced with decreasing storm duration. The runoff data were used to validate a simple process-based model that combines the Philip-two-term infiltration equation with the kinematic wave overland flow principle. The predicted and experimental results agreed well. Laboratory findings were extrapolated with the aid of the model to slopes and rainfall durations similar to those found under West African conditions. The calculated reduction of runoff per unit length is similar to reported observations. Thus, this process-based model can largely explain the phenomenon of runoff reduction with increasing slope length.@en

Inland valleys with wet lowlands are an important water source for farming communities in the sub-humid zone of West Africa. An inland valley and surrounding contributing watershed area located in the sub-humid zone near M'bé in central Côte d'Ivoire was instrumented to study surface runoff and base flow mechanisms. Four flumes at different distances down the main stream and more than 100 piezometers were installed. Measurements were taken during two rainfall seasons in 1998 and 1999. Under initial wet conditions, a typical single-peak hydrograph was observed. Under low antecedent moisture conditions, however, runoff was characterized by a double-peaked hydrograph. The first peak, which occurred during the storm, was caused by rain falling on the saturated valley bottom. The second peak was delayed by minutes to hours from the first peak and consisted of rain flowing via the subsurface of the hydromorphic zone that surrounds the valley bottom. The duration of the delay was a function of the water table depth in the hydromorphic zone before the storm. The volume of the second peak constituted the largest portion of the stream flow.@en

A solution of the Laplace equation with linearized boundary conditions is presented for unsteady flow through a rectangular aquifer. The results are compared with those of the linearized Boussinesq equation. The linearized solution based on the Laplace equation is as, easy to use as Boussinesq's solution, has a wider range of application, and allows accurate computation of streamlines.@en

The sustainable development of water resources includes retaining some amount of the natural flow regime in water bodies to protect and maintain aquatic ecosystem health and the human livelihoods and wellbeing dependent upon them. Although assessment of environmental flows is now occurring globally, limited studies have been carried out in the Ethiopian highlands, especially studies to understand flow-ecological response relationships. This paper establishes a hydrological foundation of Gumara River from an ecological perspective. The data analysis followed three steps: first, determination of the current flow regime-flow indices and ecologically relevant flow regime; second, naturalization of the current flow regime-looking at how flow regime is changing; and, finally, an initial exploration of flow linkages with ecological processes. Flow data of Gumara River from 1973 to 2018 are used for the analysis. Monthly low flow occurred from December to June; the lowest being in March, with a median flow of 4.0 m3 s-1. Monthly high flow occurred from July to November; the highest being in August, with a median flow of 236m3 s-1. 1-Day low flows decreased from 1.55 m3 s-1 in 1973 to 0.16 m3 s-1 in 2018, and 90-Day (seasonal) low flow decreased from 4.9 m3 s-1 in 1973 to 2.04 m3 s-1 in 2018. The Mann-Kendall trend test indicated that the decrease in low flow was significant for both durations at α = 0.05. A similar trend is indicated for both durations of high flow. The decrease in both low flows and high flows is attributed to the expansion of pump irrigation by 29 km2 and expansion of plantations, which resulted in an increase of NDVI from 0.25 in 2000 to 0.29 in 2019. In addition, an analysis of environmental flow components revealed that only four "large floods" appeared in the last 46 years; no "large flood" occurred after 1988. Lacking "large floods" which inundate floodplain wetlands has resulted in early disconnection of floodplain wetlands from the river and the lake; which has impacts on breeding and nursery habitat shrinkage for migratory fish species in Lake Tana. On the other hand, the extreme decrease in "low flow" components has impacts on predators, reducing their mobility and ability to access prey concentrated in smaller pools. These results serve as the hydrological foundation for continued studies in the Gumara catchment, with the eventual goal of quantifying environmental flow requirements.@en

Natural soils are generally populated with a wide variety of macropores formed from physical processes and/or biological activity. These macropores can have a large influence on the lateral flow of water in hillslope soils even when those macropores are not continuous or connected directly to ponded water. The concept of self-organization of flow paths described by SIDLE et al. (2001) is analyzed through numerical simulation of variably-saturated flow in a large cylinder of soil containing a population of disconnected macropores. It is demonstrated that there is a threshold water pressure at which the macropores will become active, and above this threshold the then active network of macropores significantly increases the effective conductance of the soil volume. In the case examined here the increase exceeded 40%. The analysis presented provides a context for the explanation of soil pipe formation by the process of seepage erosion. An analogy is drawn between percolation theory in porous media and the concept of self-organization of flow pathways at the hillslope scale.@en