The Greek word Hydro means water. The term etude hydrologique is a French term meaning the study of water and a hydrologist is a scientist who studies water.
Understanding hydrology
There would be no life on Earth without water. It would be worth mentioning here that water is the most precious and essential natural resource. With hydrology evolving as a science in response to the requirement for understanding the complicated water system of the Earth and assists in solving various kinds of water problems. The hydrology primer provides you adequate information about water on Earth, involvement, and usage of water by humans.
Hydrology – the study of water
Regardless of water being an essential natural resource, the availability of water supply has been relatively limited. Despite nature has an adequate water supply on Earth, it might not be available in the right place, the right quality, or at the right time.
Moreover, the additional problem of chemical wastes discarded improperly in the past has been showing up in the presently available water supplies. The science of hydrology evolving in response to the requirement for understanding the complicated water systems of the Earth along with assistance in solving water-related problems has been a boon to humankind.
Hydrologists have been playing a significant role in finding solutions to various kinds of water problems. It has been a challenging and interesting career made available to the ones choosing hydrology as a subject.
What would a hydrologist do?
A hydrologist would apply his scientific knowledge and mathematical principles in solving various types of water-related issues in society. These problems would be that of –
- Availability of water
- Quality of water
- Quantity of water
A hydrologist would be required to find water supplies for irrigated farms or cities, controlling soil erosion or flooding rivers. They would also be required to work in the location of sites and safe disposal of hazardous wastes, cleaning and prevention of pollution, and protecting the overall environment.
Balancing office and fieldwork
Hydrologists would be required to spend significant time working in the field in various rugged and remote terrains. However, they would also be required to spend time in the office doing several things such as interpreting hydrologic data along with analyzing and determining the potential water supplies.
Most of the work done by hydrologists would rely on computers to organize, summarize, and analyze masses of data. They would model studies inclusive of predicting floods and the consequences of releasing water from reservoirs. They would also analyze the effects of underground oil storage tanks leakages.
