Estimation of the lag time of direct runoff in a small urban catchment of Służew Creek based on the measured data

The main goal of this article was estimation of the lag time of direct runoff in Służew Creek catchment, located in Warsaw (Poland). To calculations there were used measured data of rainfall (Okęcie rain gauging station) and data of direct runoff at the Berensewicz Pond water gauge. The IUH based on the Nash model, in which catchment is shown as a cascade of N linear reservoirs with retention parameter k of each reservoir, was used to transform effective rainfall into direct runoff. Effective rainfall of each recorded event was estimated with two methods: exponential formula and CN-SCS method. Analysis was conducted for one hydrological year (2007), for events with water level higher than 0.75 m, which corresponds with discharge about 1 cubic meter per second. As a result of this analysis, there was stated, that two estimation methods gave different output and estimated mean lag time of direct runoff for CN- -SCS method (3.77 h) was longer than for the exponential formula (3.37 h). This case study was the part of the fi rst author’s master thesis, written at the Department of Water Engineering and Environmental Restoration (Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW), entitled: “Analysis of fl ood discharges in the Służew Creek catchment at the water gauge of Berensewicz Pond”