  We study the multifractal temporal scaling properties of river discharge and
precipitation records. We compare the results for the multifractal detrended
fluctuation analysis method with the results for the wavelet transform modulus
maxima technique and obtain agreement within the error margins. In contrast to
previous studies, we find non-universal behaviour: On long time scales, above a
crossover time scale of several months, the runoff records are described by
fluctuation exponents varying from river to river in a wide range. Similar
variations are observed for the precipitation records which exhibit weaker, but
still significant multifractality. For all runoff records the type of
multifractality is consistent with a modified version of the binomial
multifractal model, while several precipitation records seem to require
different models.
