Hydrology and Water Resources Management

About the Department

The course was first established in 1955 as Engineering Hydrology and was the vision of our first-course director, Professor Peter Wolf. Although initially focussed on the traditional concerns of flood protection and water supply, its reputation and scope increased and in the early nineties the course name was changed to Hydrology for Environmental Management, reflecting the increasing importance of hydrology on the behavior of the natural environment. 

Aims and Objective

Hydrology draws on a number of physical and life sciences such as meteorology, plant physiology, soil physics, and geology, and a number of mathematical sciences such as fluid mechanics, probability and statistics, and systems analysis. The course includes a basic treatment of these subjects in the context of hydrological and water resource applications. Attention is paid to techniques for the measurement and collection of data and the formulation of mathematical models of hydrological systems based on principles of physics, systems analysis, and probability. The applications of these models in solving such problems as flood estimation, water resources evaluation (both surface and groundwater), the assessment of urbanization effects, and irrigation requirements are treated specifically. Aspects of hydraulic engineering for river structures are also covered. The planning and management of water resources are treated using the techniques of operational research. Water quality is considered an important aspect of both surface and groundwater, and issues of point and non-point source pollution and waste management are included.

Objectives

Provide an integrated career in hydrology, water resources, and/or environmental management;

Produce graduates equipped to pursue careers in industry, the public sector and non-governmental organizations;

Provide the basis for the recognition and understanding of the major features of hydrology;

Develop an understanding of how this knowledge may be applied in practice in an economic and environmentally sustainable manner;

Foster the acquisition and implementation of broad research and analytical skills related to the discipline;

Attract highly motivated students irrespective of race, gender, background, and physical disability, from the UK and overseas;

Develop new areas of teaching in response to the advance of scholarship and the needs of the community including vocational training;

Provide an introduction to the subject for students from other relevant disciplines.