Water Management

Course manual 2020/2021

Course content

Freshwater is one of the most important resources for mankind.  However the amount of fresh water on Earth is limited. Furthermore the amount of available water is not equally distributed both in time and space. Consequently at some place too much water is present whereas in other regions too little water is available. Additionally, water on earth is impacted by anthropogenic activity. Managing chemical pollution, e.g. via the treatment of wastewater, is often necessary to preserve essential resources. This course will focus on aspects of water management in both humid and dryland regions, hence in areas with excess water as well as in areas with water shortages. You will work on examples involving practical cases directly related to water management issues from the Netherlands, Western Europe and Southern Spain. 

The course will contribute to your understanding  on the hydrosphere as an important part of  ‘System Earth‘ and how global change affects water availability and water quality, and how models can be applied to help improving our understanding and might be used to anticipate on changing water budgets under global change.

The course is structured around three themes. The principles of hydrology, water resources, water treatment and the hydrological cycle will be applied in three selected environments and illustrated with case studies:

Part 1. Climate change and desertification. Desertification is advancing in Spain. Rainfall and evaporation dynamics are used to evaluate the water balance for various land use strategies.

Part 2. Managing environmental pollution in aquatic systems. Chemical pollution in water systems is discussed with a focus on wastewater management and reuse. 

Part 3. Global change and catchment hydrology. A catchment model of the Rhine basin is used to discuss the potential risks of floods associated with climate change. Students use this model to evaluate their own management solution.

Study materials

Practical training material

• will be provided during the course

Software

• R

  Aquacrop

Objectives

• Has obtained knowledge of hydrology, water resources and the hydrological cycle and components, including the behaviour of water in the soil.
• Understands the physical principles behind hydrological processes and the function of these processes in landscapes.
• Understands how these processes can be applied in water management applications in a societal context.
• Is able to apply conceptual and computer models to  study examples in water management and hydrological response at various environmental conditions and scales (soil, landscape and large catchment). 
• Is able to apply the principles of water resources in selected case studies.

Teaching methods

• Computer lab session/practical training
• Presentation/symposium
• Lecture

10 lectures of 2 hours
12 (computer)practicals of 2-6 hours
Participation in practicals is mandatory
Independent preparation of assignments

Learning activities

Attendance

Programme's requirements concerning attendance (OER-B):

• Participation in fieldwork is compulsory and cannot be replaced by assignments or other courses.
• In case of practical sessions, the student is obliged to attend at least of 90% of the sessions and to prepare himself adequately, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. In case the student attends less than 90%, the practical sessions should be redone entirely.
• In case of tutorials/seminars with assignments, the student is obliged to attend at least 7 out of 8 seminars and to prepare thoroughly for these meetings, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. If the course has more than 8 seminars, the student can miss up to 1 extra meeting for every (part of) 8 tutorials/seminars. If the students attends less than the mandatory tutorials/seminars, the course cannot be completed.

Additional requirements for this course:

Presence at lectures is strongly recommended, whereas the practical classes are mandatory.  

If you miss more than 2 practical classes (for each of part 1-3) you will fail for that part.

The tests and presentation are also mandatory. If you miss these then you will fail for that part.

For the third part the assignments is done in small groups of 3 persons. Each group should contain (at least) two students who did the BSc course Programming in R, and one who did not this course.

Assessment

Assessment 1: A digital test on the lectures, materials and practicals of Part 1 & 2. Each part counts for 50% of the exam grade.

Report part 3: A written report and presentation on your project in Part 3

There are no re-takes for the separate assignments and tests.  If one does not pass (the final mark is smaller than 5.5), then there is only one re-take where ALL material together will be tested again. If deadlines for assignments are not met then the mark will be 1.0 for that assessment.

However,  if Part 3 (Report and Presentation) has been completed with a mark >= 5.0, this this mark can used in the grading of the retake and only part 1 and 2 will be assessed again in the re-take.

Students that were enrolled in the course in previous years

If your mark for Part 3 (Report and Presentation) was larger than 5.0 in the previous year, this mark can be used for the final grading. Part 1 and 2 have to be followed again, and completed in such a way that the final mark based on the new partial marks of Part 1 and 2 and the old mark of part 3 add up to at least a 5.5.

Assignments

The assignment of part 3 will be described in a separate document, published on Canvas

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Additional information

Knowledge of R is strongly recommended, e.g. obtained from the course Programming in R.

If you don't have knowledge of R, completion of the R primer, available on Canvas, should be completed

R should be installed and running on your computer prior to the start of the course

• Downloading Software: you can download software from datanose.nl/byod.
• Support for software installation and other Bring Your Own Device questions
  • Contac: laptops-fnwi@uva.nl
  • Software support: Tuesday and Thursday from 12.00 – 13.00 hrs at B1.16 (right from the library desk)
  • Borrow a laptop: FNWI students can rent a laptop at the library desk for €5,- per day. The laptops include MS Office and Adobe Acrobat and can be rented between 9.00 and 20.00 hrs. You are allowed to install your own software on the device. The laptop comes with a laptop bag, charger, mouse, lock and HMDI-cable. Documents and software are deleted after return.

Last year's course evaluation

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student evaluations to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. A. Praetorius

Staff

• dr. L.H. Cammeraat
• Donya Danesh
• Walter van Dijk