Water Resources Engineering: Essentials Methods

Water Resources Engineering focuses on the use and management of land and water resources in rural and urban watersheds. Earth’s water resources, including rivers, lakes, oceans, and underground aquifers, are under stress in many regions. Humans need water for drinking, sanitation, agriculture, and industry; while contaminated water can spread illnesses and disease vectors, so water is both an environmental and a public health issue. Successful water resources management is becoming an increasingly complex and challenging task with issues ranging from drought and water scarcity to severe flood incidents. Water resources are under major stress around the world. Rivers, lakes, and underground aquifers supply fresh water for irrigation, drinking, and sanitation, while the oceans provide habitat for a large share of the planet’s food supply. Today, however, expansion of agriculture, damming, diversion, over-use, and pollution threaten these irreplaceable resources in many parts of the globe. In many developing countries, safe water, free of pathogens and other contaminants, is unavailable to much of the population, and water contamination remains a concern even for developed countries with good water supplies and advanced treatment systems. A growing population and the need for clean water demands Water Resources Engineers to develop solutions that are environmentally sustainable and economically viable. Water Resources Engineering combines elements of other disciplines such as civil engineering, environmental engineering, agriculture, planning and geography in a unique combination ideally suited to address society’s concerns and needs for surrounding water. Engineers design and develop creative solutions to protect groundwater, soil, wetlands, streams and lakes to ensure that the development of new water supplies do not disrupt natural processes.