The goal of this course is to develop basic skills and knowledge for modelling, managing and planning water resources systems in a participated and sustainable way. Particular emphasis is given to 1) the application of statistical modelling and optimisation techniques to the design and management of natural and urban water systems, and 2) the implementation of these techniques in numerical computing environments (e.g., MatLab and R). A key aspect of the course is a term-long project.
Topics include
- Introduction to water resources planning and management;
- River basins management (modelling the socio-economic functions in a river basin, modelling of hydrological and hydraulic processes, decision-making problems);
- Urban water systems (the urban water cycle, urban drainage, water supply);
- Design of Decision Support Systems.
Learning Objectives
At the end of the term, students will be able to:
- Define, discuss and apply the basic ideas of integrated water resources management to both natural and urban environments
- Employ and test statistical and process-based models to describe the main components of a river basin
- Develop and evaluate optimization-based models for the planning and management of river basins
- Analyse the main components of urban water systems
Measurable Outcomes
- Identify and model the socio-economic functions of a river basin;
- Run simple mathematical models to describe hydrological and hydraulic processes, and analyse the corresponding outputs;
- Aggregate different models and use them for decision-making (optimization) problems;
- Assess the outcomes of planning and management problems;
- Apply mathematical models for drainage systems and pressure pipe networks.
12 Credits
Prerequisites: 40.001 Probability, 40.004 Statistics (or 30.003/50.034 Introduction to Probability and Statistics), 40.002 Optimisation
Image Credit (http://www.resources.teachnet.ie/ajordan/rivd.htm)