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Lecturer(s)
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Rulík Martin, doc. RNDr. Ph.D.
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Netopil Patrik, Mgr. Ph.D.
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Course content
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1. Water as an environmental component, a resource, a hazard and a cultural value; the catchment as a management unit; principles of water policy 2. Water as a global resource: availability, renewability, use and scarcity 3. The hydrological cycle and catchment water balance; runoff regimes; surface-groundwater interaction 4. The ecology of running and standing waters; floodplains, wetlands and small water bodies 5. Water in the landscape: retention, historical drainage, drought and its mitigation 6. Water bodies, typology, ecological status and ecological potential 7. Monitoring and status assessment: bioindication, hydromorphology, chemical status 8. Anthropogenic pressures I: point and diffuse pollution 9. Anthropogenic pressures II: hydromorphological alteration, flow regime, groundwater, climate 10. Urban water: urbanisation, supply, wastewater and stormwater, blue-green infrastructure 11. Legal and institutional framework: the Water Framework Directive, Czech water law, actors, river basin planning 12. Measures in the landscape, along watercourses and in settlements; managing floods and drought 13. Economics, decision-making and conflicts of interest in water management; synthesis
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Lecture, Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Work with Text (with Book, Textbook), Projection (static, dynamic), Activating (Simulations, Games, Dramatization), Group work
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Learning outcomes
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The course explains how fresh water is managed and why current practice looks the way it does, from water as a globally finite resource to the management of a particular catchment, river reach or town. Students acquire the scientific grounding on which water-related decisions rest, learn to identify the main anthropogenic pressures on water bodies and to follow the logic by which their status is assessed, and gain their bearings in the legal and institutional framework of water management and in the range of measures used to respond to those pressures. Emphasis is placed on working with professional sources and data and on critically appraising both the effectiveness and the limits of the solutions adopted.
On completion of the course the student will be able to: - explain the distribution and renewability of freshwater resources, distinguish physical from economic water scarcity, and interpret standard water-stress indicators, including the position of the Czech Republic; - construct and comment on a catchment water balance, describe surface-groundwater interaction, and explain how runoff regimes are altered by land drainage, channel modification and impoundment; - identify the principal anthropogenic pressures on water bodies and, for a given situation, determine which pressures are likely to be contributing to the observed status, and why; - explain the rationale behind the assessment of ecological and chemical status, including the role of reference conditions and of the individual assessment elements, and interpret the outcome of such an assessment; - outline the objectives and planning cycle of the Water Framework Directive and its transposition into Czech water law, and identify the key actors in Czech water administration and their respective competences; - compare engineered and nature-based measures in the landscape, along watercourses and in urban areas in terms of effect, cost, time horizon and unintended consequences; - formulate a reasoned position on a given water-management problem, identify the competing interests of the parties involved, and recognise the limits of the available data and knowledge.
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Prerequisites
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The course assumes knowledge corresponding to introductory undergraduate courses in general ecology, hydrobiology and environmental chemistry - in particular a working familiarity with aquatic ecosystems, biogeochemical cycling and the fundamentals of nature and landscape conservation. Prior exposure to hydrology and hydrogeology is an advantage, as is the ability to read maps, tabular data and graphs; the scientific background required for decision-making about the water environment is nevertheless summarised in an introductory block of the course itself. No formal prerequisites apply.
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Mark, Written exam, Seminar Work
The course is assessed by a written examination covering the material of both lectures and seminars. The examination comprises open-ended questions on the individual thematic areas and a short case-based task in which the student identifies the pressures acting on a given water body, explains how these would be reflected in the assessment of its status, appraises the suitability of proposed measures and justifies the position taken. Credit is given for factual accuracy, the ability to connect knowledge across the themes of the course and the quality of reasoning, rather than for the reproduction of definitions. The student's performance in the seminars also contributes to the final mark, namely the preparation and group presentation of a written assignment on an assigned water-management topic (for example, water management in the landscape during drought, a conflict of interests surrounding a particular water structure, or measures in an urbanised catchment) and active participation in the seminars. The assignment draws on publicly available professional and data sources, which the student is expected to cite; it is assessed on the selection and interpretation of sources, the soundness of the argument and the clarity of the presentation. The seminars normally include an excursion to a water-management structure.
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Recommended literature
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Allan T. (2011). Virtual water. New York.
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Cílek V. a kol. (2017). Voda a krajina. Praha.
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Hoekstra, A. Y., Chapagain, A. K. (2008). Globalization of Water: Sharing the Planets Freshwater Resources. Malden, MA, USA.
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Hunt CE. (2004). Thsrty planet. London.
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Němec Jan, Hladný Josef (eds.). (2006). Voda v české republice. Praha.
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Siegl, S. M. (2017). Budiž voda. Praha.
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