Water-Related Courses at UW

The AWRA Student Chapter is compiling a list of water related classes that are taught here at the University of Washington. The purpose of this list is to provide additional information to students that are interested in water resources. We would like to hear from you about the classes you have taken. Specifically, we would like to know if you think the class was valuable and would be beneficial for people with water interests. Our vision is that this list will grow and change with time (quarterly-with up-to-date information), so please contribute your two cents by emailing us.

The list is under construction and will be revised and checked for accuracy in September 2006. Please consult the University of Washington Course Catalog for accuracy.

Note: many courses listed below are borrowed from the list of recommended river restoration courses posted on the Water Center web site. WARNING: the list below is not exactly the same as the list of recommended river restoration courses; it does not constitute a recognized curriculum.

General

CFR 529 Water Center Seminar (1) Weekly seminars covering water resources and watershed topics with lectures from scientists on and off campus. No prerequisites. Offered: Jointly with ESRM 429, FISH 529; A, W, Sp. (Forest Resources)

Hydrology

CEE 475 Analysis Techniques for Groundwater Flow (3) Development of appropriate equations to describe saturated groundwater flow, and application of numerical methods for solving groundwater flow problems and flow to wells. Participants required to solve specific problems using numerical techniques developed during the course. Prerequisite: CEE 342. Offered: A. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CEE 476 Physical Hydrology (3) Global water picture, data sources and data homogeneity, precipitation, evapotranspiration, hydrographs. Hydrologic data frequency analysis. Hydrologic design: flood mitigation, drainage. Introduction to deterministic and stochastic models. Offered: A. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CEE 574 Advanced Hydrology (3) Detailed treatment of statistical methods used in hydrologic analysis. Stochastic hydrology, detailed examination and use of a deterministic watershed model (e.g., Stanford Watershed Model). Offered: W. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CFR 525 Advanced Wildland Hydrology (4) Advanced treatment of hydrologic cycle and basic hydrologic methods as applied to wildlands. Effects of forest management activities on hydrologic processes. Graduate focus on a detailed field or modeling hydrologic analysis (Forest Resources)

Hydraulics

CEE 345 Hydraulic Engineering (4) Extension and application of fluid mechanics principles to hydraulic engineering problems. Open channel flow, pipeline systems, turbomachinery, unsteady flow in pipes, diffusion and mixing processes, groundwater, surface water hydrology. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CEE 444 Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering Design (4) Opportunity to effect design solutions for projects or major project components in such representative areas as reservoirs and associated systems for flood control, water supply, irrigation, and hydroelectric power, surface water control systems, fisheries related projects, small harbors, and coastal engineering problems. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CEE 472 Introduction to Hydraulics in Water Resources (3) Hydraulics related to environmental issues. Global hydrology; stratified flows; two-phase (bubble) flows; pollutant transport and mixing in reservoirs, lakes, coastal waters, and oceans; diffuser design and related case studies. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CEE 477 Open-Channel Engineering (3) Water flow in natural and constructed channels. Analysis and design of canals, transitions, energy dissipators, and similar structures. Analysis of surface profiles and effect of nonlinear alignment on flow. Introduction to river mechanics. Design-oriented problems. Prerequisite: CEE 345. Offered: Sp. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CEE 570 Hydrodynamics (4) Applications of the equations of motion to the flow of ideal and real fluids. Fundamentals of fluid potential motion. Viscous flows; Navier-Stokes equations and some exact solutions. Boundary-layer theory. Introduction to turbulence. Two- and three-dimensional examples, including free surface flows. Applications of field equations to problems of engineering significance. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Sediment Transport

CEE 474 Hydraulics of Sediment Transport (3) Introduction to sediment transport in steady flows with emphasis on physical principles governing the motion of sediment particles. Topics include sediment characteristics, initiation of particle motion, particle suspension, bedforms, streambed roughness analysis, sediment discharge formulae, and modeling of scour and deposition in rivers and channels. (Civil and Environmental Engineering)

OCEAN 542 Sediment Dynamics and Boundary-Layer Physics (4) Theoretical descriptions of sediment transport processes constrained by laboratory demonstrations. The physics of boundary layers, initiation of motion, suspended load, bedload, bedforms, and continua transport (turbidity currents, debris flows, and suspensions) and its application to the geological record. (Oceanography)

Fluvial Geomorphology

ESS 426 Fluvial Geomorphology (5) Hydraulic and morphological characteristics of streams and valley floors. Landscape evolution by stream erosion and deposition. Field exercises emphasize quantitative analysis of fluvial processes, channel forms, acquisition of various skills, such as mapping, topographic surveying, report writing. Offered: Sp. (Earth & Space Sciences)

Restoration Ecology

ESRM 473 Principles of Ecological Restoration (5) Philosophy of restoration, structural components of ecosystem degradation, analysis of restoration projects and methods, and an ecosystem by ecosystem review of how systems are restored. An ecology courses that emphasizes applied scientific knowledge of ecosystems. Recommended: plant ecology, plant identification, horticulture, landscape ecology coursework. (Forest Resources)

ESRM 462, 463, 464 (3 x 2) Restoration Ecology Capstone: Three-course capstone sequence in restoration ecology. Students review and assess project plans and installations. Class meets with members of previous capstone classes to review their projects. Student teams prepare proposals in response to requests for proposals (RFPs) from actual clients. Clients may be governments, non-profit organizations, and others. Upon acceptance of the proposal, teams prepare restoration plans. Teams take a restoration plan developed in ESRM 463 and complete the installation. Team participation may include supervision of volunteers. Teams prepare management guidelines for the client and conduct a training class for their use. (Forest Resources)

Stream Ecology

FISH 547 Stream and River Ecology (5) Characterizations of stream and river ecosystems from a watershed perspective. Emphasis on fundamental processes affecting the structure and dynamics of aquatic communities and the riparian zone. Resource conflicts, new technologies, field trips, and class projects. Offered: Jointly with CFR 547; Sp. (Fisheries)

Ecosystem Management

ESRM 328 Forestry-Fisheries Interactions (4) Characteristics of forestry-fisheries interactions in terrestrial and aquatic landscapes. Effects of changes in landforms on forest and aquatic communities. River basin and watershed features. Forest stand dynamics, forest hydrology, fish and wildlife histories and behavior. Resource conflicts and resolution. Offered: Jointly with FISH 328; W. (Forest Resources)

ESRM 425 Ecosystem Management (5) Scientific and social basis for ecological forestry. Forest practices to achieve integrated environmental and economic goals based upon material models of disturbance and stand development including alternative harvesting methods; adaptive management and monitoring; certification and global issues. (Forest Resources)

FISH 447 Watershed Ecology and Management (3) Explores fundamental ecological processes at the watershed scale, identifies human-induced changes to ecological systems, and discusses approaches to improve watershed management. Includes lectures, field trips, and discussions with organizations and agencies about how they are addressing ways to improve watershed management. (Fisheries)

ESRM 539 Forestry-Fisheries Interactions: Case Studies (3) Case studies of streamside management situation at the watershed and basin level. Topics include resource conflict resolution, current and future management alternatives, landscape dynamics, role of disturbance, and policy options. Prerequisite: graduate standing in forestry, fisheries, or related field; undergraduates by permission of instructor. Offered: jointly with FISH 539; odd years A. (Forest Resources)

Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

BIOL 476 Conservation Biology (5) Explores biological, managerial, economic, and ethical concepts affecting survival of species. Applications of ecology, biogeography, population genetics, and social sciences for the preservation of species in the face of widespread global habitat modification, destruction, and other human activities. (Biology)

FISH 450 Salmonid Behavior and Life History (3/5) Marine distribution, homing migration, and spawning behavior of adult salmon: incubation, emergence, migration, and residence of fry; fingerling distribution and residence with reference to species interaction and population evolution. (Fisheries)

Lake Management

FISH 473 Limnology (3) Ecology, conservation, and management of inland aquatic ecosystems. Explores interactions among biological, chemical, and physical features of lakes and other aquatic habitats. Prerequisite: either BIOL 102, BIOL 162, BIOL 18 0, or BIOL 203. Offered: jointly with BIOL 473.

FISH 474 Limnology Laboratory (2) Examination of biota of fresh waters, survey of limnological methods, analysis of data, and writing of scientific papers. Prerequisite: BIOL/FISH 473, which may be taken concurrently. Offered: jointly with BIOL 474; A.

CEE 462 Applied Limnology and Pollutant Effects on Freshwater (3/5) Principles of aquatic ecology that relate to causes and effects of water quality problems in lakes and streams. Population growth kinetics, nutrient cycling, eutrophication; acidification, oxygen/temperature requirements, and effects of various wastes on aquatic animals. Offered: A. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CEE 547 Lake and Watershed Management (3) Application of current techniques for lake and watershed analysis and modeling using fundamentals of limnology. Approaches to restoring eutrophic lakes, land use impacts on water quality. Practical exercises using data from real lake systems. Prerequisite: CEE 462/FISH 434, BIOL 473, or permission of instructor. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

ESRM 250 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems in Forest Resources (5) Applications of GIS technology to forest science and management. Fundamentals of GIS systems: data sources, preprocessing, map analysis, output; remote sensing as a source of GIS data, image analysis, and classification. Emphasis on GIS as a source of management and technical information requests. (Forest Resources)

URBDP 420 Database Systems and Planning Analysis (3) Applications of relational database management systems in urban design and planning. Emphasis on practical aspects of database design and use. Design, create, and modify databases and database applications, including spatial databases. Introduction to GIS. Use of personal computers linked to desktop mapping packages and relational database management systems. (Urban Design and Planning)

GEOG 460 Geographic Information Systems Analysis (5) Methods of Analysis provided by geographic information systems (GIS). Operations on map information including map overlay, aggregation/disaggregation, and other spatial and attribute procedures. Exposure to raster and vector software. Review of capabilities of current available GIS software. (Geography)

Environmental Policy and Management

ESRM 470 Natural Resource Policy and Planning (5) Introduction to and analysis of environmental policy-making processes, with a focus on forest and land policy and law. Use of policy models to examine the interaction of agencies, interest groups, Congress, and the courts in the legislative process. Policy implementation, evaluation, and change are also addressed. (Forest Resources)

FISH 428 Restoration of Fish Communities and Habitats in River Ecosystems (5) Examines opportunities to encourage recovery through natural developmental processes that enhance the complexity of habitats and connectivity between habitats in the river basin. Class discussion and participation on field trips focuses on current restoration concepts for ecosystems, designs of projects, and case studies. Recommended: fish ecology and hydrology courses. (Fisheries)

SMA 476 Introduction to Environmental Law and Process (3) Use and application of key statues in marine living resources management. Overview of administrative law and process. Basic legal research, reading, and briefing selected judicial opinions. Participatory case study component. Designed for non-law graduate and advanced undergraduate students. (School of Marine Affairs)

TCSIUS 438 Environmental Law (5) Examines the historical and policy framework of major environmental laws and regulations. Takes a case law approach to evaluate laws in biological conservation, energy, land use, mineral rights, air and water quality, and other complex environmental arenas, and how courts (primarily in the United States) have interpreted such laws (Tacoma campus, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences)

Environmental Economics

ESRM 465 Economics of Conservation (3) Economic principles and their use in the analysis of contemporary conservation problems. Particular emphasis directed toward the conservation of forest resources in the Pacific Northwest and related policy issues. (Forest Resources)

ECON 235 Introduction to Environmental Economics (5) Introduces non-economics majors to environmental and natural resource economics. Discussion of fundamental economic concepts, including markets and private property. Students learn basic tools used in the economic assessment of environmental problems and apply these methods to key environmental issues. (Economics; Program on the Environment)

ECON 435 Natural Resource Economics (5) Survey of the economics of renewable and nonrenewable resources including fisheries, forest, minerals, and fuels. Optimal trade-offs between benefits and costs of resource use, including trade-offs between current and future use. Effects of property rights on resource use. (Economics)

ECON 436 Economics of the Environment (5) Microeconomic analysis of environmental regulation. The problem of social cost, policy instrument choice, enforcement of regulations, methods for damage assessment, and estimating benefits of environmental improvement. (Economics)

Water Quality

CEE 461 Biological Problems in Water Pollution (3/5) Ecological risk assessment of toxic chemicals and problems associated with electrical power production. Considers safety and toxicity and effects on individuals, populations, and communities. Laboratory covers simulation models of chemical exposure and community effects. Recommended: senior or graduate standing in fisheries, engineering, or related field. Offered: jointly with FISH 430.

CEE 464 Subsurface Contaminant Transport (3) Principles of transport through porous media used to study fate and movement of subsurface contamination. Processes include aqueous phase transport, flow of immiscible fluids, vapor transport, solid-liquid-vapor interactions. Techniques for simulating transport processes presented. Effects of subsurface heterogeneities and uncertainties are emphasized. Prerequisite: CEE 342.

CEE 482 Wastewater Treatment and Reuse (3) Introduction to wastewater treatment and systems, emphasizing fundamental biological, chemical and physical processes related to protection of public health and water pollution control. Process analysis of the configuration of sizing of major types of treatment processes for various sizes of plants and effluent requirements. Prerequisite: CEE 350.

CEE 483 Drinking Water Treatment (3) Scientific and engineering principles underlying drinking water treatment; analysis of key contaminants; development of conceptual models for how and why treatment processes work and mathematical models describing their performance under various design and operating scenarios; field trips to water treatment systems. Prerequisite: CEE 350.

CEE 484 On-Site Wastewater Disposal (3) Latest information on design, construction, operation, maintenance of individual and small community wastewater disposal systems. Conventional water carriage septic tank soil absorption systems considered with new alternatives, such as mounds, evapotranspiration systems, anaerobic filters, pressure drainfields, sand filters. Nonwater carriage methods studied. Pressure and vacuum sewers introduced.

CEE 485 Environmental Engineering Chemistry (3) Fundamentals of chemical equilibrium in natural water systems. Behavior of open and closed aqueous and multi-media (air/water/solids) systems. Chemistry of major species affecting the environment. Identification of key parameters for characterizing water quality and of chemical processes. Recommended: one year of general chemistry or equivalent.

CEE 486 Environmental Analysis Laboratory (3) Introduction to water quality parameters; theory of instrumentation and methods used for the environmental analysis. Laboratory analysis of environmental samples using a variety of techniques including titrations, chromatography, and absorption and emission spectrophotometry. Recommended: one year of general chemistry.

CEE 489 Water and Air Quality Sampling (2) Samples collected from lakes, streams, precipitation, and air and resulting (and supplemental) data interpreted for cause-effect and statistical inference. Design for water and air quality monitoring programs. Prerequisite: CEE 462.

CEE 540 Microbiological Process Fundamentals (3) Fundamental concepts for microbial processes including organic chemical structure, nomenclature and environmental properties, principles of microbial metabolism, study of specific types of bacteria important to environmental engineering and their metabolism, development of microbial kinetic equations, including substrate utilization, energetics, and stoichiometry. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

CEE 541 Biological Treatment Systems (3) Basic reactions, design principles, current design models, and operational considerations for biological treatment systems used in environmental engineering. Applications include activated sludge design and optimization, fixed film reactors, nitrification, nitrogen removal, phosphorus removal, anaerobic treatment, and toxic organics removal. Prerequisite: CEE 540 and CEE 482 or equivalent.

CEE 542 Bioremediation of Environmental Pollutants (3) Detailed survey of current understanding of biological pathways for transformation and degradation of toxic organic compounds, pesticides, oil, and metals. Microbial and plant transformations of pollutants and requirements for bioremediation. Requires basic understanding of metabolism and organic chemistry. Prerequisite: biological science course. Offered: jointly with ESC 518/MICROM 518; W.

CEE 543 Aquatic Chemistry (3) Principles of chemical equilibrium applicable to natural water systems and water and waste treatment processes. Chemical thermodynamics. Characteristics of acid/base, gas/liquid, solid/liquid, oxidation/reduction, and adsorption and equilibria. Computer models for chemical speciation. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.

CEE 544 Physical-Chemical Treatment Processes (4) Principles and design of major physical-chemical unit processes used in water, wastewater, and hazardous waste treatment. Processes include chemical and reactor kinetics, filtration, chemical coagulation, ion exchange, adsorption, and gas transfer. Development of mathematical models, laboratory demonstrations, and evaluation of current design practice. Prerequisite: CEE 485 or permission of instructor.

CEE 545 Advanced Environmental Chemistry (3) Behavior of controlled chemical species (heavy metals, pesticides, disinfection by-products, and endocrine disruptors) and persistent organic pollutants in the environment. Modeling of chemical interactions pertinent to environmental technologies (ozonation, advanced oxidation, photochemical transformations, halogenation, dehalogenation, application of zero-valence metals and electrochemical controls). Prerequisite: aquatic chemistry or permission of instructor.

CEE 546 Topics in Ecological Effects of Wastewater (3) Application of ecological concepts for analysis and interpretation of bioenvironmental problems and data (eutrophication, acid rain, and toxicity). Students participate in presentation and discussion of current research. Prerequisite: CEE 462 or BIOL 473 or permission of instructor.

CEE 577 Water-Quality Management (3) Application of biological, ecological, and chemical processes to modeling of water quality and use of such models in appropriate management of water resource systems. Includes units on the modeling of temperature, BOD, nutrient, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and other processes in lakes, streams, and estuaries. Recommended: CEE 476, CEE 485, CEE 462/FISH 434, and CEE 491.

Water Resources Planning

CEE 481 Hydraulic Design for Environmental Engineering (3) Introduction to the theory and the practice of planning and design of urban water supply distribution, pump stations, and sewage and storm-water collection systems. Evaluation of service areas and service requirements and their relationships to urban and regional planning activities. Engineering methods and computer programs for designing basic system elements. Prerequisite: CEE 345; CEE 350.

CEE 576 Water Resources Planning (3) Engineering, social, and economic factors involved in water resource development and management; water policies, programs, and administration; use relationships and conflicts; considerations for regional water resource systems. Offered: W. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CEE 578 Water Resource System Management and Operations (3) A readings course in recent literature related to the modeling and management of water resources. Topics include drought management, expansion of existing water supplies, hydropower production, streamflow forecasting, water demand forecasting, regional water planning, climate change, and other topical issues. Offered: A. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

Environmental Ethics

TIBCG 456 Environmental Ethics (5) Critical exploration of selected philosophical and literary texts pertinent to ethics attending the natural environment. Topics for consideration may include animal and nature rights, social ecology, natural value (instrumental, inherent, intrinsic), anthropocentrism v. Deep Ecology, and environmental aesthetic theory. (Tacoma campus; Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences)

Risk Analysis and Decision Theory

QERM 514 Analysis of Ecological and Environmental Data I (4) Overview of generalized linear models (GLMs), their use in forestry, fisheries, wildlife ecology, and environmental monitoring. Analysis of the statistical tests that fall under GLMS: chi-square tests on contingency tables, t-tests, analysis of variances, etc. Statistical software S+/R used throughout. (Quantitative Ecology & Resource Management)

SPCI 508 Risk Assessment and Management (4) Introduction to processes and methods of risk assessment and management, focusing on how these principles can be integrated into strategic planning and decision making. (Architecture and Urban Planning)

QMETH 501 Decision Support Models (2) Introduction to computer-based modeling techniques for management decision making. Linear programming, decision analysis, and simulation. Formulation and interpretation. (Business School)

STAT 481 Introduction to Mathematical Statistics (5) NW Probability, generating functions; the d-method, Jacobians, Bayes theorem; maximum likelihoods, Neyman-Pearson, efficiency, decision theory, regression, correlation, bivariate normal. (Statistics)

CEE 491 Deterministic Systems (3) Development of quantitative methods for mathematical problem solving with emphasis on computer applications. Linear programming, mathematics of the simplex algorithm, sensitivity analysis, dynamic programming, systems simulation, and goal programming. Class project required. Prerequisite: CEE 390. Offered: A. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)

CEE 492 Stochastic Systems (3) Introduction to probability distributions and statistics useful in systems analysis, conditional distributions, queuing theory and applications, Monte Carlo simulation, chance-constrained mathematical programming, and stochastic dynamic programming. Emphasis on application of the techniques to civil engineering systems problems, including transportation, water resources, and structures. Prerequisite: CEE 491. Offered: W. (Civil & Environmental Engineering)