Hydrology and Water Resources

The world’s water resources and the water environment are under threat as never before. The great challenge for the scientific hydrological community is to identify appropriate responses to these threats, which include global changes in climate, land use, water management, etc., and pollution. Hydrology deals explicitly with the water quantity and water quality of all elements of the hydrological cycle on land – i.e. atmospheric water, surface water, groundwater, the vadose zone, snow and ice, lakes, etc.

The integration entities are basins and aquifers at various scales. Hydrologists provide the necessary knowledge/understanding of the operation of hydrological processes at all spatial and temporal scales. They then, in collaboration with other scientists, seek to identify solutions to optimize the use and conservation of the world’s water resources that can subsequently be translated into policy recommendations and actions.
Water problems are often complex, requiring specialists from many different disciplines – such as biology, atmospheric science, geology, geography, engineering, ecology, forestry, soil science and the social sciences – to work together to find sustainable solutions. Good and bad examples of such solutions can be found in practice. Often the bad examples arise from the fact that the planners underestimated interdisciplinary nature of the problem. Because water resources need to be examined and utilized in a holistic manner, hydrology is a highly interdisciplinary science. This must be reflected in both the hydrological research, and in the development of strategies for integrated water resources management that must be based on a good understanding of the hydrology of the system.
The core group Hydrology and Water Resources is responsible for teaching science hydrology and for research in this field. Since the second part of the name ‘water resources’ clearly indicates the functions of water as a resource for humans or ecosystems, the work of the group is restricted to the processes connected to the occurrence, circulation and distribution of water resources and its physical and chemical properties. Water resources can include all sorts of hydrological storage, such as surface waters, groundwater, lakes, glaciers, etc. We understand hydrology as a distinct earth system science that deals in particular with terrestrial water cycle. The links to other disciplines within the water sciences (e.g. hydraulic engineering, water management, aquatic ecology etc.) are strong, and the interactions need to be considered explicitly during research and teaching. Only in close cooperation with these other disciplines can the complex impacts of global change on hydrological systems be understood. The direct feedback between teaching and ongoing research projects is an essential part of our philosophy.

Upon completion of an MSc programme in the specialization Hydrology and Water Resources, graduates will have an in-depth understanding of the state-of-art in the science of hydrology (including all components of the water cycle) and the relevant physical, chemical and biological process interactions. This implies an awareness of the natural and human-induced variabilities and heterogeneities in space and time of all hydrological processes. In combination with collection and processing of field data, graduates will be able to express the behaviour of the system in quantitative terms in which spatio-temporal analysis and hydrological modelling are important tools. Hydrologists play a key role in integrated water resources assessments and management, and can work in many fields, including river basin management, prediction and mitigation of hydrological extremes (i.e. floods and drought), water supply, water quality and public health, hydropower, land use and development, and environmental survey and planning.