Water Resources Management

Start next run: October 2008 (open for registration)
Duration: 18 Months
Location: UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands
Water Resources Management studies the way in which water availability and use are matched, and develops alternative land use and water allocation policies and models and legal and institutional arrangements from the local watersheds to the basin scale and beyond.

Participant Profile

This specialisation is designed for engineers and managers responsible for planning, developing and implementing water resources projects and programmes. Experience has shown that participants must have an understanding of quantitative methods, such as statistical analysis, in order to successfully complete this specialisation.

Learning Objectives

After completing this specialisation, graduates will:

• Have understanding of the physical water system and be able to predict and describe the impacts that human activities can have on the water and environmental resources
• Be able to name and explain principles, concepts and instruments of main national and international water and environmental legislation and common and desired institutional and management arrangements
• Be able to model processes of water allocation and use at different scales, and interpret model outcomes in order to gain an understanding of problems, trends, causes and effects
• Be able to describe socio-economic concepts that are relevant for water resources planning and management

Course Contents

The Water Resources Management specialisation offers six modules allowing the participants to broaden and deepen their understanding of specific management issues. Participants learn to apply some essential tools for managing water resources.

• Water Systems Modelling provides a broad introduction to the basics of hydrological, hydraulic and systems modelling. Using transparent spreadsheet models, participants acquire an understanding of operational concepts and develop an ability to interact with more advanced modelling approaches.
• Water Resources Planning presents tried-and-tested and innovative approaches to planning water resources effectively, formulating strategy and evaluating management options at national and international river basin level, using a number of different criteria.
• Water & Environmental Law and Institutions helps participants to understand the need for water and environmental legislation, and to become familiar with the most appropriate institutional and management arrangements for integrated water resources management.
• Managing Organisations and Change provides participants with a keen insight into what makes an organisation and its managers effective in addressing changing demand for services, and demonstrates how this effectiveness can be sustained.

In addition to these compulsory modules, participants can choose two of the following modules:

• Environmental Planning
• Financial Management in the Water Sector
• Service-Oriented Management of Irrigation Systems
• Watershed and River Basin Management
• Public-Private Partnership (PPP)