With growing scarcity and quality deterioration of water resources in many developing countries, taking into account climate change effects and increasing frequencies of floods and droughts, the role of river basin modellers to address these problems has become a necessity.

The users of hydroinformatic tools and of river basin models in particular, need a substantial experience to develop models which will increase the capacity of organisations to manage and protect water resources and optimise their utilisation.

After completing the River Basin Modelling short course, participants will be able to assess alternative modelling software systems, build safe and reliable models and know how to use them for planning and design.

Learning objectives

The course aims at providing participants with a comprehensive understanding of the multi-purpose nature of river basins and model-based approaches to their integrated planning and management. The course covers the fundamentals of modelling, and how to build and apply reliable models for basin wide water allocation, groundwater and catchment management.

The overall goal of the course is to teach water professionals that by using river basin models they can maximise economic and social well-being in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of the ecosystems.

Target group

The course is designed for professionals (engineers and scientists) active in the water sector, especially those involved in using simulation models for river basin modelling. Pre-requisites are a basic knowledge of hydraulics and hydrology.

Additional information

Water resources management has become a field where computer-based models are expected to facilitate the complex process of decision making which involves several stakeholders with varied interests and various socioeconomic objectives, of the natural resources. One of the aims of the course is to show how different types of models can be used as support in the decision making processes in river basins. Managing water resources in river basins requires water resources engineering expertise combined with use of appropriate hydroinformatics models.

During the course practical applications of the modelling systems are demonstrated, involving testing of different management alternatives with fully integrated models.

The three main topics of the course are introduced through computer–based hands-on exercises with appropriate modelling packages:

· Basin-wide water allocation - RIBASIM;

· Groundwater modelling – Processing MODFLOW;

· Catchment and river modelling - MIKE SHE / MIKE 11 and SWAT.