Water Engineering
The Water Engineering Department provides postgraduate education, training, and research in the fields of hydraulic engineering and water science. The department is composed of 32 staff members and hosts the MSc in Water Science and Engineering.
The main theme of the WE department is water security. Water security involves the protection of vulnerable water systems, the mitigation against water related hazards (floods and droughts), the sustainable development of water resources and the safeguarding of water system functions and services. Water Engineering is - in this context - primarily concerned with human interventions in water systems.These are aimed at the enhancement of the beneficial and sustainable use of water for various purposes such as water supply, irrigation, drainage, navigation, hydropower, environmental control and the protection against water system related shortcomings and disasters such as floods and droughts.
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Interventions in water systems are necessary to meet the needs of society in its widest sense and in order to be able to face the challenges of all
kinds of global changes (e.g. climate change, land use change, etc.). The WE department activities deal with surface and groundwater systems; river basins, coastal and estuarine water systems and ports and waterways and include the following main aspects:
- analysis and understanding of hydrological, hydraulic, geo-technical and morphological processes and phenomena;
- planning and design of engineering interventions at regional / trans-boundary and local scales;
- management, operation and maintenance of water related infrastructure;
- environmental assessment and mitigation of adverse impacts due to water use and interventions in water systems.
The department's staff and its educational and research research activities are organized into four cores:
The HERBD Core is primarily concerned with water-related infrastructure in rivers, river basins and coastal zones that is needed to enhance the beneficial and sustainable use of water and/or to control water-related problems. The core also hosts the Flood Resiliance Group.
The HECEPD core group deals with the analysis, design and management of natural and man-made systems in the coastal environment.
Annual Report (136.04 kB)
It deals with the defence, protection and management of coastal zones and the planning and the design of ports and harbours.
The HELWD core group deals with the technology of adapting and managing land and water resources for specific forms of land use in rural, urban and industrial areas. Its activities focus on the development of rural areas and the topics of irrigation, drainage and flood protection.
The mission of the HWR core group is to contribute to a better understanding of hydrological processes, to improve techniques for data monitoring and handling, to improve modelling of processes within the hydrological cycle, and to interpret and present results for implementation of integrated w...
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Featured Journal Articles from 2008-2009 by Staff and Students (PhD/MSc) of the Water Engineering Department