WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (WRM)
Faculty Advisors: Tom Dunne (2nd-years) and Arturo Keller (1st-years)
Specialization Description
Managing water resources involves ensuring reliable quantities of water of acceptable quality, while simultaneously maintaining or restoring the ecological functioning of water bodies that supply these amenities (along with other socially important values – aesthetic, recreational, and biological). Beyond its direct importance as a resource, water is a pervasive issue in many environmental problems. These environmental problems require new levels of understanding to be developed through non-traditional approaches involving professionals knowledgeable about the atmosphere, surface and ground water, rivers, and the processes that generate, transport, store and/or transform chemicals and aquatics that society is concerned about. Bren School graduates with a specialization in Water Resources Management (WRM) will be able to participate in grand water-related issues of the type referred to above either by providing the critical new scientific knowledge and analysis, or by guiding policy development or management decisions concerning the problems that society finds very difficult to solve.
This specialization is directed towards students who plan to address issues related to water quantity and quality. Water resources issues span many scales, from local drinking water or surf zone quality, to large-scale watershed management for water supply, flood and erosion control, protection of aquatic systems for wildlife and other intended uses. In addition to a strong background in hydrologic processes, a professional needs to understand the biogeochemical processes in the watershed and receiving water bodies, the economics of natural resources, as well as the myriad policies, laws and regulations that pertain to water resources and their stewardship. Given the spatial nature of these processes, a WRM professional needs to be familiar with GIS tools, remote sensing, spatial data analysis and modeling. We provide examples of water resources management programs of study, although you are welcome to create your own based on our recommendations.
Course Work
Students pursuing the WRM specialization should take at least two introductions to the basic processes or issues in: |
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Water Supply |
Water Quality |
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| ESM 234: | (Large) River Systems | ESM 222: | Fate & Transport of Pollutants |
| ESM 235: | (Small) Watershed Analysis | ESM 223: | Mgmt. of Soil & Groundwater Quality |
| ESM 237: | Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation |
ESM 224: | Sustainable Watershed Quality Mgmt. |
| ESM 235: | Watershed Analysis |
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Note: These courses reach well beyond the topic of
supplying water, extending into the role of water in
the environments of humans and other biota.
WRM students should take at least one course in resource economics or policy. |
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| ESM 225: | Water Policy |
| ESM 242: | Natural Resource Economics and Policy |
| ESM 243: | Environmental Policy Analysis |
| ESM 245: | Cost-Benefit Analysis |
To broaden technical skills in water management, WRM students should take at least one of the following classes: |
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| ESM 232: | Environmental Modeling |
| ESM 261: | Management of Scientific Data |
| ESM 263: | GIS |
| ESM 266: | Remote Sensing |
To broaden perspectives in water management, WRM students should consider taking some of the following Bren classes: |
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| ESM 214: | Bioremediation |
| ESM 215: | Landscape Ecology |
| ESM 219: | Microbial Processes in the Environment |
| ESM 229: | Science, Economics & Policy of Climate Change |
| ESM 233: | River Restoration |
| ESM 236: | The Mountain Snowpack |
| ESM 275: | Principles and Practice of Environmental Planning |
WRM students should explore and consider potentially valuable offerings in Geography (Geog), Earth Science (GEOL), and Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB). The following courses in those departments are most often included in WRM students’ programs of study: |
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| EEMB 217: | Flow and Aquatic Ecosystems |
| EEMB 248: | Ecology of Running Waters |
| ENVST 120: | Toxics in the Environment |
| Geog 208: | Water Resources Systems Analysis |
| Geog 209: | Pedology |
| Geog 242: | Land Use — Land Cover Change |
| Geog 246: | Earth System Science: Advanced Hydrologic Modeling |
| Geog 253: | Global Warming: Causes and Consequences |
| Geog 260: | Seminar in Global Biogeochemical Cycles |
| Geog 210C: | Analytical Methods of Geography III |
| Geog 276: | Geographical Time Series Analysis |
| Geog 277: | Spatial Environmental Modeling |
| Geog 278: | Practice of Geostatistical Modeling of Spatial Data |
| Geog 295A: | Soil and Ecosystems |
| Earth 168: | Aqueous Transport of Pollutants |
| Earth 173: | Groundwater Hydrology |
| Earth 269: | Tracer Hydrology |
| The following variable topic courses may also provide curriculum opportunities of value for WRM students | |
| ESM 293: | Advanced Special Topics in Energy and Climate |
| ESM 294: | Advanced Special Topics in Environmental Law |
| ESM 297: | Advanced Special Topics in Environmental Policy |
ESM 296 |
Advanced Special Topics in Environmental Management |
| ESM 299: | Advanced Special Topics in Enviromental Science |
| ESM 430: | Workshops in Environmental Science and Mangement |
| ESM 436: | Workshops in Legal Issue in Environmental Problem Solving |
| ESM 437: | Writing for Environmental Professionals |
| ESM 440: | Advanced Environmental Communication |
| ESM 595A-Z: | Seminars/Group Studies in Environmental Science & Management |
Sample Programs of Study
Example 1 |
Example 2 |
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ESM 233: |
River Restoration |
ESM 214: |
Bioremediation |
ESM 234: |
River Systems |
ESM 219: |
Microbial Processes in the Env |
ESM 235: |
Watershed Analysis |
ESM 222: |
Fate and Transport of Pollutants |
ESM 236: |
The Mountain Snowpack |
ESM 224 |
Sustainable Watershed Quality Mgmt |
ESM 242: |
Natural Resource Econ & Policy |
ESM 223 |
Mgmt of Soil and Groundwater Quality |
ESM 245: |
Cost Benefit Analysis |
ESM 232 |
Environmental Modeling |
ESM 263: |
GIS |
ESM 235 |
Watershed Analysis |
ESM 270: |
Conservation Planning |
ESM 282 |
Industrial Ecology |
| Geog 242: | Land Use Land Cover Change | Geog 246: | Earth Systems Science: Hydrologic Modeling |
Other Variable Topic Offerings |
Other Variable Topic Offerings |
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