UW Recommended Courses
These classes have been recommended by current and past graduate students in water-related disciplines in forestry, civil and environmental engineering, fisheries, urban design and planning, geology, and public affairs.
Civil and Environmental Engineering
CEE 342 Fluid Mechanics (4)
Elementary mechanics of incompressible fluids. Hydrostatics. Continuity,
energy, and momentum equations. Introduction to potential flow. Resistance
phenomena for laminar and turbulent flows. Dynamic similitude. Prerequisite:
A A 210; M E 230. Offered: A.
CEE 462 Ecological Effects of Waste Water (3/5) NW
Principles of aquatic ecology that relate to causes and effects of water
quality problems in lakes and streams. Population growth kinetics, nutrient
cycling, eutrophication; acidification, oxygen/temperature requirements,
and effects of various wastes on aquatic animals. Offered: jointly with
FISH 434.
CEE 472 Introduction to Hydraulics in Water Resources (3)
Hydraulics related to environmental issues. Global hydrology; stratified
flows; two-phase (bubble) flows; pollutant transport and mixing in reservoirs,
lakes, coastal waters, and oceans; diffuser design and related case studies.
Prerequisite: CEE 342; CEE 345.
CEE 474 Hydraulics of Sediment Transport (3)
Introduction to sediment transport in steady flows with emphasis on physical
principles governing the motion of sediment particles. Topics include
sediment characteristics, initiation of particle motion, particle suspension,
bedforms, streambed roughness analysis, sediment discharge formulae, and
modeling of scour and deposition in rivers and channels. Prerequisite:
CEE 345.
CEE 475 Analysis Techniques for Groundwater Flow (3)
Development of appropriate equations to describe saturated groundwater
flow, and application of numerical methods for solving groundwater flow
problems and flow to wells. Participants required to solve specific problems
using numerical techniques developed during the course. Prerequisite:
CEE 342.
CEE 476 Physical Hydrology (3)
Global water picture, data sources and data homogeneity, precipitation,
evapotranspiration, hydrographs. Hydrologic data frequency analysis. Hydrologic
design: flood mitigation, drainage. Introduction to deterministic and
stochastic models.
CEE 477 Open-Channel Engineering (3)
Water flow in natural and constructed channels. Analysis and design of
canals, transitions, energy dissipators, and similar structures. Analysis
of surface profiles and effect of nonlinear alignment on flow. Introduction
to river mechanics. Design-oriented problems. Prerequisite: CEE 345.
CEE 575 Groundwater Transport Modeling (3)
Review of equations for flow and transport in porous media; techniques
for simulating transport as boundary value problems; analytical and numerical
solution techniques; finite element models; field-scale applications and
case histories.
College of Forest Resources
ESRM
429/CFR 529 Water Center Seminar (1) Edmonds
Discussion by invited speakers on water and water-related resources and
current research. Offered: jointly with FISH 529, CEE498/599, PB AF 521; AWSp.
EHUF 475 Wetland Ecology and Management (5) NW Ewing, Harrison
Wetland types and functions, global and North American distribution, wetland
plant types, soil chemistry. The influence of stresses on wetland composition
and form. Autecology of wetland plants; response to and detection of stresses.
Impacts of urbanization; management techniques. Recommended: either BIOL
472, BOTANY 354, or BOTANY 371. Offered: A.
ESC
441 Landscape Ecology (5) NW Franklin
Basic landscape ecology concepts, including patches, corridors, networks,
spatial dynamics; island biogeographic principles; landscape analysis
methods; landscape models. Applications of landscape ecology in resources
management (e.g., cumulative effects, cutting, patterns, anadromous fisheries,
management of wildlife populations, and open-space planning). Recommended:
ESC 326. Offered: W.
ESC 521/528 Current Topics in Ecosystem Science (2, max. 6)
Consideration of current literature and topics in forest ecosystems and
tree physiology. Offered: AWSp.
Urban Design and Planning
URBDP 598 Planning for Water (3) Whittington
Relationship between land use, climate, and water quality, from the public and environmental health points of view. Features the case of historical municipal investment in lead, explored from policy, regulatory, planning, enforcement, and infrastructure development and maintenance perspectives. Ends with a water trading experiment, to contrast the economic opportunity and consequences of public vs private water management, and the trade-offs that occur when water is transformed from a public good to a commodity. Offered: W.
Evans School of Public Affairs
PB AF 595A Water Resource Economics (3) Cook
Economics of water resources. Economic concepts such as static and dynamic efficiency, opportunity costs, and discounting as applied to water resources. Water pricing (including both municipal and irrigation), and techniques for measuring demand. Emphasis on topics concerned with water quantity. Brief discussion of some analytical approaches and tools regarding water quality and pollution (students interested in these topics are encouraged to take PbAf 595C). Examples drawn primarily from the Western US. Climate change effects on water resources, and economic approaches that might mitigate these effects.
PB AF 595B Communicating Climate Change (3) Bostrom
Survey of climate change communications and their role in climate change policy. State-of-the-art climate change communication. Usefulness of theories and frameworks such as mental models and social marketing to evaluate and improve climate change communications. The use of climate change communication as a policy tool.
PB AF 595C Water and Sanitation Policy in Economically‐Developing Countries (3) Cook
Policy dimensions of providing water supply and sanitation (W&S) services in developing countries. Topics include: state of water and sanitation services in different parts of the world, goals (principally MDG 7) and objectives for improving access and quality, benefits from W&S improvements: economic, environmental and health, new and old
W&S technologies, aspects of the planning process, the role of the
private sector in providing W&S, W&S infrastructure financing, pricing policies, protecting the poor, measuring progress, the role of large infrastructure projects (i.e. dams), microfinance and point‐of‐use treatment, and the issue of water scarcity and global climate change.
Earth & Space Sciences
GEOL
412 Fluvial Geomorphology (5) NW Booth, Montgomery
Hydraulic and morphological characteristics of streams and valley floors.
Landscape evolution by stream erosion and deposition. Field exercises
emphasize quantitative analysis of fluvial processes, channel forms, acquisition
of various skills, such as mapping, topographic surveying, report writing.
Prerequisite: either GEOL 392 or GEOL 411.
GEOL 590 Special Topics (2-10, max. 20) Montgomery
School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
FISH 547/ESC
547 Stream and River Ecology (5) Naiman
Characterizations of stream and river ecosystems from a watershed perspective.
Emphasis on fundamental processes affecting the structure and dynamics
of aquatic communities and the riparian zone. Resource conflicts, new
technologies, field trips, and class projects. Recommended: general ecology,
forestry-fisheries interactions. Offered: jointly with ESC 547; Sp.
FISH 490
Aquatic Microbiology (3/5) NW
Basic principles of aquatic microbiology and aquatic microbial ecology:
role and identity of aquatic microorganisms; introduction to modern methodologies
for research. Laboratory work with local freshwater and marine samples
for those enrolled in 5-credit section.. Recommended 15 credits of biological
science, 10 credits of chemistry.
Feel free to contact us for additional water-related course recommendations
at cwws@u.washington.edu or
206.543.6920.
You can also go to the UW chapter of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) to view their list of recommended water-related classes.