Contents:
The availability of clean water is essential for nature as well as for people. In many world regions the availability of clean water is at risk as a result of population growth, economic and urban developments. The course focusses on global modelling of water demand by society and water availability in a changing world. You will acquire skills to use these models and knowledge to critically reflect on model skills and explore the usability of modelling results for water management decision making. Based on this, students will be asked to design and apply an indicator for water stress that accounts for both water quantity and water quality issues for sectors (e.g., cities, agriculture). Students are exposed to models in different ways in the course with a focus on running and interpreting models. The course is not primarily aimed at teaching programming skills.
Learning outcomes:
After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- critically discuss global water quantity issues such as water shortage for human uses (e.g., cities, agriculture) and flooding in relation to water quality issues related to nutrients, water temperature, pathogens, salinity, plastic and toxic compounds;
- assess the skill and output of integrated modelling of water quantity and water quality issues;
- use simple global water system models;
- design and apply an indicator for water stress that takes into account both water quantity and water quality.
