Instructor:
Jeff Haltiner

Lecture (CCN: 48602) TT 2 - 3:30 315C Wurster Hall
Lab (CCN: 48605) Th 3:30- 5:30 315C Wurster Hall

Units: 4

This course presents an overview of relevant hydrologic, hydraulic, and geomorphic processes, to provide the planner and ecologist with insight sufficient to coordinate with technical specialists in the field of hydrology. The course is not intended to duplicate more specialized courses offered in such fields as engineering hydrology, coastal engineering, or geology, but rather to provide an integrated overview. The course takes a process- and field-based approach to hydrology, emphasizes interdisciplinary perspectives, and reviews relevant regulations and public policies.

Course Format:
The course consists of lectures, field trips, problem sets and field exercises, a short midterm, and a final project. Exercises (35%) involve computations, mapping, and analysis of data collected on field trips. (Students may drop one exercise.) The midterm (15%) consists of short analyses of data sets, short answer questions, and/or brief essays based on reading assignments, lectures, and exercises. The term paper (50%) is usually an expanded analysis of a specific example of the integration of hydrology with planning or hydrologic impacts of human activities.

The course covers these topics:
- Climate, precipitation, watershed processes,
- Streamflow hydrographs, flood frequency, flood hazard
- Stormwater management strategies
- Channel morphology, channel changes
- Effects of urbanization, channelization
- Water quality, nonpoint source pollution
- Stream restoration
- Groundwater
- Wetlands, estuarine and coastal processes
There is an all-day weekend field trip in the SF Bay area in February, and a two-day weekend field trip to the Russian and Garcia Rivers in April.