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Semester 2: Integration
Description
Considerable progress has been made on the frameworks for understanding integrated water management, but less is understood about how to implement integrated water management on the ground. Any framework for understanding complex water problems must be populated by a thorough understanding of human and natural systems, and must have clear, measurable and achievable applications. In particular, aquatic ecology and water engineering must be better integrated with community development, planning and economics if holistic solutions are to be found.
The Integration semester strengthens the broad integrated water management framework introduced in the Foundation semester by giving students a deeper understanding of four key content areas. Students gain an understanding of the essential ecosystem services vital to human welfare and the catchment and floodplain processes that influence characteristics of aquatic ecosystems. They examine water issues from a human development perspective, exploring the challenge of achieving secure water access and human health improvements in contexts of poverty, cultural diversity, and socio-economic inequality. Students are introduced to the planning tools, governance and institutional arrangements, and economic and financial tools which are vital to the implementation of water policy. Finally, they are provided with enabling scientific and engineering fundamentals that underpin water supply, sanitation and wastewater treatment processes. Alongside this more intensive coursework is a parallel set of more advanced applied projects.
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of the Integration semester students will be able to:
- Apply scientific principles and methodologies used to determine and implement environmental flows;
- Critically assess the impacts of human activities on aquatic environments and apply methods to measure and monitor impacts;
- Understand the fundamental role of capacity building, education and training in water management in achieving improved health outcomes, poverty alleviation, economic growth and livelihood security;
- Adapt and apply a range of community development tools to design and implement locally relevant initiatives.
- Understand contemporary approaches to the identification and management of competing stakeholder interests in the water arena;
- Implement a range of water resource planning methodologies and economic tools for both supply and demand management;
- Apply fundamental principles of continuity, momentum and energy conservation and analyse water flow in closed and open conduits;
- Formulate sanitation and wastewater treatment problems in terms of wastewater characteristics, user needs, treatment requirements and technology options; and
- Integrate complex and discipline-specific content into a whole of water cycle integrated water management framework.
Lecture Modules
Catchment and Aquatic Ecosystem Health (WATR7100, #2)
This module provides students with an in-depth understanding of the issues and challenges relating to the sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems. The study of aquatic ecosystem health is a relatively new field that brings together biophysical understandings of how natural systems function with societal goals and human values. The course focuses on three components: 1) an understanding of hydrological regimes and environmental flows methodology, including the design of environmental flows regimes; 2) theory and methodology behind the assessment of aquatic ecosystem health, including the development and validation of cost-effective techniques for the ecological assessment of river health; and 3) principles and practical tools for implementing riparian restoration projects across a range of aquatic ecosystems.
Community Development and Capacity Building for IWRM (WATR7200, #2)
This module places water management in the context of human development and poverty alleviation, focusing on social tools for water management and the links between water supply, sanitation, hygiene and improved public health. Students are trained in the application of a suite of participatory approaches, including various PRA tools, gender and poverty analysis, tools for hygiene education, social marketing approaches and participatory design and evaluation of water and sanitation projects. A strong focus is placed on capacity building, including effective education and training programs; practical tools for the development of formal and informal institutional frameworks for water management; and strategies for managing public-private partnerships.
Water Planning and Economics (WATR7300, #2)
In this module, students explore the roles and responsibilities of various water management stakeholder groups, are introduced to practical tools for effective water planning and learn the principles and frameworks governing water economics and finance. Topics include: planning and resource management instruments; water allocation; internal and external organisational governance arrangements; coordinating water and land use planning; water resources assessment; decision making tools; pro-poor water governance and human rights; dispute resolution frameworks; multi-stakeholder privatisation contracts; and emerging issues such as the trade in water services and bulk water exports.
Water Supply and Sanitation (WATR7400, #2)
This module enables students to understand fundamental engineering principles and tools for designing and operating water and sanitation systems. Topics include: water quality parameters; water and wastewater treatment process technologies; nutrient removal; simple systems for improved water supply; design aspects of decentralised and simplified sanitation systems; biosolids management; and operation and maintenance of water supply and sanitation infrastructure. The module will also introduce non-conventional approaches to water and sanitation, including principles of ecological sanitation.
CRICOS Provider Number: 00025B
CRICOS Codes: 059263A, 059262B, 059261C
