GEOG 431Geography of Water Resources

3 credits · Geography · Penn State

GEOG 431 is designed for students to understand the natural processes of aquatic ecosystems, management of water resources, and threats to sustaining water quantity and quality, for all types of freshwater surface, groundwater, rivers, lakes, wetlands. This course should appeal to water resource managers, geographers, ecologists, earth scientists, planners, other environmental professionals as well as non-science majors. This course will develop awareness and appreciation of the multiple perspectives about water as a precious resource, commodity, and sometimes hazard. Students in the course will first examine water. Course Justification characteristics, sources, classification systems, and aquatic ecosystems. Next, we will examine water resource management, including issues surrounding irrigation; floods and dams; provision of safe potable water; threats to water quantity and quality including human and aquatic ecosystem effects; the water economy including virtual water and water footprints; water laws and policy; institutions for water management at the global, national, regional and local scale; and issues of water conflict, security, and climate change. Course Objectives: - Learn how/why water is distributed unevenly in space and time around the Earth. - Examine ways resource management decisions made in human society are strongly related to the availability, quantity, and quality of water. - Examine water characteristics, sources, classification systems, and aquatic ecosystems. - Examine water resource management, including issues surrounding irrigation; floods and dams; provision of safe potable water; threats to water quantity and quality including human and aquatic ecosystem effects; the water economy including virtual water and water footprints; water laws and policy; institutions for water management at the global, national, regional and local scale; and issues of water conflict, security, and climate change. When you successfully complete this course, you will be prepared to: - Identify the unique characteristics of freshwater. - Describe, with a geographic perspective, how and why freshwater is distributed unevenly in space and time around Earth. - Explain the natural processes of aquatic ecosystems. - Discuss why conflicts arise over the vital resource of freshwater. - Identify challenges facing water management in varied climate types around the world. - Compare how humans interact with aquatic ecosystems.