| CODE | EMP3022 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Water Management | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Environmental Management and Planning | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit explores on water resources management, with a focus on both general principles and on the context of the Maltese Islands. The study-unit focuses on three main themes: - Water resources and supply; - Groundwater and the hydrological cycle; - Irrigation methods and practices. In the first part, the study-unit will address several aspects of relevance, including: - Water as a resource; - Quantitative and qualitative methods for the evaluation of water resources; - Relevant governance and legal frameworks; - Practices relating to wastewater management and reuse; - Competing demands for water resources and related conflicts, among others. In the second part, students will be introduced to: - The physical and chemical processes that operate in the groundwater zone under natural and human-induced conditions; - The interrelations between the groundwater regime and other components of the hydrological cycle, drawing also on knowledge of geological and geomorphological processes obtained through other study-units. Finally, in Part 3, students will have the opportunity to apply the various principles and skills covered in earlier parts of the study-unit to focus specifically on a number of irrigation methods and practices. Study-Unit Aims: The aims of this study-unit are as follows: - To critically evaluate the role that water plays in society, including but not limited to: food security, livelihoods, and ecosystem services; - To enable students to critically assess the benefits, costs and impacts of water resources development; - To familiarize students with key principles of water governance and with relevant legal frameworks; - To establish a theoretical and practical understanding of hydrology in relation to irrigation in agriculture. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Demonstrate understanding of the key components of the hydrological cycle; - Identify the relevant legal frameworks with respect to local water management practices; - Differentiate and critically assess the various factors and processes that lead to the degradation of ground water quality; - Critically evaluate the various methods of water storage, water harvesting and distribution systems used in agriculture. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Describe the physics and chemistry of groundwater hydrology; - Critically assess the various water resources available for use by source, quality and quantity; - Critically appraise different water management strategies; - Evaluation irrigation systems based on fundamental principles of soil water storage, soil drainage, plant water requirements and evaporation. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Loucks, D.P., Beek, E. van, Stedinger, J.R., Dijkman, J.P.M., Villars, M.T. 2005. Water resources systems planning and management: An introduction to methods, models and applications. Free online https:// unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000143430. Supplementary Readings: - Chen, D.H. 2016. Sustainable Water Management. 1st Edition. CRC Press. ISBN: 9781482215182. |
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| RULES/CONDITIONS | In TAKING THIS UNIT YOU CANNOT TAKE EMP3021 | ||||||||
| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Attendance to scheduled sessions (lectures, field work, seminar, laboratory sessions and any other teaching session in whatever mode) is obligatory and only students having a satisfactory attendance will be assessed in the study-unit. Students, who do not attend at least 85% of the teaching time allocated to the study-unit, will not be allowed to sit for any of the assessment components mentioned below. | ||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Belinda Gambin Julian Mamo (Co-ord.) |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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