This course examines water resources from a variety of scales and disciplines.
Emphasis is placed on evaluating water resources from a multidisciplinary perspective.
We will begin by looking at some physical aspects of water resources, based on an introduction to hydrology. In this first section we will cover the water cycle, physical and chemical properties of water, evaporation, precipitation, runoff, streamflow, infiltration, groundwater, aquifers, and forest hydrology. In this section of the course students will be expected to solve quantitative problems and work with data in electronic format. Then we will turn to some of the institutional factors governing water resources, including law, economics and policy. Finally, we will combine the physical and institutional issues as we focus on the Columbia and Colorado Rivers, drawing on Marc Reisner's classic Cadillac Desert and Blaine Harden's A River Lost.