Department Information

HYDROLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES (HWR )

Contact Information:

Department of Hydrology and Water Resources The University of Arizona Harshbarger Building, 122 PO Box 210011 Tucson, AZ 85721-0011

Phone: (520) 621-3131 Fax: (520) 621-1422 Email: programs@hwr.arizona.edu Web: Department Homepage

General Information:

HWR  Course Descriptions

Faculty Members

The Department of Hydrology and Water Resources is in the College of Engineering and Mines.

Degrees, Majors, Minors, and Options:

Baccalaureate Degrees

• Bachelor of Science in Environmental Hydrology and Water Resources (B.S.E.Hy.)

Graduate Degrees -- consult the Graduate Catalog or the department office for details.

• Master of Science (M.S.)
• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Majors and Degrees -- undergraduate degrees link to Degree/Academic Program Requirements Reports (APRRs).

• Environmental Hydrology and Water Resources (B.S.E.Hy.)
• Hydrology (M.S., Ph.D.)

Undergraduate Minors -- minors link to Minor Requirements Reports.

The undergraduate program does not require a minor; however, student may select an optional minor from the list of approved university minors.  Minors available within the department are:

• Environmental Hydrology and Water Resources Minor

The department offers the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Hydrology and Water Resources (B.S.E.Hy.) and the Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees with a major in Hydrology.  The department also participates in the College of Engineering and Mines' Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) program.

Hydrology and water resources include the origin, distribution, and properties of the waters of the Earth, as well as the development and management of water resource systems for multiple purposes. The faculty offers competence in hydrogeology, hydrogeochemistry, environmental hydrology, ground-water and surface-water hydrology, hydrometeorology, hydroclimatology, water quality, mathematical and statistical methods in hydrology (including numerical modeling), and water resources engineering, planning, management and administration.  The undergraduate major assumes substantial knowledge of mathematics.

The department participates in the honors program.  Honors students complete an approved senior honors thesis in lieu of the senior capstone course.

BS in Environmental Hydrology and Water Resources:

Water is life: it is an essential component of our environment. Hydrology, the science of water, deals with the origin, distribution, and properties - physical, chemical and biological - of waters of the Earth and even other planets, such as Mars. Environmental Hydrology is the applied science that investigates and characterizes the environmental state of our water and related land and ecological resources. Hydrologists work with water resource problems related to pollution, its prevention and clean-up, and natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, and water management concerns, including water supply, the design of wells and reservoirs, recreation, and environmental impacts on water quality. Protecting the quality of water for all uses is a critical part of the mission of hydrologists.

The hydrology curriculum is designed to give the student a basic knowledge of hydrology and allied subjects, including the basic environmental sciences, hydrologic modeling, and computer applications. Flexibility is offered through the selection of general education courses (Tier One and Tier Two), core electives, technical electives, and specialty options. The faculty offer expertise in the areas of hydrometeorology, hydrogeology, environmental chemistry, environmental hydrology, water resources engineering, water resources engineering-systems, and water resources engineering-policy. Instruction is augmented at all levels with field trips in Arizona, a state with great diversity of topographic and geologic features and climate zones, making it a superb outdoor laboratory. The field course and a senior capstone course provide direct experience with hydrologic measurements, testing, and data gathering. Students apply these techniques at field sites and in research laboratories and process the resulting measurement data using computer models.

The field and internship experiences, coupled with a curriculum encompassing environmental hydrology and water resources in depth, enable graduates with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Hydrology and Water Resources to obtain entry-level professional positions and to perform the duties of these positions in a manner that leads to rapid career advancement.

For more information contact the department office listed above.