Hydraulic Engineering - Land & Water Development

Start next run: October 2009 (open for registration)
Duration: 18 Months
Location: UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands

Irrigation, drainage and flood protection are crucial to meet global demand for food and improved living conditions. The focus of Hydraulic Engineering - Land and Water Development is on the sustainability of irrigation and drainage infrastructure and ways to increase the productivity of land and water.

This implies the development and management of:

• Irrigation, drainage and flood protection schemes.
• Land reclamation and land consolidation schemes.
• Lowland and deltaic areas.

Participant Profile

The land and water development engineer is concerned with the development, adaptation and management of land and water resources for the different types of land use, with a focus on agricultural purposes.

The typical participant has a BSc degree in civil or agricultural engineering with a hydraulic background. He or she has worked for at least three years in professional practice or in a university or research environment in irrigation, drainage or land and water development.

The participant is eager to acquire skills and knowledge to solve engineering, and water management or flood protection problems. Computer literacy is a valuable asset. Future careers may be in government services, consultancy, or education and research institutes.

Learning Objectives

Graduates who have undertaken the Hydraulic Engineering - Land and Water Development specialisation will be equipped to:

• Define the level of service that client groups may expect from irrigation, drainage or flood protection schemes and translate them into physical infrastructure, management activities, and organisational arrangements.
• Understand the economic, social and environmental aspects of land and water development concepts.
• Determine cost and benefits of service provision for short, medium and long term planning horizons.
• Advise developers, system managers and water users on the operation and maintenance of irrigation, drainage and flood protection schemes.
• Make a development plan for an irrigation and drainage scheme, covering design, water management, and operation and maintenance.
• Monitor and evaluate the technical and managerial performance of irrigation and drainage schemes.
• Use state-of-the-art knowledge to evaluate the application of modern irrigation and drainage methods.
• Provide alternative technologies to develop land use, with a focus on rural areas.
• Assess the technical and economic feasibility of land and water development and management plans to support sustainable development.
• Provide for different levels of service and associated cost for a range of land and water development and management plans.
• Use objective criteria for decision making on maintenance, replacement or modernisation.

Course Contents

Hydraulic Engineering - Land and Water Development focuses on the development, management and adaptation of land and water resources for different types of use, with a focus on land use for agriculture. The guiding principle is the development of irrigation, drainage and flood protection infrastructure to meet an agreed level of service for an optimal balance between costs and benefits.

The specialisation integrates:

• Technology and management capacity.
• Technology and environment, (physical and social, economic and legal).
• Agricultural and civil engineering aspects of development and management.

The specialisation modules deal with the following subjects:

• Geosciences covers geo-engineering, shallow foundations, irrigation and drainage design and irrigation methods.
• Water Management Systems and Agronomy I introduces soil-water-crop yield relationships, water saving techniques, and water and drainage requirements, leading to the selection of appropriate irrigation and drainage methods and the design of an irrigation and drainage network.
• Water Management Systems and Agronomy II gives participants a deeper understanding of water-crop yield relationships, management options under land or water scarcity and water saving techniques, and the ability to determine crop water requirements.
• Aspects of Irrigation and Drainage covers technical, economic, and sociological aspects of flow control and drainage, the selection of suitable systems and the economic feasibility of land development projects.
• Service Oriented Management of Irrigation Systems demonstrates how to formulate objectives for irrigation, design water delivery systems, draw up a service agreement and an action plan for implementation, and design an irrigation monitoring and evaluation system.
• Conveyance Systems covers unsteady flow computations, sediment transport, water management systems modelling and water law.

In addition, participants choose one of the following modules:

• Irrigation and Drainage Structures
• or Managing Organisations and Change.