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Graduate Course Proposal Form Submission Detail - EVR6216
Tracking Number - 1932
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Current Status:
Approved, Permanent Archive - 2005-10-06
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Detail Information
- Date & Time Submitted: 2004-04-16
- Department: Environmental Science and Policy
- College: AS
- Budget Account Number: 122400000
- Contact Person: L. Donald Duke
- Phone: 48087
- Email: ldduke@chuma1.cas.usf.edu
- Prefix: EVR
- Number: 6216
- Full Title: Advances in Water Quality Policy and Management
- Credit Hours: 3
- Section Type: C -
Class Lecture (Primarily)
- Is the course title variable?: N
- Is a permit required for registration?: N
- Are the credit hours variable?: N
- Is this course repeatable?:
- If repeatable, how many times?: 0
- Abbreviated Title (30 characters maximum): Water Qual Policy/Management
- Course Online?: -
- Percentage Online:
- Grading Option:
R - Regular
- Prerequisites: Graduate standing in EVR, ENV, GEO, GLY, GPY, PCB, or PHC; or consent of instructor
- Corequisites:
- Course Description: Conceptual structure and practical implementation of U.S. watershed-based water quality regulations and policies. Practical application of scientific information and quantitative methods in management/policy decisions for water quality protection.
- Please briefly explain why it is necessary and/or desirable to add this course: A new upper-level graduate course in an area of specialization of the Environmental Science and Policy Department; course objectives combine scientific analysis, policy analysis, and the application of science methods to policy decision-making, a core edu
- What is the need or demand for this course? (Indicate if this course is part of a required sequence in the major.) What other programs would this course service? A core elective in one area of concentration offered by the M.S. degree program of the Environmental Science and Policy Department; also an upper-level course supporting an area of expertise specified in the proposed PhD degree objective under consideration by USF. Graduate students in science departments (Civil Engineering, Geology, Biology, others) with interests in policy and management will find a unique opportunity in this course; several have enrolled when offered as a Selected Topics course.
- Has this course been offered as Selected Topics/Experimental Topics course? If yes, how many times? Yes: once, Spring 2004. Additionally, offered previously by the current instructor as part of a Fulbright Scholar visiting semester at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland, grant awarded for the purpose of developing this course.
- What qualifications for training and/or experience are necessary to teach this course? (List minimum qualifications for the instructor.) Understanding of cutting edge research on water quality; fate, transport, and effects of pollutants in aquatic systems; and methods for linking source assessments to conditions in receiving waters. Familiarity with current and evolving policies for watershed-based water quality control programs. Mastery of the literature on environmental policy and regulatory approaches for water quality protection.
- Objectives: Master conceptual basis for watershed environmental systems as a basic unit for water quality protection programs and policy initiatives, including the current implementation of water quality regulations in the U.S. and selected other nations and the theoretical basis for these policies and various potential alternative approaches. Master a variety of selected quantitative techniques for assessing water quality conditions and projecting the impact of diverse pollutant sources on water quality in a given waterbody. Improve ability on a graduate student level to prepare and present in-depth critical analysis of the scientific basis for policy decisions.
- Learning Outcomes: Students demonstrate mastery of quantitative techniques and conceptual problem formulation through homework assignments. Students in groups conduct detailed analysis of selected watersheds using methods presented in class on real data from available sources, and analyzing stakeholders’ positions as presented in available policy documents. Students make oral presentations to the class and undergo critical assessment during discussion with other class members. Students complete a final paper describing in depth one aspect of their selected watershed management case.
- Major Topics: Water pollution control regulation and policy approaches: uniform (global) numeric limits for discharges vs. individual discharge limits based on watershed (local) ambient targets
Elements of the U.S. Total Maximum daily Load (TMDL) watershed assessment regulations: ambient standards/water quality objectives; problem definition; source identification and quantification; numeric target development; linkage analysis; allocation among multiple sources, considering scientific and social/economic/political factors; potential techniques for source reduction; and assessing reasonable likelihood of attaining targets with proposed remedies.
Statistical methods, acquisition of data, and data analysis methods to characterize hydrology and water quality for decision-making.
Critical assessment of successes and limitations of the watershed management approach as applied in the U.S.; controversies, institutional positions of multiple stakeholders.
- Textbooks: Required:
1. Oliver A. Houck, The Clean Water Act TMDL Program: Law, Policy, and Implementation. Washington D.C.: Environmental Law Institute, 2nd edition, 2002.
2. Selected readings from U.S. and international agencies policy documents and specific watershed agency decision topics, from materials available on the Internet.
Recommended:
3. Richard O. Gilbert, Statistical Methods for Environmental Pollution Monitoring. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1987.
4. E. M. Wilson, Engineering Hydrology, 1999.
5. Rosenbaum, Environmental Politics and Policy, 2002
- Course Readings, Online Resources, and Other Purchases:
- Student Expectations/Requirements and Grading Policy:
- Assignments, Exams and Tests:
- Attendance Policy:
- Policy on Make-up Work:
- Program This Course Supports:
- Course Concurrence Information:
- if you have questions about any of these fields, please contact chinescobb@grad.usf.edu or joe@grad.usf.edu.