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Dynamics and management of surface water and groundwater systems including modelling of water demand, surface processes, recharge, abstraction and integration of water infrastructure.
Integrated Surface Water and Groundwater Engineering is a final year elective course on water engineering in the undergraduate curriculum for civil and natural resources engineering students. A basic understanding of water systems is quite important in the study of surface and groundwater flows and for this reason ENCN342 is a prerequisite for this course.The increasing demand for water resources challenges our ability to understand and describe the underlying hydrologic processes. Water resources problems are seldom isolated, and their solution requires sophisticated numerical approaches to management that must address different, often conflicting, demands for water. Problems could include flood protection, conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater resources, and optimizing water distribution in a pipe network. This course introduces you to the tools you will need to conceptualize and solve complex water problems.Surface water engineeringIncreasingly, water resources are being managed on a catchment basis. Sustainable catchment management relies on robust understanding of: rainfall-runoff processes across the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum; how variability in catchment characteristics can influence rates and volumes of runoff; the relationship between flow and surface/groundwater water level at any location; and the effect of infrastructure on surface water flows. The development of appropriate catchment management solutions is also dependent on the ability to correctly evaluate the impact of different options. Furthermore, the growing focus on climate change has provoked increased need to understand the complex feedback between the climate, landuse, and the hydrologic cycle. This part of the course will deepen and expand the knowledge and skills gained in the previous parts of the surface water hydrology curriculum so that student will be able to work on a wider spectrum of hydrological engineering problems in an integrated manner. This includes both modelling of surface water processes and design of surface water infrastructure (e.g., earth channel design, culverts, drop structures).Groundwater engineeringBy virtue of their underground nature, groundwater systems are largely unobserved except where they breach surfaces (streams, springs, seepage) or are intersected by wells. Therefore, an ability to infer, extrapolate, abstract and model based on limited observations is essential to the sustainable use of these resources. This section of the course will introduce you to conceptual and numerical modelling of the whole groundwater system, including concepts of recharge and discharge, and safe-yield, abstraction, drawdown. The goal is for you to be able to develop models that can predict future aquifer response to water allocation decisions. Advanced topics including the unsaturated zone, groundwater quality, and surface water interactions will also be covered.Pipe network engineeringNetwork design concerns itself with the delivery of water where it is needed, at the required rate, and with enough redundancy to manage peak demand and safety constraints. At the micro-scale, pumping water through a single pipe is a complex problem that depends on friction, energy, pipe geometry, and fluid physics. At the macro-scale, networks must connect multiple inlet sources, user outlets, storage and treatment. This section of the course will challenge you to think about pipe networks as both a design and optimization problem.
1 Select and perform appropriate analytical calculations to address management and/or design aspects of a water resources problem. (Washington Accord WA1), (UC EIE, GA)2 Implement representations of water resource processes in a numerical model, with a specific application in pipe networks, groundwater aquifers, and/or surface water systems. (Washington Accord WA2, WA5), (UC EIE)3 Recommend water resource management activities using analytical calculations or a numerical model as part of the evidence base and consistent with relevant standards or regulations. Washington Accord WA3, WA6, WA7), (UC EIE, BCC, CE)The learning objectives align with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
EMTH210, ENCI199, ENCN201, ENCN205 ENCN213, ENCN221, ENCN231, ENCN242, ENCN253, ENCN281, ENCN342
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Markus Pahlow
Derek Li and Tom Cochrane
The assessment for this paper comprises several design reports (assignments), a mid-semester test and the final exam.Assignment reportsThere are four of these to be completed, one each for the surface water modelling (12.5%), groundwater (12.5%), pipe networks (12.5%) and surface water infrastructure design (12.5%) sections. They are an opportunity to apply the practical modelling and design skills you have developed during the lectures and tutorials to a specific case study.In addition to providing a description of the modelling activities, you will also have to submit any files developed with the various software packages used in this course as supporting evidence. Software package file submissions should be documented appropriately including commenting and a brief readme describing contents and proper operation.Special Consideration for AssignmentsAn extension will be granted for evidence-supported requests. Extensions will typically be for up to one week, but the duration will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Students seeking an extension must contact the course coordinator as soon as possible with evidence of their situation, and preferably before the due date. An extension will generally not be granted over the study week period.Special Consideration for Midterm Test and Final Exam• The academic remedy for special consideration on the midterm test or the final exam will be an equivalent alternative assessment. These alternative assessments are only available to students who have approved special consideration applications for the assessments at an appropriate severity level.• The mark on these alternative assessments will replace the original mark in the course grade calculation unless the student declines the offer or otherwise does not sit an alternative assessment, in which case the original mark will be used.• The alternative assessments for this course will be held on-campus and the dates will be announced via Email and on the course LEARN page. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are available for these dates if you want to benefit from the academic remedy for your special consideration.• All communication associated with the arrangements of these equivalent alternative assessments will be conducted using official UC email accounts. The offer to sit an alternative assessment will come with a date/time during the resit week. Students will have a clearly specified amount of time to respond to the offer. Failure to respond will be interpreted as a declined offer.• If a student has applied for special consideration but the application has not yet been approved when arrangements are being made for the alternative sitting, they may be permitted to sit the alternative assessment, but the mark will only be applied if the application is approved by the special consideration committee at an appropriate severity level.Special Consideration for Midterm Test and Final ExamStudents will be offered an equivalent alternative midterm test/exam, for evidence-supported requests. This exam will be generally held within a week after the scheduled examination. The alternative midterm test/exam will be of the same form as the original assessment.Note: All communication associated with the arrangement of equivalent alternative tests/exams will be conducted using official UC email accounts and LEARN. The offer to sit an alternative assessment will also provide the date/time when the alternative assessment takes place. Students will have a clearly specified amount of time to respond to the offer to sit the alternative assessment and to accept/decline. If the offer is declined or no response is received in the specified time frame, the original assessment mark will be used to compute the course grade.
This course does not have a required text and instead provides notes and other resources on LEARN. Furthermore, additional material will be posted on the class LEARN site as recommended reading/viewing. Please note that all lecture recordings, made available through LEARN, are copyright and are not for public dissemination.
Statement on Generative AIGenerative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) is a new technology with clear implications for civil and natural resource engineering practice. In this course, the use of generative AI is permitted providing it adheres to the guidelines of responsible practice described below.Generative AI can be used to improve your writing and provide editing feedback. When using AI to alter your writing, it is important to check that the substantive message of the text has not been altered. It is recommended that your prompt end with “…and explain the changes that you made” so that you can gain feedback to improve your own writing. It is not recommended to use AI to generate original text. Rather, it is safer to place yourself in the role of author, and AI in the role of editor, so that it is only improving the communication of your original ideas.AI can be used to find, gather and summarise knowledge on a subject that is outside your expertise. However, it is important that you verify any information produced by AI. AI output can be convincingly wrong on technical matters. AI output can be incomplete, potentially omitting alternative hypotheses or views. AI output can be contradictory, offering concluding statements that are incoherent with arguments given earlier. Thus, it is important to verify AI-generated output. This includes checking source material, asking or reprompting an AI for alternative views, and challenging it to justify its statements. Verification may only possible when you are a subject matter expert, i.e., a competent engineer.An AI is not a substitute for a creative, problem-solving engineer. It cannot match the complex reasoning or emotional intelligence of a human. Relying on an AI to solve problems for you may prevent you from achieving course Learning Outcomes. Being unable to demonstrate your mastery of Learning Outcomes during an invigilated assessment (test or exam) when AI is unavailable could lead to you failing the course. If you decide to use AI to complete a course assessment, then it is important that you are transparent about this use. If you use AI to edit the text of your submission, then you should disclose this to the course coordinator. Use of AI that falls within the permissible guidelines described here will not result in a penalty. Use of Generative AI in course assessments:You may use generative AI to complete the assignments surface water modelling, groundwater, pipe networks and surface water infrastructure design reports. Permitted use of AI in these assessments includes identification of information and editing the text of your submissions. You may not use AI to complete technical calculations.Consequences of misuse of AI:Students suspected of using AI outside the specifications of this document will be reported to the department Academic Integrity Officer. As part of their investigation, students may be invited to attend an interview, during which they may be asked to describe how the assessment was completed or to demonstrate their knowledge of the subject. If it is determined that a student is likely to have misused AI, then disciplinary action may be taken, including partial or full denial of credit for an assignment or course, X-mark on transcript denoting breach of academic integrity, suspension, fines and expulsion. Further reading: Academic Integrity at the University of Canterbury. https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/about-uc/what-we-do/teaching/academic-integrity Engineering NZ guidelines on ethical use of Generative AI. https://www.engineeringnz.org/programmes/engineering-and-ai/appropriate-safe-and-ethical-use/
Domestic fee $1,122.00
International fee $6,238.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Civil and Natural Resources Engineering .