Natural Science 0157 - Sustainable Water Resources

All life requires water to survive. Where do we get our water? Where does it go? Will there always be enough? How can we manage our water resources to ensure there is enough? What policies affect these decisions? This course explores these topics using a systems approach to gain an understanding of how our water resources are intimately tied with the surrounding ecosystem. Topics include the water cycle, hydrologic budgets, urban stormwater management and low impact development. Students will read and discuss primary literature, delineate watershed boundaries, compute water budgets (at the watershed level and for their own water use), and complete a group design project. Each group will develop a design for a stormwater best management practice to be located somewhere on the Hampshire campus. Designs will include: assessment of need for improved stormwater management, building layout/plan, and stormwater calculations. Groups will be required to present their final designs to the class.

Physical and Biological Sciences Writing and Research Quantitative Skills Instructor permission is required for NS 357, not NS 157. In this course students are generally expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.