Water Resources and Treatment

Water resources focuses on water allocation and supplies. Students specializing in this area will learn engineering solutions to supply adequate quantities and quality of water for human use and the environment.  This includes ground water, streams, lakes, reservoirs, and water storage facilities.

Environmental engineers specializing in water also design wastewater treatment facilities to treat water after human use so that it can be returned to the environment without negatively impacting the ecology and downstream users. Water distribution and sewer collection pipelines must also be designed.

  • Water quality characterization by collecting samples of groundwater, surface water, and wastewater
  • Working with regulatory agencies to determine appropriate water quality for human consumption, ecology, etc.
  • Designing facilities to treat water and wastewater; these can include chemical, biological, and phyical methods
  • Using modeling software to predict water treatment effectiveness of various processes

Environmental Engineering Technical Electives (upper-division)

Students select at least Two courses from this list (or a second from list A, no double counting). Faculty can petition to add additional courses.

  • CVEN 3323 Hydraulic Engineering (3 credits, F; prerequisites: fluid mechanics.)
  • CVEN 3424 Water and Wastewater Treatment (3 credits, S; prerequisites: CVEN 3414.)
  • CVEN 4353 Groundwater Engineering (3 credits, F; prerequisites: fluid mechanics.)
  • CVEN 4383 Groundwater Modeling (3 credits, S; prerequisites: CVEN 4353 [pre/co-requisite].)
  • GEOG 4501 Water Resources and Water Management of the Western U.S. (3 credits, F.)