Watershed Sustainability Science

HNRS 228-002: Spring 2006

Scientific Thought Processes II

Professor R. Christian Jones

Environmental Science & Policy

 

 

Week               Lecture Topic                                                   Readings                                  Lab Topic

 

Jan 23        Scope of Class, Def of Watershed/Sustain. D&B:Chap1,2                          Watershed Delineation

                  Rainfall/Hydrologic Cycles (Jones)              1i,ii,iii,iv                                    Climate Diagrams (Jones)

 

Jan 30        Soils/Infiltration/Groundwater                                  D&B:Chap2                             Soil Porosity &

                        -effect of land use (Jones/Albert)                       1i                                             Infiltration (Albert)

 

Feb 6         Streamflow                                                 D&B:Chap8                             Streamflow at gages from the internet

                        -effect of land use (Jones)                                 2 p1-9; 31-42                          Effect of area, storm size, climate (Jones)

                                                                                                1i,v,vi

 

Feb 13       1st exam                                                                                                                 Field Trip:Sample Collection (Both)

                  Water Quality: basic factors (-effect of land D&B:Chap5                                         & Field WQ

                        Use & Atm. deposition) (Jones)                        1i,ii

 

Feb 20       Water Quality: nutrients, sediments,                         D&B:Chap6                             Lab: Sample analysis (Both)

                        Sewage, endocrine disruptors, etc. (Albert)       1i,vii,x

                        (effect of land use & atm deposition)

 

Feb 27       Streams: habitat features, bottom char-                    D&B:Chap3                             UOSA trip (Both)

                        acteristics, primary producers                            1i,vi

                        (Albert/Jones)

 

Mar 6         Streams: Consumers – role in stream and                D&B:Chap3,Append.               Field Trip Stream: Sample Collection

                        effect of land use                                               1i,vi                                          For Bugs & WQ (Both)

 

Mar 13       SPRING BREAK

 

Mar 20       Streams: Fishes (Jones/Kelso)                                                                                 Field Trip for Fish sampling (Jones/Kelso)

 

Mar 27       2nd Exam                                                                D&B:Chap3                             Field Trip: Huntley Meadows (Both)

                  Wetlands (Albert)                                                   1viii.

 

April 3        Lakes and Estuaries (Jones/Albert)             D&B:Chap3                             Lab: Work up field trip samples

                                                                                                1ix,xi.

 

April 10      Point Sources (Jones)                                             D&B:Chap6                             Lab: Work up field trip samples/GIS

                  Land Use and Nutrient Import/Export                     3 WN, 1x,xi

 

April 17      Water Demand and Use (Albert)                            1v                                            Field Trip (Both)

                                                                                                4 NRC (p. 1-15)

 

April 24      BMP’s and Low Impact Development                    D&B:Chap9                             Field Trip or Web Tour (Both?)

                        (Albert/Jones)                                                   5 LID, 1xii,xiv

 

May 1        Are Watersheds Sustainable?

 

May 10      Final Exam

 

Texts:

Required from Bookstore: Dobson and Beck. Watersheds: A Practical Handbook for Healthy Water. Firefly Books. 1999.

 

1 EPA’s Watershed Academy.  Available at: http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/#introductory Also on CD given out in class.

            i. Introduction to Watershed Ecology (WatershedEcology.pdf)

            ii. Agents of Watershed Change (agents.pdf)

            iii. Ecosystem Services: Benefits to Human Societies (issue2.pdf)

            iv. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: Maintaining Natural Life Support Processes (issue4.pdf)

            v. Protecting Instream Flows (protectinginstream.pdf)

            vi. Stream Corridor Structure (new_streamcorridor.pdf)

            vii. Sustaining Healthy Aquatic Ecosystems (issue10.pdf)

            viii.Wetland Functions and Values (WetlandsFunctions.pdf)

            ix. Understanding Lake Ecology (limnology.pdf)

            x. Nonpoint Pollution of Surface Waters with P&N (issue3.pdf)

            xi. Nutrient pollution of Coastal Rivers, Bays and Seas (issue7.pdf)

            xii. Principles of Watershed Management (Watershed_Management.pdf)

            xiii. Introduction of Watershed Planning (watershedplanning.pdf)

xiv. Overview of Watershed Monitoring (monitoring.pdf)

 

2 Burton and Pitt.2002.  Stormwater Effects Handbook   

http://unix.eng.ua.edu/~rpitt/Publications/BooksandReports/Stormwater%20Effects%20Handbook%20by%20%20Burton%20and%20Pitt%20book/StormwaterEffectsHandbook.htm

 

3 Waste News:  Atlantic City’s new Power Player  Dec. 19, 2005. 2 pgs. (hard copy)

 

4 National Research Council.  Water Transfers in the West: Efficiency, Equity, and the Environment.  1992.  Available at:  http://books.nap.edu/books/0309045282/html/

 

5 US EPA.  2000.  Low Impact Development: A literature Review.   Available at:  http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/lid/lid.pdf

 

Course Requirements and Grading:

There will be three exams in this course, one term paper, and various lab assignments. A total of 400 points will be possible distributed as follows:

1st exam 65 pts 1st third of class

2nd exam 65 pts            2nd third of class

Final   100 pts              final third of class + cumulative questions

Term paper 70             Watershed characterization and analysis

Lab      100 pts

Lab grade will be determined by reports involving data presentation and interpretation that are turned in following each of the lab exercises. Details will be distributed with each lab exercise.

 

Instructors:

 

R. Chris Jones, Professor, Environmental Science and Policy Dept

3041 David King Hall               x31127

http://mason.gmu.edu/~rcjones

rcjones@gmu.edu         Office hours: MW 2:45-3:45 or by appt.

 

Ryan Albert, Ph.D. candidate, Environmental Science and Policy Dept

3079b David King Hall

ralbert@gmu.edu