Water Environment Studies

Goals and Purpose

This class will discuss the Water Environment from an interdisciplinary perspective looking at the concept of sustainability. It starts with a discussion on the mechanism of water cycle in Asia-Monsoon zones as well as at the global-level. The following lectures will focus on these topics with a cross-disciplinary study approach, from the perspective of Physics, Engineering, Agriculture and the Humanities, which includes: 'Water and Forests,' 'Water and River Basin Management Systems (including land-use plans on basins and engineering),' 'Water and Culture,' and 'the Statute System Dealing with Water Issues.'.

Key Features

As an interdisciplinary class for acquiring comprehensive knowledge about environmental issues, the professors of the School of Environmental Studies will give joint/omnibus lectures. The lectures will discuss those issues from various academic disciplines such as Physics, Engineering and Social Sciences: 'water cycle at the global-level, ' 'local/regions and water,' 'societies, institutions/systems, culture and water,' and 'water issues around the world.' Students are expected to broaden their views on water issues and make use of the knowledge acquired in the class into their own research and lives.

Class Contents

• General information of the class; its objectives and strategies.
• Rainfall distribution and water cycle on a global scale.
• Evaluation on the vulnerability and sustainability of shallow ground water.
• Water and the land use of its basin.

Textbooks

None.

Reference books

None.

Class Schedule

Session	Contents
0	Introduction
1	Land vegetation and water/material cycle
2	Water/material cycle along coasts
3	Marine water/material cycle
4	The rainfall in East Asia and its distinctive features
5	Groundwater and water cycle
6	Water and urban environment (including topics on the land-use of basins)
7	River basin management: Water flood control, water utilization and river ecosystems
8	Water resource management in Northern China
9	Building aquatic-environmental ecosystems
10	Forestry management and the water/materials cycle
11	Toward restructuring aqua metropolises
12	Water rights and river management
13	Environmental policies on water
14	Conclusion

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