CE 498/698 and ERS 485/685 Principles of Water Quality Modeling
Spring Semester 2004 (3 credits)
Registration Nos.: CE 498 – 60858
CE 698 – 60856
ERS 485 (Section 020) – 12501
ERS 685 (Section 020) – 14071
Class Hours:
TuTh 8:00 - 9:15 a.m., FA 109
Course Instructor:
Laurel Saito, KRC 109
Phone: 775 784 1921; e-mail: lsaito@cabnr.unr.edu
Office hours: by appointment
Exams and Grading: Item
Undergraduates
Weekly homework assignments
40%
Major homework assignments (3)
0%
Midterm examination (1)
30%
Final exam
30%
Graduate students
20%
30%
20%
30%
Graduate students are required to do three (3) major homework assignments that
will involve model development and/or application. Undergraduates will have
the option to do these assignments, in which case their allocation of grading
criteria will be the same as for the graduate students. In addition, graduate
students will have specific ‘graduate student only’ questions on exams that will
not be required of undergraduates.
Course Description:
Development of equations to model reactions, speciation and movement of
pollutants in natural waters. Applications of equations to contaminants in
streams, lakes and rivers.
Course Format:
Three hours of lecture per week.
Course Goal:
Modeling is a valuable tool for water resources management. It is the intent of
this course to instill within students an appreciation of the responsibility of
modelers in developing and applying models, and the value of modeling in water
quality management.
Course Objectives:
Successful students will accomplish the following in this course:
1. Gain an understanding of the concepts of numerical modeling and time series
as applied to surface water quality modeling
2. Gain an understanding of water-quality processes such as reaction kinetics,
diffusion, and eutrophication
3. Apply* and evaluate the results of water-quality models such as QUAL2E
and thermal models
4. Apply* and evaluate sensitivity analysis of models
* Graduate students only will apply public-domain water quality models
Required Textbook:
Chapra SC. 1997. Surface Water-Quality Modeling. New York: Mc-Graw Hill.
Reference Text:
Chapra SC, Canale RP. 1988. Numerical Methods for Engineers. New York:
Mc-Graw Hill.
Prerequisites:
CE 390, CHEM 201 or CHEM 121, or consent of instructor; a course on
numerical methods is recommended
Web page:
http://www.ag.unr.edu/saito/classes/ce498/ce498.htm
If you have a disability and will be requiring assistance, please contact me or the Disability Resource Center
(Thompson Building Suite 101) as soon as possible to arrange for appropriate accommodations.