Water resources engineering focuses on issues related to water quantity and quality. These include factors influencing water availability and supply; hazards associated with water, e.g., droughts and flooding; water movement in watersheds and implications for nutrient and contaminant transport; and the role of water in sustaining healthy ecosystems. Research at the University of Delaware ranges from the pore scale to the watershed scale, as we ask questions like “how do viruses attach to soil particles?” and “how do nutrients applied by farmers move through the watershed?” Because water pollution is often the primary driving force for the engineered control of water resources, graduate students typically take courses and conduct research within groups that also include environmental engineering students. Graduate course work and research in the water resources engineering program is focused on the following areas:

• Hydrology of Landfills
• Watershed Hydrochemistry
• Water Quality Modeling
• Groundwater Hydrology
• Contaminant Movement in Soil and Groundwater

The water resources engineering program is designed not only for those with undergraduate degrees in Civil, Environmental, and other engineering disciplines, but also related non-engineering fields such as Geology, Geography and Environmental and Soil Sciences.

FACULTY

Dominic M. Di Toro - Water quality modeling; water quality and sediment quality criteria models for organic chemicals, metals, mixtures; organic chemical and metal sorption models; statistical models
Paul T. Imhoff - Transport of fluids and contaminants in multiphase systems; mass transfer processes in soil and groundwater; sustainable landfilling; minimizing greenhouse gas emissions from engineered facilities; mathematical modeling
Shreeram Inamdar (adjunct, Dept. of Bioresourses Engineering) – Controls of hydrologic flow paths on the exports of solutes and contaminants from watersheds; influence of wetlands and riparian ecosystems on water quality; watershed responses across spatial and temporal scales
Yan Jin (adjunct, Dept. of Plant and Soil Sciences) - Measurement and modeling of contaminant fate and transport in soil and groundwater; colloid retention mechanisms in saturated and unsaturated porous media
William F. Ritter (adjunct, Dept. of Bioresources Engineering) - Groundwater pollution; waste management; water quality modeling; surface water contamination; irrigation management

MS REQUIREMENTS

See the MS in Civil Engineering for the general academic requirements. The Master’s degree in Civil Engineering or Applied Science in the field of Water Resources Engineering requires four core courses and four electives taken from a variety of fields for the thesis option. Students electing to receive the non-thesis degree must take a total of 30-credits of course work, which typically translates to six electives beyond the four core courses. Electives should be selected based on discussions with your advisor.

Core Courses:

• BREG 622 – Watershed Modeling
• CIEG 630 – Water Quality Modeling
• CIEG 698 – Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport
• MATH/STAT – An approved 600-level course in Mathematics or Statistics

Suggested electives include:

• BREG 621 – Nonpoint Source Pollution
• CIEG 667 - Industrial Ecology – The Science of Environmental Sustainability
• CIEG 668 - Principles of Water Quality Criteria
• CIEG 678 - Transport and Mixing Processes
• CIEG 679 - Sediment Transport Mechanics
• CIEG 833 - Fate of Organic Pollutants in the Environment
• FREC 682 – Spatial Analysis of Natural Resources
• GEOG 657 – Climate Dynamics
• PLSC 603 – Soil Physics
• UAPP 611 – Regional Watershed Management
• UAPP 615 – Urban, Regional & Environmental Planning
• UAPP 628 – Issues in Land Use & Environmental Planning

In addition, classes from other departments can be selected in consultation with your advisor. These include graduate-level courses offered by Bioresources Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Marine Studies, Geography, Urban Affairs and Public Policy, or Plant and Soil Sciences. Each semester students are also expected to register for CIEG865 - Civil Engineering Seminar. Students register for credit one semester and as a “Listener” in the other semesters.

PhD REQUIREMENTS

PhD degrees are also offered in the Water Resources Engineering field. The courses listed above serve as a foundation for the PhD degree. PhD students work with their advisor to develop a program of study that provides appropriate breadth and depth. See the PhD in Civil Engineering for the general academic requirements.