TEXAS WATER POLICY: COURSE DESCRIPTION
Graduate Course: PA 388K, #63212, Texas Water Policy
Undergraduate Course: P 345, #63088. Texas Water Policy
Instructor: David Eaton, Professor
Class Location: LBL School, SRH 3.316/3.350, Tuesday, 6 to 8 pm
Every two weeks: 2 hour field trip during Saturdays, 10 am to noon
Office Hours: SRH 3.342, Tuesday, 3 pm to 6 pm
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to water resources in the context of Texas’ efforts to manage its surface and groundwater quantity and quality. This course covers a series of Texas water management issues, including: sources and uses of water; water data sources and acquisition methods; quantity issues associated with surface, groundwater and reused water; watershed management for rivers, lakes and estuaries; water quality management of surface and ground waters; water storage in dams, reservoirs, aquifers or impoundments; drinking water treatment and distribution; wastewater collection and treatment; water planning and finance in Texas; the role of federal, state, regional and local institutions in water management and water conflicts; transboundary water management between Texas and other US states and Mexico; management of extreme water events, such as droughts, floods, climate change and emergency preparedness.
There are three parallel components of this course: in-class instruction; field study; and legislative /agency/policy participation. Each student will be expected to develop a water policy-related proposal/paper/evaluation to improve water management. A student will have flexibility to propose what she/he wishes as a course paper deliverable, but that product must be related to policy, and seeking to accomplish something in the real world. The deliverable could report on some water policy issue or develop a recommendation for some water policy changes. It could evaluate the consequences of a proposed piece of legislation. There are many options, limited only by a student’s creativity. Students will spend two hours in class and two hours per every two weeks hours outside of class on a field study tour to see water resources management “in action.”
Course Goals
* Understand the sources and uses of water in Texas, as well as the laws, regulations, planning and financing practices employed to allocate surface and groundwater among users;
* Be familiar with the technologies that allow Texas to obtain, move, distribute, treat, reuse and dispose of water and wastewaters as well as the laws, regulations and planning practices employed to manage water use and quality assurance;
* Learn about Texas coastal zone, estuarine, and in-stream ecological resources and management of those water resources and ecological communities, and
* Be comfortable with using administrative, legislative, judicial, and public outreach processes to address water policy issues and conflicts.