Water Resources and Watershed Management

By Dr. Harish Gupta | University College of Engineering, Osmania University, Hyderabad

Learners enrolled: 1106

This four (4) credit, 15 weeks MOOCs course is being offered for Post Graduate students of Sciences and other faculties. This course is also open to water professionals and concerned citizens.

There is a total of 40 modules in this course. These modules are broadly divided into four major categories. They cover, Basics of Hydrology, Water quality issues, Tools and techniques necessary for managing water resources and watersheds, and finally the water resources' societal and environmental aspects.

Course Objectives:

To develop an understanding of the availability and occurrence of freshwater, its uses, and problems related to water resources management.
To introduce the various tools and techniques for application in Integrated Water Resources Management.
To promote awareness for life-long learning and introduce them to ethics and codes of professional practice in water resources management.

Course Outcome:

This course is designed to provide a basic understanding of the impact of water and water-related issues in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.
We anticipate that this course will help the participants appreciate water's importance as a precious resource.
It will provide the necessary knowledge and skills required for managing water resources.

You are welcome to join this free course to learn more about managing our water resources and solve societal and environmental woes.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Not Applicable
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	15 weeks
Category :	Earth Sciences
Credit Points :	4
Level :	Postgraduate
Start Date :	13 Jan 2025
End Date :	30 Apr 2025
Enrollment Ends :	28 Feb 2025
Exam Date :	17 May 2025 IST
NCrF Level	7.0
Exam Shift: :	2 (3:00 pm on May 17, 2025)

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Water Resources and Watershed Management (Course Schedule)
Week 1	1. Mystery of Earth's Water Origin 2. Water on Earth: The Molecule of Life 3. Water Resources and Environmental Sustainability	MCQ Quiz
Week 2	4. Surface Hydrology 5. Groundwater Hydrology	MCQ Quiz
Week 3	6. Chemical Composition of Natural Waters 7. Methods for Collection and Analysis of Water Samples 8. Water Security Challenges of India	MCQ Quiz First Assignment
Week 4	9. Monsoon Rainfall in India: Occurrence and Variability 10. Water Resources in India: Surface Water 11. Water Resources of India: Occurrence and Use of Groundwater	MCQ Quiz
Week 5	12. Irrigation in India: Status, Challenges and Options 13. India's Urban Water Crisis 14. Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Management	MCQ Quiz
Week 6	15. Water Quality: Inorganic Pollutant in Water 16. Water Quality: Organic Pollutant in Water 17. Water Quality: Geogenic Contaminants in Groundwater	MCQ Quiz Second Assignment
Week 7	18. Water Disputes and Governance in India 19. Water-Food-Energy and Climate Nexus	MCQ Quiz
Week 8	20. Watershed: Concepts and Characteristics 21. Integrated Watershed Management 22. Sustainable Management of Groundwater Resources	MCQ Quiz
Week 9	23. Surface Water Management: Dams, Interlinking of Rivers 24. Water Conservation: Indigenous methods and Four Water Concept 25. Sediment Erosion and Soil Conservation Measures	MCQ Quiz Third Assignment
Week 10	26. Water Quality Issues of India and its Monitoring 27. Drinking water Treatment Technology 28. Sewage Treatment/ Effluent Treatment	MCQ Quiz
Week 11	29. Geo-spatial Technologies in Water Resource Management: Remote Sensing Techniques 30. Geo-spatial Technologies in Water Resource Management: GIS Tools	MCQ Quiz
Week 12	31. Application of Hydrological Models 32. Soft-computing Techniques 33. Statistical Methods in Water Resources Management	MCQ Quiz Fourth Assignment
Week 13	34. Geophysical Methods for Groundwater Exploration 35. Water Resource Budget Allocation and Expenditure	MCQ Quiz
Week 14	36. Climate data download and down-scaling 37. Climate Change and Its Impact on Water Resources and Societal Interventions	MCQ Quiz
Week 15	38. Climate-Smart Agriculture 39. Climate Resilient Water Sensitive Urban Design: Concepts and Scope 40. People's Participation in Water Resource Management	MCQ Quiz Fifth Assignment

Instructor bio

Dr. Harish Gupta

University College of Engineering, Osmania University, Hyderabad

Harish Gupta is an UGC-Assistant Professor at Dept. of Civil Engineering, University College of Engineering (A), Osmania University, Hyderabad. Dr Gupta studied M.Sc. (Geology) at Dungar College, Bikaner (affiliated to MDS University, Ajmer) and obtained PhD (Earth Sciences) from IIT Roorkee. He performed Post-Doctoral Research at Academia Sinica, Taiwan and Xiamen University, China. He joined as Assistant Professor at Osmania University, Hyderabad in 2013 through UGC’s Faculty Recharge Programme. He offers courses on Environmental Sciences, Disaster Management, Engineering Geology, etc. to BE students. He also teaches ME students from Geotechnical and Mining Engineering courses. His major field of research is Earth Surface Process and Climate Moderation; Surface Hydrology, Global Bio-geochemical Cycles; Environmental Pollutants in rivers and Urban Water Management. He has published several research papers in these areas and is also guiding students for ME Dissertation and PhD research. He is an awardee of research grants from SERB, UGC and SPARC (MHRD) etc.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from for everyone, irrespective of backgrounds.
However, if you wish to get a certificate, you need to pay examination fee, complete assignments (internal assessment) and appear for the proctored exam, which will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
Weightage: For Internal assessment-30% for in-course assessment, and 70% for end-term proctored exam. Minimum 40% marks need to be secured both in internal and proctored exams.
Exam registration fee (excluding Applicable service/processing charges and GST): Rs. 750/- (for General category students) OR 500/- (for Gen-EWS, OBC-(NCL)/SC/ST/PwD category students).
Date of exam: to be announced (All related information will be notified on SWAYAM platform).
Once succeed in the examination, a certificate will be issued by the MoE (previously MHRD) and credit transfer certificate for eligible participants will be issued by Osmania University, Hyderabad.

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