An Introduction to the Water Cycle

Water Management

In this course, Dr Jeremy Schmidt (QMUL) explore the topic of water management. We start in the first module by discussing our current understanding of the water cycle, why this understanding might need an update, and some of the direct and indirect ways humans impact the water cycle. The second module we dissect some of the challenges to managing water as well as the global distribution of water. In the third module, we take a look at the history of how water management strategies have been developed, and how the Tennessee Valley Agreement was developed as a model of water management. In the fourth module we move to the current day to discuss some water management strategies that are being used today, we talk about why we need these strategies and give examples such as using greywater and desalination. In the fifth and final module, we cover the recent trend where institutions and organisations give rights to rivers to ensure proper water management.

An Introduction to the Water Cycle

In this module we introduce the water cycle: (i) we discusses the conventional hydrological cycle view, highlighting its limitations in capturing human impacts directly and indirectly, such as agriculture, manufacturing, and climate change; (ii) the complex interplay between human activities and water systems, referencing the updated 2022 map by the United States Geological Survey, which integrates human water usage categories; (iii) stress the necessity of considering both natural and social dynamics in addressing water challenges at local and global scales.