Laboratory in sustainability of water management

Sustainable water use is one of the most challenging topics worldwide due to the effects of climate change and to the impacts of human activities. Public and private stakeholders who are active in this field must develop new ways to improve the management of the water cycle "as a whole".
The objective of the course is to lead students to the understanding of the problems related to water planning and management in the field of agricultural and rural environments, at different spatial scales. In particular the course will deal with: i) fundamentals of hydrology; i) water sources for agriculture; ii) water requirements of crops and soil-plant-atmosphere relationships; iii) irrigation methods and practices; iv) irrigation water management at the farm and district scale.

The students will acquire skills and tools to plan and manage the use of water resources for agriculture. On completion of the course, the student should be able to:
- describe the water cycle and its driving processes;
- apply the water-balance equation to various hydrological problems;
- analyze hydrological data and estimate crop needs in order to assess water resource management in an area;
- apply the best irrigation methods and practices in different environmental, economic and social conditions;
- develop a project on a case study, write a report on the results obtained, illustrate and discuss them.