General objectives

This university master’s degree is designed to train the future professionals of water management, and to initiate students in the skills required to undertake research in this field. The approach is multidisciplinary. The objectives are consistent with this plan and are both general and specific.

On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate adequate knowledge of water-related sciences and technologies so that they can interpret phenomena associated with hydrology and water management;

• Apply the expertise needed to evaluate projects in which water plays a predominant role;

• Participate in research, development and innovation activities in the water sector in conjunction with professionals from any other field;

• Evaluate health and ecological issues related to water in the natural and man-made cycles;

• Interpret issues concerning the water sector from a legal, economic and social perspective.

Additionally, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• Apply a good understanding of water ecosystems: coastal, epicontinental and marine, among others;

• Identify the characteristics of water at different stages in the cycle: surface, ground, marine and atmospheric, among others;

• Undertake analytical studies;

• Apply a good understanding of water-treatment technology for potable water, purification and non-domestic uses;

• Critically evaluate the management of conventional and non-conventional water resources;

• Use advanced tools for the analysis of the life cycle, risk management, best practices, geographic information systems and decision-making systems, among others;

• Demonstrate basic historical and cultural knowledge of the water sector.


Teaching objectives

In the Water cycle module, students will study the following areas:

• A description of running and stagnant epicontinental water, including all of the mechanisms of movement, the associated organisms and relationships with other bodies of water. On completion, students should understand the function of the ecosystems that are associated with fresh water.

• A description of ground water and its relationship with the bodies that contain it: geological, edaphic, etc. On completion of the module, students should understand the characteristics of this water, its movements, the quality of its chemical activities and properties, and its relationship with surface and marine water.

• A description of atmospheric and marine water. At the end of the module, the student should understand the basics of climatology and atmospheric water movements, as well as phenomena associated with marine water and the coast-sea interface.

On completion of the module on Water uses, students should be able to describe:

• The man-made water cycle, the basic criteria of supply and demand and the legal principles associated with this cycle;

• The processes involved in the management and use of drinking water, water supply and bottling, and water treatment and distribution, as well as the risks involved in the various water uses and the legal and financial constraints;

• How water is used in agriculture and livestock farming, from technological, economic and legal perspectives; the specific mechanisms for using water in agriculture and livestock farming and the risks that these uses involve;

• The use of water in the industry and services sector and the social, legal and economic principles of this use;

• The water needs of these sectors, the capacity to meet these needs and the social and economic problems that can arise from inefficient use of this resource. 

On completion of the module on Waste water, students should be able to describe:

• The generation, management and transformation of industrial, domestic and other kinds of waste waters, based on the relevant legal premises and taking into account suitable cost/benefit ratios;

• The management of byproducts from waste water treatment and industrial waste water;

• The mechanisms involved in this management, such as the legal, financial and social aspects, including acceptance;

• The non-conventional resources that are used to increase water supply, e.g. purified waste water; the relative value of these resources compared to others, and the financial and legal principles that govern their use.

The module on Analytical, socioeconomic, political, cultural, historical and health aspects includes many water-related aspects that will help the student to do the following:

• Establish management principles that are suitable to the water cycle and based on historic and social aspects. At the end of the course, students should be able to anticipate secondary problems that could have a major impact on society in terms of the acceptance of various water-related activities, which go beyond science and technology.

• Prepare and carry out all kinds of water-related analyses and disseminate the results from scientific perspectives (chemistry, biology, parasitology, microbiology and physics, among others) and legal perspectives.

• Define the socioeconomic and historic factors that are related to the water sector. On completion of the course, students shall be able to analyse the impact of applying specific tax measures. In addition, students will have the expertise required to interpret these aspects of hydrology and related sciences.

• Understand the corporate environmental audit process and interpret the results.

• Learn to work in workshops as a group or alone, follow guidelines and draw up reports, on the basis of previous learning.

• Identify the health-related issues required to understand water management. In particular, students will undertake theoretical and practical water management studies in the areas of toxicology, bacteriology, virology and parasitology. On completion of the course, students will be able to interpret data in these scientific fields and assess the risk involved in practical cases.

On completion of the Project module of the course, the student will be able to:

• Carry out projects and present them clearly in writing or orally;

• Work in a group;

• Interpret and present case studies.