Institutions and Their Role in Water Resources Management

Catalog description

Students will learn about federal, state, and local institutions and agencies responsible for or advocating management of water resources and the development of the policies, laws, and regulations governing water use, distribution, and public health and safety. Students will learn about one or more institutions, with presentations and detailed review by actual top executive leaders from the institution or agency under discussion. Student projects will involve taking turns researching the presenter’s institution and the person’s role, and then introducing the presenter to the class. Students will be required to work in groups investigating in detail one institution, a challenging matter currently being addressed by the institution, how the institution has or will solve the challenge, and make a presentation to the class about what they learn. Institutions that students will learn about from top leadership may include the Texas Water Development Board, San Antonio River Authority, Edwards Aquifer Authority, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, San Antonio Water System, Texas Parks, and Wildlife Department, The Nature Conservancy, the Hill Country Alliance, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Underground Water Conservation Districts, U.S. Geological Survey, Texas State Soil, and Water Conservation Board, Friends of Blue Hole, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service.