Corporate Training By Zack Academy - Hydrology for the World of Work

Why Should You Take This Hydrology for the World of Work Course?

This two-day Hydrology for the World of Work workshop will provide an introduction to the science of applied hydrology specifically to strengthen job skills for today's environmental professionals, consultants, and researchers. Attendees will take part in practical analyses and field exercises, focusing on surface water and ground water subjects found in everyday work assignments, particularly interdisciplinary studies of ecology.

After attending this course, participants will have an understanding of several areas of expertise that are in high demand by natural resource management agencies, environmental groups, consulting companies, and others looking for expertise in water rights, instream flows, environmental regulations, and hydrogeology.

Day 1 will be spent in the classroom and Day 2 will be spent in the field. This format provides attendees with real-world experience applying the concepts discussed in the classroom. The combination of classroom lecture, field demonstration, and participation exercises increases learning effectiveness, which will immediately improve or upgrade the attendee's job skills and knowledge.

Who Should Take This Course?

The class material is intended for those new to field work in applied sciences and is designed to enhance on-the-job knowledge of graduate hydrologists, engineers, biologists, and others interested in practical water resources management.

Topics and Techniques to be Covered Include:

• Reviewing roposals for developing new water supplies and outline studies for determining water availability, potential impacts of new withdrawals, and mitigation options.
• Presenting and discussing important considerations of sediment and wood transport for fish and wildlife habitat projects, flood plain management issues, and riverine ecology.
• Providing hydrological criteria for ecologically defined high water marks for regulatory purposes and ecological protection.
• Participating in interdisciplinary development of high flow recommendations for preserving and restoring stream dynamics based on magnitude, duration, and frequency criteria.
• Applying basic principles of groundwater and surface water storage and movement needed for understanding why wetlands are wet, how hydroperiods affect wetland processes, and how variations in saturated conditions affect wetland boundaries.

Meet the Instructor:

Alan Wald has 30 years of experience as a hydrologist and hydrogeologist with extensive project work on streams, rivers, wetlands, and shorelands. He brings a background in both groundwater and surface water processes, floodplains and high flows, ordinary high water mark delineation, channel morphology, and other elements of applied hydrology. Before joining The Watershed Company, Alan was senior hydrologist with the Department of Ecology, WSDOT, and Department of Fish and Wildlife. He also taught in professional certification programs for Wetlands Hydrology and Delineation of Ordinary High Water Marks. He recently authored High Flows for Fish and Wildlife in Washington and was a co-author of Integrated Approaches to Riverine Resource Stewardship, a discussion of instream flow recommendations with case histories of flow preservation and restoration on streams and rivers across North America.

Important: 

• Please bring a pen or pencil and notepad
• Please wear weather-appropriate clothes and boots/waterproof shoes on the field day (Day 2)
• Day 1: Drinks and snacks will be provided throughout the day
• Day 2: Lunch will be provided before the field trip
• Please wait to receive a course confirmation email (roughly one month prior to the class) before making any travel arrangements

Syllabus

Day 1 will be spent in the classroom. Attendees will learn how to study and solve problems in areas of:

• Ground water availability, including water rights
• Sediment and wood transport in rivers
• Ordinary high water marks on rivers and lakes
• High flows and instream flows for fish and wildlife, and
• Wetlands hydrology for delineation and impact studies.

Day 2 will be spent in the field and will include:

• On-the-ground exercises in data collection
• Measurement of important parameters
• Preliminary reporting
• Cooperative exercises to improve study results