This course presents a comprehensive approach to urban watershed management. It is intended for community leaders, professionals and graduate students interested in integrated water resource management in urban areas. It will be offered as a distributed learning course using a CD-ROM textbook which contains the course material, and WebCT Vista for class discussions, updates and assignments.

The course is equivalent to a 3-credit graduate level course and students can register for UBC academic credit as Resource Management and Environmental Studies 516, on a professional development basis, or for credit towards the UBC Watershed Management certificate program.

A Bachelor’s degree in a related field, such as environmental sciences, engineering, planning, geography or biology is recommended. Academic or professional experience related to land and water resource management in an urban context is desirable.

Questions will be posted on the bulletin board every month and we expect the students to take an active role and respond to each question on a regular basis (within 2-3 weeks). All responses will be posted on WebCT Vista and all participants can read and respond to the contributions.

All assignments will be marked using the UBC % scale. Dr. Hans Schreier and Dr. Sandra Brown will review and mark the assignments. Final Mark for UBC graduate credit, professional credit or certificate = 3 credits.

IRE offers a distance learning certificate in Watershed Management, which consists of 5 courses offered in a distance learning mode over the internet. The main required courses are Integrated Watershed Management, Urban Watershed Management, and Agricultural Watershed Management. There are several additional options such as Groundwater Hydrology, and Water and International Development. For more details see: http://www.ires.ubc.ca/academic/certificate/.

Those with limited knowledge are encouraged to first take the Integrated Watershed Management course, which is an introduction to the topic. The Urban Watershed course focuses on urban issues and the role of community groups and local government, while the Agricultural Watershed course covers all aspects of water use and pollution in agriculture.

The classroom is open 24 hours a day but access to the Discussion Board (via WebCT Vista) is restricted. Each professional will receive a Campus Wide Login name to access the discussion board on WebCT Vista to post information and to participate in the discussions. UBC students can use their existing CWL accounts to login. Every week we will post new information on the discussion board and/or the website and you should access the classroom at least once a week to get the full benefit of the course. We will also post selective websites weekly that provide new and exciting information covering general aspects of watershed management and specific information on the topic to be covered that week. Announcements will be posted frequently as well - check that section of WebCT Vista often.