A flooded river city raises the basic question at the heart of this course: where does water go after it hits the land, and how do people change that path? This course builds a working model of watersheds, from drainage basins and divides to runoff, stream networks, groundwater, and baseflow, then shows how paving, farming, and dams alter timing, sediment, and risk. By the end, the Mississippi, Colorado, and Ganges-Brahmaputra are not just names on a map, but working examples of how landscapes and human choices steer water.
The course covers drainage basins and divides, precipitation turned into runoff and infiltration, stream networks from headwaters to river mouth, and the groundwater connections that keep rivers flowing between storms. It also covers urban stormwater, farming and irrigation, dams and reservoirs, and comparisons among the Mississippi, Colorado, and Ganges-Brahmaputra basins.