GEO 160 - Environmental Challenges in the Mohawk Watershed

Course Units: 1.0

(Not Offered this Academic Year) This courses in an introductory course that investigates the complex intersection of surface-water hydrology and society. Specific modules address hydrology in a changing climate, water quality, dams and the Erie Canal, invasive species and pathways, municipal drinking water, floods, and river-proximal development: all environmental problems on the Mohawk related to water and hydrology in the watershed. While the Mohawk Watershed is of local and regional interest, the issues and problems addressed in this course are applicable nationwide. They deal with how a changing climate affects surface-water hydrology, how our national infrastructure and the built environment has been stressed due to age, damaging extreme events and pollution. We explore how our relationship with rivers is changing. This course is intended for all students at Union College, but it will be of special interest to those students interested in water, especially in the context of rivers, climate change, water infrastructure, and urban planning and development. Prerequisite(s): Preference is fiven to first and second year students. Corequisite(s): GEO 160L CC: SCLB, GNPS, GETS, WAC ISP: ENS