CEE 350

WATER RESOURCES ENGINEERING

Prof. Albert Valocchi Spring 2019

3121 Digital Computer Lab Sec. F, MWF 2:00
333-3176 2311 Newmark
valocchi@illinois.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course is an overview and introduction to the descriptive and quantitative aspects of water in the
earth’s terrestrial environment, and to engineering applications. Topics include hydrology, hydraulic
engineering, design and analysis of systems for use and control of water, and water resources planning.
The course provides a foundation for more advanced courses in the area of Water Resources Engineering
and Science (WRES).

Course activities include primarily lectures, supplemented by readings from the textbook and selected
journal papers. Students will work in groups to present a “Water Resources Story of the Week” (WRSW -
see below for details). The emphasis of the course will be on material presented in class. Regular
attendance is strongly recommended, since lectures will provide important context for material in the text
and supplemental reading.

Some guest lectures and class discussions will emphasize the important social, economic and policy
aspects of water resources. These aspects will also be studied as part of the assignment “Water Resources
Story of the Week” (details given below).

PREREQUISITES
CEE 202 (“Engineering Risk and Uncertainty”), or a course in probability and statistics.
Credit or co-registration in CEE 201 (“Systems Engineering and Economics”), or equivalent.

TA GRADER
Brianna Frietag Amir Kohanpur
bfreit2@illinois.edu kohanpu2@illinois.edu
Office hours: To be determined

TEXT
Chin, David A. (2013). Water Resources Engineering. 3rd edition. Pearson: Boston. ISBN: 0-13-
283321-2

Recommended for further reading (not required)

• Mays, Larry W. (2011). Water Resources Engineering. 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.:
Hoboken, NJ. ISBN: 978-0-470-46064-1.
• Dingman, S. Lawrence. (2002). Physical Hydrology. 2nd edition. Waveland Press Inc.: Long
Grove, IL. ISBN: 978-1-57766-561-8.
• Hornberger, G.M., Wiberg, P.L., Raffensperger, D’Odorico, P., (2014) Elements of Physical
Hydrology. 2nd edition, Johns Hopkins Press, ISBN:9781421413730
Books on reserve at Granger Engineering Library (not required)
• Chin, D. (2013) Water Resources Engineering, 3rd edition.
• Gupta, R., Hydrology and Hydraulic Systems.
• Linsley, Franzini, Freyberg, Tchobanoglous, Water Resources Engineering, 4th edition.
• Mays, Larry W. (2011). Water Resources Engineering. 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.:
Hoboken, NJ. ISBN: 978-0-470-46064-1.
• Ponce, V. Engineering Hydrology: Principles and Practices.
• Wurbs, J. Water Resources Engineering

ILLINOIS COMPASS
Compass will be used to post the detailed schedule of lectures, lecture slides, supplemental material,
homework assignments and solutions. Students are STRONGLY encouraged to use the “Discussions”
feature to post questions, answers and concerns about class material or homework. The instructors and
TA will try to respond to posted questions as soon as possible.

OFFICE HOURS
Instructor and TA office hours will be announced later in class; in the interim please email to arrange a
meeting time.

LECTURE ATTENDANCE AND POLICIES

I strongly encourage you to attend each lecture and participate in classroom discussions. Attendance and
participation is not formally a part of your course grade, but will help you with the homework and the
exams. You are only allowed to use laptops and other devices in class for taking notes. Use of cell
phones in class is prohibited.

GRADING
WRSW 10 %
Homework: 25 %
Hourly Exams: 35 % (dates to be determined; NOTE that some exams may be in the evening)
Final Exam: 30 % 8:00-11:00 AM, Monday, May 6

Hourly Exams: There will be three exams administered either in class or in the evening; dates to be
determined. Your grade will be based upon the average of your best two exam scores. Your lowest score
will be dropped. No make-up hourly exams will be given.

All exams are open book written examinations. Laptops are not allowed during exams so you should
have paper copies of notes, homework solutions, and other material.

Based upon the weighting given above, each student will receive a final score from 0 to 100 points. The
final course letter grade will be as shown below (note that the +/- system will be used).

Points Grade
89-100 A
77-88 B
65-76 C
53-64 D
Less than 53 F
HOMEWORK POLICIES

The homework assignments serve as critical learning tools, so it is very important for each student to
understand how to do every assignment. If you wish, you may work as a team member on homework. A
team should turn in only one solution to the homework. A team homework solution should have a cover
sheet bearing both the signature and clearly printed name of each team member. The total number of
members of a team should not exceed four. The team is a voluntary association, and you may change
team membership as the semester progresses. It is assumed that if a team submits a homework solution,
all those who sign the cover sheet agree that each person listed did a fair share of the work. An individual
may work on only one team at a time. All team members receive the same grade.

Anyone who prefers to work alone and not be a member of a team is free to do so. You may be a member
of a team for one assignment and work alone for another – the choice is yours.

Normally you will have one week to complete each assignment. Late assignments will be accepted up to
24 hours after the due date without penalty. Assignments submitted later than 24 hours past the deadline
without a valid excuse given in advance of the deadline will be penalized 50%.

Note that team effort on examinations is strictly prohibited. Examinations are open-note, open-book. If
you work on a homework team, I recommend that you make photocopies of corrected homework
solutions for your personal note set. You may not share a homework solution with another team member
during an examination.

WATER RESOURCES STORY OF THE WEEK

More information about this assignment is provided in a separate document. Students will work in groups
of four to select and study a water related problem, e.g., an issue receiving attention in the popular media.
The group delivers a 10 minute presentation to class. There will be approximately one presentation each
week, but the schedule may need to change depending upon final enrollment.

CEE HONOR CODE

To foster and promote integrity among students, the CEE Honor Code was developed with input from
several CEE undergraduate organizations, the CEE Graduate Student Advisory Committee, and the CEE
Graduate Affairs Committee. You (the student) commit to honor the code each time you sign an exam,
and implicitly whenever you sign homework or other class assignments.

The CEE Honor Code pledge is the following:

I pledge to uphold the highest levels of professional and personal integrity in all of my actions, including
1) never assisting or receiving unfair assistance during exams, 2) never assisting or receiving assistance
on class assignments beyond that specified by an instructor, and 3) always fully contributing to group
activities that are part of a course activity.

LECTURE SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

The lectures will follow chronologically the topics listed in the following table. There is a detailed
schedule with links to all powerpoints, readings, etc. on Compass. You are responsible for following the
schedule and doing the assigned reading from the text and other resources. Occasionally I will hand out
important supplemental material in class or post additional reading on the Compass site.
 PROPOSED SYLLABUS (changes & updates are possible)
NOTE: Detailed Schedule is on Compass

Text (Chin)

I. Introduction
Water Cycle & Water Resources Engineering 1.1-1.3
Hydrologic Systems; Watersheds
Water Use

II. Hydrologic Processes

A. Precipitation 9.1-9.2
- measurement -
- variability; statistics; extreme events -

B. Interception and Depression Storage 9.3.1-9.3.2

C. Infiltration 9.3.3
- unsaturation flow processes -
- infiltration equations -

D. Evaporation and Transpiration 13.1 -13.7

- definitions; measurement; estimation -

E. Groundwater
- Porous Media Properties; Storage and Flow Concepts; Darcy’s Law 14.1-14.2
- Governing Flow Equations 14.3-14.4
- Steady and transient flow; pumping wells 15.1-15.3.1

F. Streamflow
- Open channel flow 4.1-4.2
- streamflow measurement, rating curves

III. Rainfall-Runoff Analysis

A. Watersheds, streamflow generation processes, hydrograph 9.4, 10.1-10.3
B. Peak runoff models 10.4
C. Continuous runoff models, Unit Hydrograph 10.5
D. Synthetic Unit Hydrographs, NRCS Methods 10.5
E. Continuous Integrated Hydrologic Simulation Models (overview) -

IV. Flow Routing

A. Hydrologic Reservoir Routing 10.6
B. . Hydrologic River Routing 10.6
V. Frequency Analysis and Risk
A. Basic Concepts, Probability Distributions 8.1-8.2
B. Return Period and Risk
C. Frequency Analysis 8.3

VI. Engineering Applications (subject to availability of lecture time)

A. Drainage Channels 5.1-5.3
B. Storm Water Management
- Storm Sewer Design 11.1-11.2; 11.5
- Detention and Retention Ponds 12.1-12.3
- Green infrastructure -
C. Water Distribution Systems 2.1-2.2
- fluid mechanics of pipe flow 2.3
- pipe networks
- system design and components 3.1-3.5
D. Dam-Spillway Systems & Reservoir storage 7.7

V. Water Resources Planning & Management 17.1-17.3