Hydrology Courses

The Bachelor of Science in Hydrology program at the University of Saskatchewan was developed for students who are interested in how the hydrological cycle controls the wide variety of natural processes on Earth. For more information, please visit the Department of Geography and Planning website.

There is a strong tradition of interdisciplinary graduate training and collaboration in graduate hydrology research programs on campus, and more than a dozen classes in hydrology are typically offered each year from eight different departments in the colleges of Arts & Science, Agriculture and Engineering. A full list of courses offered at the University of Saskatchewan is available here.

The University of Saskatchewan also offers a Master of Water Security (M.W.S.). The Master of Water Security program is an interdisciplinary project‐based program that focuses on a holistic approach to water security.  More information about this program is available here.

The following classes are currently offered by the Geography and Planning Department (as of Fall 2020):

Undergraduate Classes

GEOG 225 
Term 1 
Dr. Cherie Westbrook 

Hydrology of Canada 
The geographic distribution of hydrologic processes in Canada is examined. The types of processes and their rates of operation are related to regional physical environments.

GEOG 233 
Term 1 
Dr Krystopher Chutko 

Weather and Climate 
An examination of the elements of weather and climate including the composition and thermal structure of the atmosphere; radiation and energy balances; global circulation; air masses; fronts and atmospheric disturbances; and climates of the world. 

GEOG 323 
Term 1 
Dr. Xulin Guo 

Remote Sensing 
Advanced lectures, seminars and laboratories for those specializing in resource and environmental studies. It includes inductive and deductive evaluation of air photo patterns and the interpretation of multi-spectral imagery and remote sensing imagery. 

GEOG 325 
Term 2 
Dr. Cherie Westbrook

River Systems 
Processes responsible for river form and hydrological functioning are investigated conceptually and analytically. Topics covered include watershed controls on streamflow generation, river forms, river flow regimes, stream chemistry, and the impacts of climate and land use changes on stream ecohydrology. 

GEOG 328 
Term 2 
Dr. Phillip Harder  

Groundwater Hydrology 
Groundwater is the largest source of readily accessible freshwater. This course provides a rigorous understanding of subsurface hydrological processes and covers fundamentals of subsurface flow and transport, emphasizing the role of groundwater and soil water in the hydrological cycle, and groundwater-surface water interactions. 

GEOG 390 
Term 1 
Dr. Krystopher Chutko 

Methods in Hydrometeorology 
Introduces a variety of field and laboratory approaches, methodologies and techniques that find frequent application in physical geography. Field projects will be undertaken to collect data for analysis, evaluation and presentation. 

GEOG 423 
Term 2 
Irini Soubry

Advanced Remote Sensing 
Deals with advanced remote sensing techniques including satellite imagery calibration, spectral data transformation and land use cover classification, and detection of environmental change. The course consists of three interrelated components: lectures, laboratory exercises and group projects. 

GEOG 427 
Term 1 
Dr. Phillip Harder 

Advanced Hydrology 
Examines the physical principles governing hydrological processes. Topics covered include precipitation, interception, snow accumulation, snowmelt, evaporation, infiltration, groundwater movement, flood and drought frequency analysis and stream flow. Lectures and tutorials with hydrology instrumentation will be supplemented by problem solving assignments and an essay.

GEOG 498
Term 1
Dr. Corinne Schuster-Wallace

Local Water Security, Oct 30 – Nov 17, 2023
Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.


CE 319 
Term 2 
TBA

 

Hydrology 
Basic hydrological processes such as precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, infiltration, interception, and depression storage are introduced. Engineering applications such as streamflow and storm hydrographs, flood routing, hydrologic analyses and design, and watershed simulation are covered. 

 

Graduate Classes

GEOG 803 
Term 1 and 2 
Dr. Cherie Westbrook 

Research in Geography 
The purpose of this course is to introduce graduate students to theoretical and practical issues in geographical research. Its specific objective is to demonstrate and promote professional practices in geography culminating in a research plan that will serve as the basis for developing a graduate research proposal. 

GEOG 827 
Term 1 
Dr. John Pomeroy 

Principles of Hydrology 
This course aims to describe and explain the physical principles and processes that govern hydrology with special reference to Canadian conditions and with an emphasis on the application of coupled mass and energy balance calculations in hydrology. Students will learn the primary Canadian hydrological processes, assess the effects of variable boundary conditions on these processes, and apply coupled energy and mass balance equations to calculate hydrological flows.

Lectures are held in an intensive 10 day period at the Biogeoscience Institute, Barrier Lake Field Station, Kananaskis Valley, Alberta. The course is described in full here.   

GEOG 849
Term 2
Dr. Bob Patrick

Advanced Planning with Indigenous Communities
The course focuses on the theory and methods of indigenous community planning in reserve, rural, urban, northern, and international contexts. Students will apply course content in classroom discussions and to produce a research essay. Guest lectures from practitioners and a field trip are additional highlights to the learning experience.

GEOG 884
Term 2
Dr. Bob Patrick

Water Resource Planning and Management
This course focuses on water planning and management in Canada. Concepts and theory will be augmented with practical, applied learning to prepare students to engage as practitioners in the field. Specific topics include: water law and governance, planning process models, watershed assessments, source water protection, innovation in urban stormwater management, Indigenous water issues and integrated water resource management.

GEOG 898
Term 1 
Dr. Corinne Schuster-Wallace

Local Water Security, Oct 30 – Nov 17, 2023
A reading course for graduate students focusing on areas for which there is no regular graduate course or for making up the deficiencies in the research program.

ENVS 819
Term 1
Dr. Jeffrey McDonnell

Catchment Hydrology
This course introduces students to the field of catchment hydrology. The course learning objectives include learning the fundamentals of catchment hydrology, developing an understanding of the fundamentals of the catchment water balance and diagnosing key hydrological process associated with how catchments store and release water.

ENVS 826 
Term 1 
Dr. Palash Sanyal

Climate Change 
This course will help the student develop a fundamental knowledge of the consequences of climate change from the environmental and social aspects. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of climate change, and its impacts on the different parts of the Earth systems, such as the water cycle, arctic hydrology and how it is related to sea level rising. Climate change impacts on human society will also be discussed.