Meeting 8

Meeting 8

Tuesday, April 17, 2012
4:00 - 5:30 pm
Carr Center Conference Room
Rubenstein Building
(Floor 2, Room 219)
Directions to Venue

Click to watch this event on video!

'Balancing Human & Environmental Needs for Water: The Hydromorphology of Human-Hydrologic Interactions'

The field of geomorphology deals with the structure and evolution of watershed systems over time (e.g. years, decades and centuries) due to natural and anthropogenic influences. The new field of hydromorphology is related to hydrology in much the same way as geomorphology is related to geology. Due to the pervasive impacts of humans, nearly all watersheds are now subject to some combination of land use, water use and/or climate change influences. This presentation will introduce a number of hydromorphological challenges along with new approaches for dealing with them. Case studies highlight the influence of humans on the hydrologic cycle over broad spatial and temporal scales. It is shown that one must account for the simultaneous interactions among land use, climate and water use to fully understand the influence of humans on the hydrologic cycle, hence there is now a real need to view hydrologic problems in a hydromorphological context. The importance of balancing human and environmental needs for water is stressed, as is the need for us to consider our human right for access to a clean and reliable source of water.

Speaker: Richard M. Vogel

Richard M. Vogel is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Graduate Program in Water: Systems, Science and Society at Tufts University.

Moderator: Sharmila Murthy

Suggested Reading:

Richard Vogel, "Hydromorphology," Editorial, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management (March/April 2011).

Follow-up Materials:

Presenttaion Slides, Richard Vogel, "Balancing Human & Environmental Needs for Water: Hydromorphology of Human-Hydrologic Interactions,"

More about the presenter, Richard M. Vogel:

Professor Vogel received his Ph.D. in Water Resource Systems Engineering from Cornell University and has been a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Tufts University since 1984. His primary expertise is in the areas of water resource engineering with emphasis on hydrologic, hydraulic and statistical methods for analyzing environmental and water resource systems. His current research program focuses upon the areas of hydrologic and environmental statistics, water allocation, regional hydrology, regional water assessment, flood and drought management, climate change impacts, natural hazards as well as watershed modeling and management. He is currently the director of the graduate program in Water: Systems, Science and Society (http://www.tufts.edu/water).

For further information on Professor Vogel see: http://engineering.tufts.edu/cee/people/vogel/index.asp

Most recent publications: co-author of:

Additional biographical information can be found at:

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