WSPM Course Handbook 2018-2019

SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY
AND THE ENVIRONMENT

MSC/MPHIL IN WATER SCIENCE, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT
MSc/MPhil WATER SCIENCE, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT

Academic Director: Dr Simon Dadson
Course Director: Dr Jocelyne Hughes COURSE HANDBOOK
2018–2019
CONTACTS:
Tel: +44 (0)1865 285120
Email: msc-coordinator-ecm-wspm@ouce.ox.ac.uk
SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY
AND THE ENVIRONMENT
OUCE, South Parks Road
Oxford OX1 3QY
United Kingdom
W: www.geog.ox.ac.uk
WSPMCoursebk_COVERS_2018.indd 1 11-Sep-18 7:40:20 PM

This handbook applies to students starting the MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management in
Michaelmas Term 2018.
The information in this handbook may be different for students starting in other years.
The Examination Regulations relating to this course are available at www.admin.ox.ac.uk/examregs/

If there is a conflict between information in this handbook and the Examination Regulations then you
should follow the Examinations Regulations. If you have any concerns please contact the Academic
Administrator Dr Lorraine Wild via lorraine.wild@ouce.ox.ac.uk
Disclaimer
The information in this handbook is accurate as at 1st
October 2018 however it may be necessary for changes
to be made in certain circumstances, as explained at
www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/coursechanges If such changes
are made the department will publish a new version of
this handbook together with a list of the changes and
students will be informed.
MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management
2018: version 1.0
For the latest version of this handbook please see

www.geog.ox.ac.uk/graduate/msc-wspm/handbook.html

Welcome to the School of Geography and the Environment
I am delighted to welcome you to the School of Geography and the Environment. The
School of Geography and the Environment and its associated research centres
(Environmental Change Institute, Transport Studies Unit and the Smith School of
Enterprise and the Environment) act as a unique hub for teaching and research at
Oxford on the interactions between people and environments. Together, we provide
our undergraduates, MSc, MPhil and DPhil students with the combination of social and
natural science skills to engage effectively with the big themes of the 21st century: from
climate change to globalization; from philosophies of nature and society to biodiversity
conservation; and from the frontiers of environmental science to the hard realities of public policy and
corporate decision-making. The world-class quality of our research, which was recognised yet again in the
latest national assessment exercise (REF 2014), underpins our teaching excellence. Our strengths mean that
the School continues to shine internationally, having recently come first for the seventh year running in the
QS rankings of geography departments within the world's top 900 universities. In 2017 the School was also
awarded a bronze Athena SWAN award for its 4-year equality and diversity action plan. We take pride in the
range and scope of our postgraduate programmes, and believe that our learning environment will further
hone your intellectual skills – with lifelong benefits.
I hope that you will be very happy in the University of Oxford and that you will flourish academically and
personally during your time here. The collegiate University provides a diverse and enriching series of
opportunities to learn new skills, and I encourage you to make the most of what is on offer. Within the School,
I trust that you will become active participants and engage with the many events and activities that we host.
Heather A Viles,
Professor of Biogeomorphology and Heritage Conservation
Head, School of Geography and the Environment
… and to the International Graduate School
As the Director of Graduate Studies (Taught Programmes), I am delighted to welcome you

to the School of Geography and the Environment.
The School is an intellectually demanding but supportive environment in which to study.
We emphasize both independent and collaborative styles of working, providing a wealth
of opportunities to engage in an energetic research and teaching culture through class
discussions, seminars, reading groups, field work and many other academic and social
events.
Gaining entry to our taught programmes is highly competitive and we therefore have great confidence that
each of you brings something special to the cohort you are joining. I am sure you will be looking forward to
getting to know your new classmates within the International Graduate School and to tackling new challenges
and new ideas.
Jamie Lorimer, Associate Professor,
Director of Graduates Studies (Taught Programmes)
… and, finally, to the MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management
A very warm welcome from the WSPM teaching staff.
Water is increasingly recognised as one of the defining global, national and local policy issues for economic
growth, human development and environmental sustainability. The teaching staff provide some of the most
authoritative scientists and practitioners working on these interdisciplinary issues at all levels around the
world. This gives you an unprecedented opportunity to engage with enduring and emerging water research
and practice challenge.
As you will read you have a packed schedule for the year ahead both in class, on field trips and through wider
engagement with government, enterprise and NGOs who actively engage with the course. These activities will
also give you the chance to engage with our diverse DPhil (PhD) community, many of whom are graduates of
the WSPM programme; academics and researchers from across the Oxford Water Network; and our research
partners and colleagues; all of whom who can further stimulate your thinking about the water security
challenges and how you can help solve them throughout your career.
Professor Simon Dadson Dr Jocelyne Hughes

Academic Director Course Director
MSc Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

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CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................... 5
1.1. Course Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 5
1.2. School of Geography and the Environment ......................................................................................... 5
1.3. Transfer from MSc to MPhil ................................................................................................................. 6
1.4. Oxford Learning Environment .............................................................................................................. 7
1.4.1. Learning Approach ....................................................................................................................... 7
1.4.2. Feedback on Learning and Assessment ....................................................................................... 8
1.4.3. Monitoring Academic Progress .................................................................................................... 8
1.4.4. Library and Learning Facilities...................................................................................................... 8
1.5. Canvas................................................................................................................................................... 8
1.5.1. IT Services..................................................................................................................................... 8
1.6. Alumni Networks .................................................................................................................................. 8
2. COURSE INFORMATION ............................................................................................................................. 9
2.1. Aims/Objectives.................................................................................................................................... 9
2.2. Core Teaching Staff............................................................................................................................. 10
2.3. Course Description ............................................................................................................................. 11
2.4. Course Structure ................................................................................................................................. 11
2.5. Core Modules ..................................................................................................................................... 12
2.5.1. Water Science ............................................................................................................................ 12
2.5.2. Water & Society ......................................................................................................................... 13
2.5.3. Water Management ................................................................................................................... 14
2.6. Elective Modules ................................................................................................................................ 14
2.7. Research Design and Methods ........................................................................................................... 15
2.8. Dissertation ........................................................................................................................................ 15
2.9. Fieldwork ............................................................................................................................................ 15
2.10. Induction ........................................................................................................................................ 16
2.11. Health and Safety ........................................................................................................................... 16
3. ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................................ 17
3.1. University Examinations ..................................................................................................................... 17
3.2. The Exam Board .................................................................................................................................. 17
3.3. Examinations Conventions ................................................................................................................. 18
4. ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS ................................................................................................................... 18
4.1. Written Examination .......................................................................................................................... 18
4.2. Elective Modules ................................................................................................................................ 19
4.3. Dissertation ........................................................................................................................................ 19
4.4. Submission Deadlines ......................................................................................................................... 20
4.5. Good Academic Practice and Avoiding Plagiarism .............................................................................. 20
4.6. Course Governance and Student Representation............................................................................... 21
4.6.1. Graduate Teaching and Examinations Committee ........................................................................ 21
4.6.2. Student Representation: Joint Consultative Committee ............................................................... 21
MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

3
4.6.3. Feedback and Concerns ................................................................................................................. 21
4.7. Complaints and Academic Appeals within SoGE ................................................................................ 22
4.7.1 Complaints ...................................................................................................................................... 22
4.7.2 Academic Appeals ........................................................................................................................... 22
4.8. If You Need Help ................................................................................................................................. 23
4.9. Links to Key Documents and Resources ............................................................................................. 23
4.10. Key Departmental Contacts ........................................................................................................... 24
4.11. Key Dates........................................................................................................................................ 24
4.11.1. Term dates ................................................................................................................................. 24
4.11.2. Assessment Dates ...................................................................................................................... 24
Appendix 1: TEACHING STAFF....................................................................................................................... 25
Appendix 2: CORE MODULES ........................................................................................................................ 30
Climate and Catchment Processes .......................................................................................................... 30
Module Leader: Dr Louise Slater ........................................................................................................... 30
Economics of the Environment................................................................................................................ 35
Module Leader: Dr Dustin Garrick ......................................................................................................... 35
Institutional Governance and Regulation ................................................................................................ 42
Module Leader and Lecturer: Michael Rouse CBE................................................................................. 42
Water Quality .......................................................................................................................................... 48
Module Leader: Dr Jocelyne Hughes ..................................................................................................... 48
Water and Health .................................................................................................................................... 52
Module Leader: Prof David Bradley and Dr Katrina Charles ............................................................... 52
Water Policy........................................................................................................................................... 59
Module Leader: Professor Rob Hope and Dr Dustin Garrick ................................................................. 59
Water Management ................................................................................................................................ 62
Module Leaders: Dr Jocelyne Hughes & Prof Edmund Penning-Rowsell ............................................... 62
Research Design and Methods ................................................................................................................ 65
Module Leader: Dr Jocelyne Hughes ..................................................................................................... 65

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Course Introduction
This handbook provides an overview of the MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management (WSPM) course. The MSc
in WSPM also serves as the first year (and qualifying examination) of the two year MPhil in Water Science, Policy and
Management. MPhil students should also refer to the handbook for the MPhil course for the details of the MPhil
examination conventions and the year two research thesis.
This handbook sets out the aims of the course, the content of the study programme and the various component parts
of the course, including lectures, elective modules, seminars and dissertation. The booklet also contains important
information about submitting coursework, guidelines for dissertations, attending examinations, and other aspects of
course management. You should read through the handbook carefully and ensure that you understand your
obligations throughout the course. We will provide you with more detailed material for particular parts of the course
as appropriate during the year.
Most of all we would like to thank you for choosing to come to Oxford to study for the MSc in Water Science, Policy
and Management. We hope that your year in Oxford will be a formative and memorable time. The 'core' WSPM team
includes Dr Jocelyne Hughes (Course Director), Professor Simon Dadson (Academic Director), and Dr Faith Opio (MSc
Co-ordinator with MSc in ECM). We are available to help you to get the most out of the course. The WSPM MSc is
closely linked with the Oxford Water Network (www.water.ox.ac.uk), but draws on many aspects of research expertise
in the School of Geography and the Environment, the Environmental Change Institute and the Smith School of
Enterprise and the Environment, including research clusters on Climate Systems and Policy, Landscape Dynamics, and
Economy and Society.
The course places great emphasis on the training and development of transferable professional and research skills in
both the natural and social sciences to prepare students for advanced research careers, doctoral research and policy
work in government, non-government and business organisations.
1.2. School of Geography and the Environment
The School of Geography and the Environment (SoGE), and its associated research institutes based in Oxford University
Centre for the Environment (OUCE), is an internationally-recognised centre of excellence for environmental research
and scholarship. The historical origins of SoGE lie in the former School of Geography, the first geography school to be
established in Britain over 100 years ago by Halford Mackinder. The School was established through a co-operative
effort involving the Royal Geographical Society and Oxford University. From these deep roots the School has grown
and prospered. The ethos of SoGE is to promote research that is bold, innovative and challenging while remaining
committed to the highest standards of scholarship.

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Today, SoGE is one of the leading centres of scholarship for environmental and social change. It has been a leading
global institution in developing cutting edge research not only in the UK, but around the world. SoGE is committed to
training a new generation of graduate students in the core research fields of the environmental science and human
geography and in the new and exciting interdisciplinary research frontiers that exist between and across these
disciplines.
SoGE is home to the internationally recognised Environmental Change Institute (ECI) and other vibrant research hubs
along with cross-departmental research groups, such as the Oxford Water Network. Creative combination of theory
and practice provides a relevant and fertile training ground for our postgraduates. Our research programmes span the
globe with researchers working in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and North America along with a strong record in
European studies and, of course, the UK.
SoGE currently offers five thesis-based higher research degrees (DPhil and four MPhil courses) and four MSc courses:
MSc Biodiversity, Conservation and Management

MSc Environmental Change and Management
MSc Nature, Society and Environmental Governance
MSc Water Science, Policy and Management
The four MPhil programmes are two-year versions of the MSc programmes aimed at students who wish to have a
substantial research component to their studies. In the first year, candidates take the coursework and examinations
associated with one of the four MSc courses in the School of Geography and the Environment and in the second year,
students devote most of their time to researching and writing a thesis of 30,000 words.
1.3. Transfer from MSc to MPhil
During the MSc course some students decide that they would like to extend their studies by transferring to the 2 year
MPhil programme. In the first instance you should discuss the possibility of transferring with your Course Director.
The deadline for making an application to transfer to the MPhil is Friday week 1 of Trinity Term. Applications should
be submitted to Ruth Saxton, Research Degrees Coordinator (research-degrees-coordinator@ouce.ox.ac.uk). The
application should include:
• an email of support from the agreed supervisor of your MPhil thesis (sent directly to Ruth Saxton by the
deadline)
• a completed Change of Programme of Study form (GSO.28) signed by and approved by both your college
and proposed dissertation supervisor.
• an MPhil dissertation proposal (to a maximum of 1000 words) outlining the context, aims, methods, and
timetable of your proposed research.

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All applications will be reviewed by a panel Chaired by the DGS (Taught Programmes) in early Trinity Term. Applications
will be assessed on the basis of the academic performance of the applicant, the dissertation proposal, and any resource
requirements from the School (including staffing and supervision resources). Applications will normally only be
considered from students who have achieved at least 60% in their assessed essays from the two electives. Students
will not be permitted to transfer to the MPhil if they do not pass all of their MSc examinations.
Final decisions on applications to transfer to the MPhil will only be confirmed after the meeting of the MPhil (Qualifying
Examination) board in early July. The department retains the right to refuse a transfer. You should also note that your
college will ask for evidence that you have the financial means to cover the fees and living expenses of the additional
year of study.
1.4. Oxford Learning Environment
1.4.1. Learning Approach

During your time at Oxford you will experience a wide range of different formats and styles of teaching from small
group discussions to field visits, and from traditional lectures to public talks by some of the world’s leading academics.
In keeping with Oxford’s tradition of academic freedom, the exact nature of the learning experience within any
particular tutorial, seminar or lecture is left to the discretion of the lecturer which, we hope, produces a dramatic
variety of learning experiences. The most typical forum for teaching and learning remains the lecture complemented
by workshops, class discussions, field work and laboratory work.
In the International Graduate School, we place strong emphasis on peer group and individual learning. Your peer group
consists of exceptionally talented scholars from around the world, many of whom have practical experience or
extensive knowledge of issues and topics that are covered during the MSc course. We strongly recommend that you
form strong academic bonds with your peers and we encourage this with small group projects, reading groups and
discussions.
There is an obligation on you as an individual to develop your own spheres of interest within the subject area and to
work hard at identifying gaps in your knowledge and training. Oxford’s exceptional learning facilities provide unrivalled
opportunities for individual learning, not to mention the array of international researchers and scholars who present
their work at external lectures around the university. We urge you to take full advantage of all of these opportunities
if you are to get the most out of your time at Oxford.
Staff members are available to advise students on reading, literature, and topics for individual modules. The course
director can advise more generally on academic progress and assist where possible with individual academic queries.
Colleges provide a personal advisor who can give additional pastoral, and in some cases, academic support.
Students should note the University guidelines on graduate students undertaking paid work:
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/edc/policiesandguidance/policyonpaidwork/

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1.4.2. Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Throughout the year, there will be opportunities for informal feedback on your learning and understanding through
class discussions, peer feedback on presentations and interactions with course staff. You will receive written and/or
oral feedback on at least one piece of formative assessment for each elective and written feedback on your two
summative elective essays. This feedback will focus on identifying the good points of your essay and give suggestions
on how to improve the quality of your written work. You will also receive written feedback on your dissertation.
1.4.3. Monitoring Academic Progress

All students are assigned a supervisor for the duration of the course. Your supervisor will be responsible for monitoring
your academic progress and each term your supervisor will complete a GSR report (Graduate Supervision Reporting).
These reports will be read by the Course Director and the DGS (Taught Programmes). The GSR system also allows you
to complete an evaluation of your own progress. Once you start work on your dissertation you will also be assigned a
specialist dissertation supervisor.
1.4.4. Library and Learning Facilities

The Oxford University library system is extensive, with dozens of individual facilities around the city. The Radcliffe
Science Library, which holds the Geography collections, will fulfil many of your needs, but over the course, you will
also need to seek out books from other locations. A tutorial on using the library facilities will be provided during
induction week. More information may be found at http://www.ox.ac.uk/libraries/
1.5. Canvas
Canvas is Oxford University’s Virtual Learning Environment. WSPM has its own space (rooms) where we post general
course information along with lecture notes, reading lists and other materials specific to each module, workshop or
field trip. https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/
1.5.1. IT Services
IT Services offer a wide range of Information Technology support including excellent training courses and a shop selling
leading software at educational discount prices. http://www.it.ox.ac.uk/
1.6. Alumni Networks
The School of Geography and the Environment now runs active alumni networks. With over 1,000 Masters graduates
as well as more than 5,000 thousand former geography undergraduates, this network is a growing source of
professional contacts, knowledge, and advice. This includes over 300 WSPM alumni living and working all over the
world, many of whom came back for our 10-year anniversary reunion in 2014.
You will be invited to become part of the alumni networks upon graduating. However, you can benefit from your own
Masters network and the wider School network during your MSc year. For example, you can join the LinkedIn groups
to get an idea of what alumni went on to do, find people to give you advice about internships or your dissertation, and
attend networking events organised by SoGE.

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For more information, please visit www.geog.ox.ac.uk/alumni/ or email the Alumni Relations Officer, Dr Christine
Baro-Hone (alumni@ouce.ox.ac.uk). Alumni are always keen to hear what current students are up to – so do let the
Alumni Relations Officer know about projects, field trips and events you think might be of interest to them.
2. COURSE INFORMATION
Master of Science in Water Science, Policy and Management

FHEQ level 7
Duration of course: 12 months
2.1. Aims/Objectives
Sustainable water management is an increasingly complex challenge and policy priority facing global society.
Unprecedented climate, economic, technological and demographic change require a new generation of dedicated
professionals who are committed to and trained in the interdisciplinary nature of water science, policy and
management. The next generation of decision-makers will have to make increasingly challenging choices on water
development, allocation and management issues at local, regional and international levels under conditions of
increasing climate unpredictability and risk. Our programme is designed to provide a critical understanding of natural
water science and the socio-economic, political, cultural and institutional environments within which water
management decisions are made. The one-year course aims to equip the next generation with the blend of skills
necessary to make a significant contribution to sustainable water management and pathways across competing
priorities of water for ecosystems, food, energy, health, economic growth and human consumption.
The specific objectives of the MSc course include:

• To equip students with theoretical knowledge and applied skills necessary to make a significant contribution
to water management at local, regional or global scales.
• To provide an advanced and integrated understanding of the scientific, legal, policy and political dimensions
of water development, allocation and management.
• To foster a critical perspective and grounded understanding of issues relating to water development, use and
access under considerations of extremes, equity and sustainability.
• To introduce students to transferable research skills necessary to undertake further advanced study by
research at Oxford, or elsewhere.
• To enhance students' personal and professional development, and their employment-related skills.
The intended learning outcomes are that students will develop a knowledge and understanding of:
• The physical, chemical and biological nature of water and their variations in time and space.
• The key concepts concerning nature and society in relation to water use and sustainability.
• Practical techniques for water resource assessment, monitoring and management.

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• The key concepts concerning health issues associated with water.
• The key policy and legal approaches in water management, paying particular attention to the integration of
theory and practice.
• The key research skills and methods of analysis for water management.
• Specialist topics consistent with candidate’s particular interests and the competency of the School.
2.2. Core Teaching Staff
This inter-disciplinary course is led by academics in SoGE, supported by experienced practitioners, all of whom have
considerable national and international expertise (Appendix 1).
The core staff teaching on the course includes:
Dr Jocelyne Hughes: Course Director, Departmental Lecturer

Professor Simon Dadson: Academic Director, Professor of Hydrology
Professor David Bradley: Distinguished Visiting Scholar
Dr Dustin Garrick: Associate Professor and Departmental Research Lecturer in Environmental and Resource
Management
Dr Michael Gilmont: Research Associate
Professor David Grey: Visiting Professor of Water Policy
Professor Jim Hall: Director of the Environmental Change Institute
Professor Cameron Hepburn, Professor of Environmental Economics, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment
Professor Rob Hope: Professor of Water Policy and Director of the Water Programme, Smith School for Enterprise and
the Environment
Dr Katrina Charles: Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow
Dr David Johnstone: Distinguished Research Associate
Dr Catharina Landström: Research Fellow
Tess Doeffinger: Graduate Teaching Assistant
Saskia Nowicki: Graduate Teaching Assistant
Dr Linus Mattauch: Departmental Lecturer in the Economics of Environmental Change, Environmental Change Institute
Dr Christine McCulloch: Visiting Research Associate
Professor Edmund Penning-Rowsell OBE: Distinguished Research Associate
Michael Rouse CBE: Distinguished Research Associate
Dr Louise Slater: Associate Professor in Physical Geography
Dr Pauline Smedley: Hydrogeochemist, British Geological Survey
Dr Troy Sternberg: Research Fellow
Dr Abi Stone: Lecturer in Physical Geography, University of Manchester
Dr Kevin Wheeler: Research Associate with the Environmental Change Institute
Professor Richard Washington: Professor in Climate Science
Professor Paul Whitehead: Visiting Professor of Water Science

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2.3. Course Description
The course is composed of eight core modules, two elective modules and a dissertation. Emphasis is placed
throughout the course on critically and innovatively exploiting cross-disciplinary perspectives, outlooks and
approaches between the taught components to provide a richer and more nuanced understanding of the integrated
nature of water management. The mode of teaching is a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops,
discussion/reading groups, computer and laboratory classes, and field-based activities.
The MSc course comprises:
• Eight core modules, which are assessed by written examination;

• Two elective modules, which are assessed through essays and/or coursework;
• A research dissertation;
• Research skills training;
• Workshops, seminars and field trips.
2.4. Course Structure
The course is structured around taught modules, elective modules, water security seminars and research skills with an
independent dissertation project submitted by the first weekday in September of the following year of matriculation.
Water Science
Climate & Catchment Processes
Water & Health
Water Quality
Water & Society

Economics of the Water Policy
Environment
Institutional Governance
& Regulation

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2.5. Core Modules
A brief description of each of the three thematic areas and associated modules are given below. Full details on each
module, lectures and reading lists can be found in Appendix 2.
2.5.1. Water Science

This thematic area develops knowledge and understanding in physical, chemical, ecological and epidemiological
aspects of water science in temperate, tropical and semi-arid zones. It provides a foundation in basic processes in
each key subject areas, as well as interactions throughout the hydrological cycle, the role of society in altering the
“natural” hydrological processes and function, and the impact this has on health.
Climate and Catchment Processes– The aim of the module is to provide an understanding of basic processes affecting
the catchment hydrological cycle, and its variability: inputs, internal processes, and outputs. The module begins with
a series of four lectures in Michaelmas term covering the principal features of the climate system, including an account
of the general circulation of the atmosphere, catchment-scale climate drivers including precipitation and evaporation,
key modes of climate variability such as El Niño and the North Atlantic Oscillation, and anthropogenic climate change.
In Hilary Term, the focus switches to the physical hydrology of river catchments, including hillslope hydrology, channel
hydrology, and groundwater flows. The module ends with two sessions that explore the ways in which models of
climate and catchment processes can be used in decision making in the water sector.
Water Quality – This module investigates the chemical, geochemical and biological processes taking place within the
hydrological cycle; water-rock interactions, aquatic ecology and ecological functions as well as the societal impacts
affecting water quality. These relationships are all linked by water flows and reactions taking place at different rates
within the cycle. An understanding of the processes and reactions in natural water systems is a necessary foundation
for understanding human impacts on the hydrological cycle. Processes in surface and groundwater are closely linked
and the introductory lectures stress the physicochemical and geochemical controls on the composition of natural
waters. The subsequent lectures will highlight human impacts on the natural physical and ecological cycles. Topics
covered include diffuse and point source contamination, including agricultural practices giving rise to eutrophication
of surface waters and nitrate pollution which affects many groundwater sources, acidification from industrial
emissions, and other pollution sources that are significant for both surface and groundwater. The module concludes
with lectures on the influence of biogeochemical cycles on aquatic ecological processes, in rivers, lakes and wetlands.
Water and Health – Water plays a key part in the causation, transmission and prevention of many diseases as well as
being essential for life and health. This core module explains the scale and nature of the health risks related to water,
including domestic water use, waste water and sanitation, hygiene behaviour and water resource development. Its
emphasis is on communicable diseases and their prevention by good water management. The epidemiology of the
major water-related diseases will be taught in relation to a functional classification of these diseases. Rural and urban
domestic water supplies are considered, both in tropical and temperate climates and in poor and rich societies, and
the health problems related to both water access and water quality. The health effects of a range of water
improvements are considered, and the methods of measuring these benefits critically examined. Sanitation, the
disposal of human wastes, and hygiene behaviour are also dealt with. The range of diseases related to surface waters

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and water resource developments are examined, together with their vectors and intermediate hosts, along with health
impact and opportunity assessments, and interactions with conservation, and their environmental control. The
module assumes no health background on the part of students. It therefore also teaches basic epidemiological
principles (which are also of value beyond the health field), mainly through practical exercises in relation to water.
Non-communicable diseases are introduced. By the end of the course, participants should have sufficient
understanding of health issues in relation to water that they can ask appropriate questions on human health of any
project they undertake, can critically read expert reports that they may commission; have a sense of the work involved
in dealing with any health-related problem they encounter; and have a good basis for more specialized study if they
wish to pursue health and water issues further.
2.5.2. Water & Society

This thematic area explores how contested domains of power, interests and knowledge influence water decision-
making, illustrated through institutional, socio-economic and policy analysis. This covers areas of water security and
governance, water services regulation, transboundary water, water access, ownership and rights, water for
development, and interactions between the state and civil society within dynamic and varied political, cultural, social
and economic contexts.
Water Policy – This module explores water policy providing an introduction to theory, methods and practice drawing
upon case studies from around the world. The first three classes introduce key concepts around policy, politics and
institutional analysis. The following five classes explore the translation of policy into thematic domains applicable in
the global context, including Human Rights, Property Rights, Decentralisation, Competition, Social Choice and
Evaluation. The overall learning outcome of the module is to provide students with the skills and knowledge to
understand, interpret and evaluate policy from design to implementation to evaluation.
Institutional Governance and Regulation – The objective of this module is to provide an understanding of the
elements of institutional governance and regulation which are necessary for the delivery of effective, efficient
and sustainable water supply and sanitation services. There is exploration of critical governance policy matters
such as separation of policy and delivery functions, roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and
centralisation/decentralisation issues. There is discussion on myths and barriers to progress such as the emotive
arguments on public or private provision of services. The module shows various public and private structures all
of which can succeed if essential elements are in place, and all can fail if those essential elements are missing.
Emphasis is given to sustainable cost recovery and failures of subsidies. Water is a capital intensive industry and
approaches to financing major infrastructure development are considered. Examples of transparency and public
involvement are given in the context of a participation structure with examples of community systems.
Approaches to economic and quality regulation and regulatory bodies are considered. Drinking water safety and
regulation is explored, as is sanitation safety, with emphasis on the management of risk. Approaches and
standards related to environmental water quality are given. The module draws on experience from around the
world on what has worked well and what has contributed to failures. Generally, the elements and principles apply
equally to developed and developing countries, but the module considers circumstances where the requirements
are different.

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Economics of the Environment – This module will introduce economic frameworks, methods and tools to understand
and address water management and sustainable development challenges. WSPM students will identify the main
trends and debates related to the economics of environmental and water management in a logical and systematic way;
acquire practical experience with methodologies for policy analysis, instrument design and evaluation; and learn to
combine economics with other approaches in natural, social and engineering sciences. The module will be organised
in two phases. Phase I covers the foundations of economics and the environment, examining markets and market
failure, property rights and market-based instruments for addressing environmental and water management
challenges. Phase II (weeks 6-8) of the module shifts from foundations to applications, organising the students into
specialised tracks tailored to each MSc. WSPM students will critically assess the application of economic theory to a
range of water management challenges, including valuing water, pricing water and impact evaluation. Students will
conclude by examining the degree to which water policy can be empirically measured using impact evaluation
techniques. By the end of the module, students should have a critical understanding of how economic instruments
differ from regulatory approaches, be familiar with a broad range of economic techniques and how they can be applied
in the water sector, and be in a position to evaluate economic theory and evidence employed in the design and
performance of policy directed to water resources and water services.
2.5.3. Water Management

This thematic area helps students to integrate the knowledge and understanding of water developed in the other
thematic areas to better enable them to tackle the big water management challenges that we face. Geographic case
studies are developed in the Water Security Case Studies sessions to compare the trade-offs that occur between
science and society in these contexts. Interactions with experts with different perspectives and expertise will help
students to understand the challenges faced by water managers. The module is taught via workshops, seminars, and
fieldtrips to a variety of locations in the UK and overseas.
2.6. Elective Modules
Elective Modules offer a small-group, tutorial-style teaching and discussion environment, based on a suite of
contemporary research themes that reflect the specific interests of core faculty and visiting research associates. Each
student has the opportunity to identify elective modules of particular interest, though the selection process will be
made through committee at the start of term. As such, the teaching aim is to foster discussion and debate between
academic staff and students to identify and explore theory, methods and practice in an academic space that
encourages a critical dialectic.
Students will be required to read and present work to the group throughout the term. Assessment will be by an essay
of up to 4,000 words. For details of submission of elective essays see:
https://intranet.ouce.ox.ac.uk/msc/submission/electives.html
There is a separate handbook that provides outlines of available elective modules in SoGE for the forthcoming year.
Please note, however, that module details may change at short notice due to changes in staff availability.

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2.7. Research Design and Methods
In order to equip students with the necessary skills to undertake high quality research, a suite of training activities are
provided within the Research Design and Methods module. These include a linked number of Research Skills sessions
where students can acquire the techniques they need to undertake their own dissertation research. The aim is to
develop key transferable skills in order for students to execute high quality independent and original research, and
expose students to applied research methods used widely in academic and professional research. Core faculty staff
will lead a series of training sessions that will build core transferable skills in the natural and social sciences.
Components may include: research ethics, academic writing, research design, hydrological modelling, water quality
evaluation, and qualitative and quantitative research methods. The skills training will both focus on strengthening
capabilities to conduct high quality research for their dissertation and for their future professional development.
2.8. Dissertation
With the support provided by the Research Design and Methods training, students will be in a position to undertake
an independent and original research dissertation. The dissertation is an integral and formal part of the course, and
completing a good dissertation is essential for further research study in SoGE leading to the degree of D.Phil.
The dissertation gives you the opportunity to design and execute your own research. The choice of research topic is
up to you, but it normally relates to one or more of the core or elective modules, or the research interests of one of
the School of Geography staff. A supervisor will be appointed to guide you during this work, the bulk of which will be
carried out after the examinations are over, and will be handed in on the first weekday of September.
Each student may have up to eight hours of supervision from their appointed supervisor.
It is expected that the best dissertations will be of publication quality, and all should show originality and creative
scholarship. It is acceptable to submit the work in the form of a journal paper ready for submission. This should be
discussed with your dissertation supervisor. All dissertations will be judged on the degree to which they fulfil the
criteria of a comprehensive and coherent treatment of a suitable research question in an analytical and critical manner.
Many students will have never completed an extended piece of independent and original research before the course.
To assist students to develop the skills and techniques necessary to execute a successful research project a number of
supporting modules, training sessions and seminars will be organised throughout the year.
2.9. Fieldwork
Fieldwork is a significant and core element of the programme’s teaching philosophy. Each year there are a number of
compulsory residential and one-day field trips that allow students to implement and gain practical experience in
different areas of water management based on taught skills and techniques. As the fieldwork takes place in a range of
unpredictable climates, students are encouraged to pay attention to pre-course information that details what they
should bring to Oxford.

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The induction field trip is a compulsory field course ahead of the International Graduate School induction programme.
The trip will introduce the course and some core teaching staff and illustrate water management issues around the
Swanage area of Dorset on the southern coast of England.
There will be a residential field trip to the Ebro Basin in northern Spain from the Pyrenean mountain source of the
Ebro River to its delta region, south of Barcelona. Like many semi-arid countries, Spain has many conflicting demands
on its increasingly scarce and unevenly distributed water resources. Aspects of current policy will be reviewed at
various points down the river illustrating the political, social and scientific narratives and debates involved in water
management. The field course will take a problem-based approach, allowing students to gain a deeper understanding
of several aspects of water resource management and policy.
Field notebooks should be kept for all field work on the course and may be used as part of assessment in exceptional
circumstances.
The costs of all compulsory fieldtrips are covered by the department, although if students wish to stay at the
destination after the fieldtrip they will have to pay for the costs of their return fare.
2.10. Induction
All new postgraduates are expected to attend a full-time orientation and induction programme in the week before
term commences in Michaelmas Term. The purpose of this orientation is to provide an opportunity to lay out the
structure and expectations of the programme in an informal setting. The first half of the induction programme
comprises, among others, an introduction to SoGE, its component centres, and its facilities. It also introduces and
explains the training and research programme, institutional and organisational procedures, the aims, objectives,
structure, outline, and assessment methods of the course, and the key expectations and responsibilities of the
students. Information about supervision arrangements is provided. In addition, specialist induction to library and
database resources, electronic databases and Internet facilities, GIS and mapping, and the use of available equipment
and facilities is provided.
The second half of the induction is organised by the student’s respective Colleges and includes induction and
information concerning College facilities and arrangements, College computing and internet access, university affairs,
and the like.
2.11. Health and Safety
Safety information for fieldwork, laboratory and working in SoGE is detailed on the website. You must read this
section at the start of the course: https://intranet.ouce.ox.ac.uk/dept/house-rules.html

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3. ASSESSMENT
3.1. University Examinations
The procedure for entering for University examinations is explained on the University website:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/exams/entry. If you have any questions about your entry for the
examinations or requesting alternative examination arrangements, you should contact the academic office at your
college.
The examination timetable will be confirmed no less than five weeks before the examination. The provisional dates
for the examinations are in Week 4 of Trinity Term. Once they are confirmed, the examination timetables may be
found at: http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/exams/timetables
Information on (a) the standards of conduct expected in examinations and (b) what to do if you would like examiners
to be aware of any factors that may have affected your performance before or during an examination (such as illness,
accident or bereavement) are available on the Oxford Students website:
http://ww.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/exams/guidance
The Examiners Reports on the previous year’s examination may be found at:
https://intranet.ouce.ox.ac.uk/msc/MScWSPM-2015-ExaminerReport.pdf
3.2. The Exam Board
The University appoints an exam board comprising three or four members of faculty and an external examiner. The
current Chair of MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management is Professor Simon Dadson. The exam board is
responsible for ensuring that the examinations are conducted fairly and according to University regulations. The board
of examiners may be assisted in setting and marking assessed elements of the course by other internal staff members
who are termed assessors.
The external examiner is a senior academic from a reputable external academic institution whose role is to verify the
quality of the examination materials, advise the MSc course team on course content, and sit on the final examination
board. The current External Examiner of the MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management is Professor Jamie Bartram
(University of North Carolina). The external examiner has the right and the duty to modify marks if she or he sees fit.
Students are strictly prohibited from contacting external examiners directly. If you are unhappy with an aspect of your
assessment you may make a complaint or appeal (see section on Complaints and Appeals).

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3.3. Examinations Conventions
Examination conventions are the formal record of the specific assessment standards for the course or courses to which
they apply. They set out how your examined work will be marked and how the resulting marks will be used to arrive
at a final result and classification of your award. They include information on: marking scales, marking and classification
criteria, scaling of marks, progression, resits, use of viva voce examinations, penalties for late submission, and penalties
for over-length work.
The Examination Conventions for this course may be found at:

https://intranet.ouce.ox.ac.uk/msc/examination-conventions/
These conventions are the definitive version to apply to examinations in 2019.
4. ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS
4.1. Written Examination
Core courses will be examined by means of three three-hour written examinations in Trinity Term. These examinations
are designed to determine the student’s critical understanding and knowledge of the range of issues covered, and also
provide opportunity for students to display the results of their individual study, and use information gained from field
courses and seminar series.
For ease of reference, the official course Schedule provides the following examination rubric:
(a) Core courses
The core courses will be examined under the following heads:
1. Water Science
Candidates will be expected to have knowledge and a critical understanding of the physical, chemical and
biological processes, and interactions across the hydrological cycle at the global, basin/catchment and hillslope
scale, of the relationship of water to health and disease, and of the engineering and technological solutions to
water supply and sanitation.
2. Water and Society

Candidates will be expected to have knowledge and a critical understanding of the arguments and issues
related to the legal, social, political and institutional dimensions of water decision-making, along with the
economic approaches, modelling tools and analysis techniques that can be used to support policy.

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3. Water Management
Candidates will be expected to have knowledge and a critical understanding of the relevant debates and issues
concerning water management.
(b) Elective courses
Candidates will be expected to show advanced knowledge of two of the elective courses on offer in any year.
4.2. Elective Modules
Elective courses: candidates will be expected to show advanced knowledge of two of the option elective courses on
offer in any one year.
Students are required to submit written essays (of no more than 4,000 words plus 150-word abstract) on two elective
courses, no later than 12 noon on the first Monday of the following term after which the elective module was taken
(i.e. a Michaelmas elective module requires submission on the first Monday of Hilary Term).
Full details on the required format and how to submit the elective essays can be found at:
https://intranet.ouce.ox.ac.uk/msc/submission/electives.html
4.3. Dissertation
You must submit a proposal to the Water Science, Policy and Management MSc Course Director before the end of
Hilary Term in the year in which you enter the examination, the title and details of your dissertation as set out in the
proposal template, together with the name of a person who has agreed to act as your supervisor during preparation
of the dissertation.
While many dissertations are submitted in a traditional thesis format (e.g. a series of chapters covering introduction,
literature review, methods, results, discussion), it is also permissible to submit a dissertation in journal paper format,
prepared as if for submission to a specified international journal. Students should discuss this option with their
supervisor. All ‘paper format’ dissertations should contain at least two separate sections:
a) an academic paper in the appropriate format for submission to an international journal, where students
should follow the published ‘Instructions for Authors’ for the journal in question and should prepare the paper
according to the exact requirements of submission to that journal, including a copy of those instructions bound
in as an appendix to the thesis; and
b) up to 7,000 words framing the content of the academic paper, potentially including research questions, further
literature review, discussion of methods and results. This can be divided into sections before and after the
paper to promote a logical flow and reduce repetition.

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The total text of the entire dissertation (as defined above) should not exceed 15,000 words.
Full details on the required format and how to submit the dissertation can be found at:
https://intranet.ouce.ox.ac.uk/msc/
4.4. Submission Deadlines
The deadlines for handing in assessed course work are as follows:
Elective Module Essays:

Michaelmas Term essay: 1st Monday of Hilary Term by 12 noon (Monday 14th January 2019)
Hilary Term essay: 1st Monday of Trinity Term by 12 noon (Monday 28th April 2019)
Note: There are no elective modules in Trinity Term.
Research Dissertation:
By 12 noon on first weekday of September (Monday 2nd September 2019)
4.5. Good Academic Practice and Avoiding Plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it
into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed
or electronic form, is covered under this definition. Plagiarism may be intentional or reckless, or unintentional. Under
the regulations for examinations, intentional or reckless plagiarism is a disciplinary offence. Please see the University
guidelines: http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism
Oxford University imposes severe sanctions for cases of plagiarism. In the most extreme case, a student will be judged
to have failed the course. These regulations are imposed by the University and if a student is suspected of plagiarism
the matter is likely to pass to the Proctors who will rule on the matter independently of SoGE. We expect students
enrolled at Oxford to exhibit the highest standards of academic integrity and not knowingly submit any work or
intellectual ideas that have been adapted from or copied from a third-party source without appropriate recognition
(see below). In addition, we expect all assessed work you submit to represent new and original writing conducted
during your relevant terms in Oxford. It is not acceptable to re-package essays presented for degrees elsewhere (i.e.
self-plagiarism). Students found suspected of plagiarism will be referred to the Proctors and if plagiarism is confirmed,
the student may be failed. Any Proctoral investigation might delay the publication of a candidate’s results and
graduation.

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During Michaelmas term we will discuss these rules and expectations regarding plagiarism. You will be required to
complete the University’s on-line course on the topic and sign a ‘plagiarism declaration’ form which accompanies each
piece of submitted assessed work.
4.6. Course Governance and Student Representation
4.6.1. Graduate Teaching and Examinations Committee

Graduate Teaching and Examinations Committee (GTEC), chaired by the Director of Graduate Studies (Taught
Programmes), defines the strategic direction of MSc provision in line with SoGE’s evolving academic strategy. It is
responsible for coordinating academic programmes, staffing and timetabling across all four courses. It receives and
considers the minutes of course team meetings, examiners reports and student assessments in preparation for
Divisional scrutiny. It discusses and proposes amendments to assessment regulations for approval by higher
committees as appropriate.
4.6.2. Student Representation: Joint Consultative Committee

At the start of the course the WSPM student group elects two of their members to serve as representatives on the
Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) which meets each term. If you have any comments or concerns you should pass
these on to your representatives who will raise them with the Course Team at the JCC meeting.
4.6.3. Feedback and Concerns

Our courses are constantly being adjusted in response to changes in the discipline and student feedback. We welcome
your constructive feedback and have a number of avenues through which you can contribute feedback. You can also
use these avenues to raise any concerns that you might have; we will seek to resolve these as quickly as possible. You
can:
• Provide feedback and ask questions during weekly class meetings;
• Speak with your Course Director or Academic Director during his/her weekly office hours;
• Provide feedback or raise concerns via your class representatives;
• Ensure that at the end of each term you complete the feedback on each module course as well as field-trips
and workshops.
This feedback, along with any concerns, will be discussed at the termly Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) for your
course. The minutes of the JCC and the module feedback are then considered by the relevant Course Team and by
GTEC (on which there is student representation).
Students on full-time and part-time matriculated courses are surveyed once per year on all aspects of their course
(learning, living, pastoral support, college) through the Student Barometer. Previous results can be viewed by students,
staff and the general public at: https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/life/student-engagement?wssl=1

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4.7. Complaints and Academic Appeals within SoGE
The University, the Social Sciences Division and the School of Geography and the Environment all hope that provision
made for students at all stages of their course of study will result in no need for complaints (about that provision) or
appeals (against the outcomes of any form of assessment).
Where such a need arises, an informal discussion with the person immediately responsible for the issue that you wish
to complain about (and who may not be one of the individuals identified below) is often the simplest way to achieve
a satisfactory resolution.
Many sources of advice are available from colleges, faculties/departments and bodies like the Counselling Service or
the OUSU Student Advice Service, which have extensive experience in advising students. You may wish to take advice
from one of those sources before pursuing your complaint.
General areas of concern about provision affecting students as a whole should be raised through Joint Consultative
Committees or via student representation on the faculty/department’s committees.
4.7.1 Complaints
If your concern or complaint relates to teaching or other provision made by the faculty/department, then you should
raise it with the Director of Graduate Studies, Dr Jamie Lorimer. Complaints about departmental facilities should be
made to the Departmental Administrator, Richard Holden. If you feel unable to approach one of those individuals, you
may contact the Head of School, Professor Heather Viles. The officer concerned will attempt to resolve your
concern/complaint informally.
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome, you may take your concern further by making a formal complaint to the
Proctors under the University Student Complaints Procedure: https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/complaints
If your concern or complaint relates to teaching or other provision made by your college, you should raise it either
with your tutor or with one of the college officers, Senior Tutor, Tutor for Graduates. Your college will also be able to
explain how to take your complaint further if you are dissatisfied with the outcome of its consideration.
4.7.2 Academic Appeals

An academic appeal is an appeal against the decision of an academic body (e.g. boards of examiners, transfer and
confirmation decisions etc.), on grounds such as procedural error or evidence of bias. There is no right of appeal
against academic judgement.
If you have any concerns about your assessment process or outcome it is advisable to discuss these first informally
with your subject or college tutor, Senior Tutor, course director, director of studies, supervisor or college or
departmental administrator as appropriate. They will be able to explain the assessment process that was undertaken
and may be able to address your concerns. Queries must not be raised directly with the examiners.

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If you still have concerns you can make a formal appeal to the Proctors who will consider appeals under the University
Academic Appeals Procedure: https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/complaints
4.8. If You Need Help
If you find yourself facing a problem during your course of study you can seek advice and support from various sources
in the University. Generally, the department is best qualified to help you navigate problems relating to the academic
content of the course and your college is best qualified to provide support and advice relating to health or personal
problems.
Every college has their own systems of support for students, please refer to your College handbook or website for
more information on who to contact and what support is available through your college.
Details of the wide range of sources of support available more widely in the University are available from the Oxford
Students website, including in relation to mental and physical health and disability:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/welfare
4.9. Links to Key Documents and Resources
The following are some useful links:
Department Intranet. The department’s intranet pages contain much information on members of staff, Health &
Safety, House Rules and so on. https://intranet.ouce.ox.ac.uk/msc/index.html
Canvas. This is our virtual learning environment and a key learning resource. Follow the link via the WSPM home page:
https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/
Past Exam Papers are available from OXAM: https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/portal/site/:oxam
The Central University Research Ethics Committee web site (http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/curec/) provides essential
information on the University’s policy concerning the ethical review of research projects involving human participants
or personal data, undertaken by staff and students, or on University premises. The form you must complete and have
approved before conducting such research is available at:
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/curec/oxonly/checklistsandapplicationform/
Field Work Behaviour and Safety. The forms you must complete before leaving for field work are available on the
School’s intranet at: https://intranet.ouce.ox.ac.uk/safety/fieldwork.html

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4.10. Key Departmental Contacts
• Course Coordinator: Faith Opio

• Course Director: Dr Jocelyne Hughes
• Academic Director: Professor Simon Dadson
• DGS (Taught Programmes): Dr Jamie Lorimer
• Academic Administrator: Dr Lorraine Wild
• Head of Administration and Finance: Richard Holden
• Disabilities Officer: Claire Hann
4.11. Key Dates
4.11.1. Term dates
Induction field trip 2018 Thursday 27 September Saturday, 29 September

Michaelmas 2018 Sunday, 7 October Saturday, 1 December
Hilary 2019 Sunday, 13 January Saturday, 9 March
Ebro field trip 2019 Sunday, 10 March Saturday, 16 March
Trinity 2019 Sunday, 28 April Saturday, 22 June
4.11.2. Assessment Dates
• 1st elective submission: first Monday of Hilary Term

• 2nd elective submission: first Monday of Trinity Term
• Dissertation submission: 2nd September 2019
• Provisional dates for examinations: Week 4 in Trinity Term

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Appendix 1: TEACHING STAFF
Core Teaching Staff
Professor David Bradley is Ross Professor of Tropical Hygiene Emeritus at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine and a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at OUCE. He is a physician, communicable disease epidemiologist and
zoologist. After studies at Cambridge and London he lived and worked in East Africa - Tanzania and Uganda - for ten
years and has continued to carry out research there, also in India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Kenya, and
the UK as well as making shorter working visits to many other countries. After initial work on community pathogenesis,
epidemiology and the public health importance of schistosomiasis he worked on domestic water supply and health in
East Africa, on Mycobacterium ulcerans, and the theoretical basis of tropical public health. He devised the now
generally adopted functional classification of water-related diseases. His current work is on WASH in relation to health
in Africa, small water bodies in the UK, and WASH policy. He has advised the WHO, DFID, the World Bank, and ICDDR,B
on public health and research policy. He was President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and has
an Honorary DSc from the University of Leicester. Contact email: david.bradley@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Dr Jocelyne Hughes (Course Director) gained her first degree in geography from the University of Cambridge and was
awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to conduct her PhD on riverine plant ecology and hydrology at the University
of Tasmania. Her current research is investigating plant-water relationships at Marley Fen in Wytham Woods; the
ecological functionality of a floating reedbed at Farmoor Reservoir; and the geography of invasive non-native
freshwater amphipods. She has edited Freshwater Ecology & Conservation: Approaches & Techniques, to be published
by Oxford University Press in 2018. Jocelyne has conducted research on the ecology, hydrology and conservation of
wetlands in Australia, Antarctica, Tunisia, Guatemala and the UK. She has held university lectureships at the University
of Melbourne and University of Reading, and has worked in the Oxford University Department for Continuing
Education where she directed an online postgraduate programme in Ecological Survey Techniques. She was joint
holder of an Oxford IT Innovation Award in 2016-17 to develop the Activity Browser which showcases Oxford-created
digital teaching resources (accessed via Weblearn homepage, left hand browser); member of the 2017 student-led
Oxford IT Innovation Award to develop VESPA (Virtual Environments Sampling Platform); project lead on a 2017 Oxford
Teaching Award to work with the Cabinet Project to develop 3D models of plants, insects and rocks for teaching
identification skills.
Dr Katrina Charles is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow in Water Security in SoGE. Her research
encompasses a range of cross-disciplinary approaches to understanding and improving water security for the poor.
She is active in research in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Charles is the co-director of the REACH Improving Water
Security for the Poor programme, which addresses water security challenges in Kenya, Ethiopia and Bangladesh.
Katrina trained as an Environmental Engineer in Australia, before undertaking her PhD on a risk-based approach to
management of decentralised wastewater treatment systems in Sydney’s drinking water catchments.
Professor Simon Dadson (Academic Director) is a Professor of Hydrology. His research focuses on the processes that
link climate, hydrology, and geomorphology. These links range from the potential impacts of future climate change on

25
river flows, to the study of how continental-scale weather patterns have influenced the development of mountain
topography over the past few million years. Prior to arriving at the School of Geography and Environment, Simon was
a Senior Environmental Modeller at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford where he remains a CEH
Fellow.
Dr Dustin Garrick is an Associate Professor and Departmental Research Lecturer in Environmental and Resource
Management at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. His work examines policies, institutions and
incentives addressing water scarcity and climate variability in stressed river basins. In his recent book, Water Allocation
in Rivers under Pressure, he advances theory and evidence on property rights and resource allocation, working across
multiple research traditions, including the commons, political economy and risk science. He recently served on the
Global Water Partnership / OECD task force on Water Security and Sustainable Growth and is active on a number of
international and comparative water policy and economic projects. Prior to joining Oxford (July 2016), Dr Garrick was
Philomathia Chair of Water Policy at McMaster University, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Water Security at
University of Oxford (2011-13) and a Fulbright Scholar (2010-11) in Australia, where he remains a Research Associate
of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy at Australian National University.
Dr Michael Gilmont is working with Professors Jim Hall and Simon Dadson investigating relationships between
economic growth, hydroclimatic vulnerability and water infrastructure and other investments. His analysis focuses on
comparing trajectories of states in India. In collaboration with Professor David Grey he is working on water
development investments and transboundary water relationships in Asia and Africa, with particular focus on China.
Michael completed his PhD at King's College London on the politics of water reform and the processes of bridging
often conflicting demands of social, economic/agricultural and environmental water needs in neoliberal political
economies. Michael maintains an active interest in water governance and policy reform, along with ongoing work on
the decoupling of national economic and population growth from water resource use in water-scarce economies. He
holds a BA in Geography (Cambridge) and an MSc in Hydrology (Imperial College).
Professor David Grey has 35 years of experience in multi-sector water management and development and has worked
in over 60 countries. He has been staff of the World Bank for 26 years, most recently as Senior Water Advisor, a role
which included oversight of the Bank’s global water resources agenda and chairmanship of the Bank’s Water Resources
Management Group. His current research interests are in: the roles that water insecurity plays in poverty,
environmental degradation and dispute, and water security plays in growth and stability; the role that benefit sharing
can play in resolving inter-jurisdictional disputes over water at all levels; and the risks that climate and other change
mean for water security, livelihoods and environmental sustainability. He has a long-term interest in the institutional
and incentive structures for improving the performance of water management and water service delivery.
Professor Jim Hall FREng is Director of the Environmental Change Institute, Professor of Climate and Environmental
Risks in the School of Geography and the Environment, a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Engineering
Science and fellow of Linacre College. His research focuses upon management of climate-related risks in infrastructure
systems, in particular relating to flooding, coastal erosion and water scarcity. He moved to the University of Oxford in
2011 having previously held academic positions in Newcastle University and the University of Bristol.

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Dr Neil Hart is a Departmental Lecturer in Physical Geography. Neil completed a PhD at the University of Cape Town
before carrying out postdoctoral research at the University of Reading and University of Oxford on North Atlantic sting-
jet wind storms and African climate extremes. This research is helping to answer the big question of whether the
subtropics are likely to experience desertification in coming decades. Much of his current research is focused on
southern Africa and involves collaborations with climatologists, oceanographers, and hydrologists in the UK and across
Africa.
Professor Rob Hope is Professor of Water Policy in SoGE, and the Director of the Smith School Water Programme and
Programme Director of REACH (http://www.reachwater.org.uk/). He is a development economist whose research
examines the relationship between water and development. His research focuses on understanding trade-offs, choices
and outcomes in balancing water security, economic growth and human development. A portfolio of research projects
are structured around two themes: 1) Water Security, Growth and Development, and 2) Smart Water Systems. The
latter is a cross-departmental research group working on the design, testing and evaluation of novel applications of
mobile communications technologies for water security and poverty reduction in developing countries.
Dr David Johnstone has 50 years of practical experience in the water and wastewater sector in the UK and overseas
in over 30 countries, particularly in Latin America, South East Asia and the Middle East. He originally trained as a
chemist, with a PhD in Physical Chemistry. In his career he worked with Thames Water Authority, Sir William Halcrow
and Partners, and the Water Research Centre before becoming an independent consultant. He has worked on the
strengthening of the operational and managerial capacity of developing world water utilities. He served as Consultant
to the United Nation’s Taskforce on Wastewater contributing to the establishment of a Sustainable Development Goal
for Water to replace the Millennium Development Goal for Water and Sanitation which expired in 2015. Dr Johnstone
is a Member of the Court of the “Worshipful Company of Water Conservators”.
Dr Catharina Landström completed a PhD in Theory of Science at Göteborg University in her native Sweden. After
conducting empirical social science research on different topics within the Science and Technology Studies (STS) field
she focussed on environmental science and expertise. In the UK since 2007 she has undertaken qualitative STS research
on flooding, climate change and radioactive waste disposal. Currently she works in the MaRIUS (Managing the Risks,
Impacts and Uncertainties of droughts and water Scarcity) project exploring drought knowledge, expert practices and
public engagement.
Dr Christine McCulloch graduated in geography from KCL/LSE before gaining a Fulbright scholarship for study at
Oberlin College, Ohio. Five years of lecturing in the University of London followed, first at Goldsmiths’ and then at
Queen Mary Colleges, before she joined the senior management of the Natural Environment Research Council. Her
first thesis (Masters) explored the history of ideas about rivers. During a long career break, she taught geography in
secondary schools before joining the Economic and Social Research Council to lead research support in politics,
economics and geography. Then she completed her Oxford DPhil in 2005 on the political ecology of dams in the UK
before working on a multi-national, EU-funded research project on the sustainability of the Dead Sea region. Christine
works on the politics of water resource decision-making as an OUCE Research Associate. She is a member of the British
Dam Society and lives in a water tower on the bank of the River Thames.

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Dr Faith Opio (MSc Course Coordinator) completed her PhD in mining engineering with specialisation in environmental
geochemistry at the Queens University in Canada. She will contribute to the teaching of the water chemistry practical
session in Hilary Term.
Prof Edmund Penning-Rowsell OBE is a geographer by discipline, taking his PhD from University College London. His
research interests are the political economy of major hazards and how this affects decisions about investment in
hazard mitigation. He has more than 40 years’ experience of research and teaching in the flood hazard field, analysing
floods and investment in flood alleviation, river management, water planning, and landscape assessment. His focus is
on the social impact of floods, and the policy response from regional, national and international organisations. Edmund
founded the Flood Hazard Research Centre at Middlesex University in 1970. He was twice the Chair of the
Defra/Environment Agency Advisory Group on Flood and Coastal Defense Research and Development (2004/5), and
was awarded the O.B.E. by the Queen in May 2006 for services to flood risk management. Since 2012 he has had
research papers published in Environment and Planning ‘C’ (twice), the Transactions of the Institute of British
Geographers, the Geographical Journal, The International Journal of River Basin Management, Area, Foresight, Natural
Hazards, Environmental Science & Policy and Climate Risk Management.
Michael Rouse CBE works as an independent international consultant on institutional governance and regulation in a
number of countries, including Ghana, China and Malaysia. He was Head of the Drinking Water Inspectorate in London
during the period 1973-2003 with responsibility for the enforcement of drinking water quality standards, the
investigation of incidents and independent reporting. As one of the three UK regulators he worked closely with his
regulatory colleagues in OFWAT and the Environment Agency. He worked at the Water Research Centre (WRC) in the
UK for nineteen years. He worked on policy and operational research aspects in a number of areas including lead
service pipes, water distribution leakage control, sewage sludge disposal, investigation of the structural integrity of
sewerage systems and hydraulic analysis of sewerage networks. He set up the Swindon Laboratory in 1982 initially
working on the rehabilitation of water and sewerage systems. This led to the development of the concept of asset
management planning for water systems. He was Managing Director of WRC from 1984-1993 and is the past President
of the International Water Association.
Dr Louise Slater is an Associate Professor in Physical Geography in SoGE. Her research focuses on understanding and
predicting changes in floods and fluvial systems in the context of contemporary shifts in both climate and land cover.
Louise’s approach is statistical and computational; she uses a variety of Big Data sources and data-driven methods to
disentangle the different drivers of flooding and fluvial change across a variety of climates and land use types. Prior to
joining the School of Geography and the Environment, Louise held university lectureships at Loughborough University
and Queen Mary University of London, and conducted research at IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering, USA. Louise is an
alumna of the Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon, France, and holds her PhD from the University of St Andrews, UK, in
Earth and Environmental Sciences. She is Editor for the journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS).
Dr Pauline Smedley is a hydrogeochemist at the British Geological Survey. Her research focuses on the processes
controlling mobilisation and transport of trace elements of health concern in groundwaters, including arsenic, fluoride,
molybdenum, uranium, and nickel; impacts of water-quality problems on drinking water in the UK and developing
countries, and groundwater baselines. Her recent work includes monitoring groundwater chemistry in relation to shale

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gas development in northern England; characterising groundwater chemistry and geochemical controls in
principal British aquifers; and assessment of the behavior of fluoride in groundwater in the Ethiopian Rift Valley.
Dr Troy Sternberg is a geographer researching desert environments and societies. His current focus is on how climate
hazards impact landscapes and people across Asian drylands. Troy's DPhil on the changing pastoral environment in
Mongolia formed the basis for pioneering research in the Gobi desert. His work investigates how climate, drought,
extreme cold and environmental transition affect the physical landscape, human well-being and state policy in
Mongolia and China. He is now integrating South Asian and Middle Eastern arid zones with the Gobi to develop a
continent-wide perspective on climate, environmental and social change in Asian desert and dryland regions. Troy
organised the 3rd Oxford Interdisciplinary Desert Conference, which was held at the School in April 2015.
Dr Abi Stone is a Lecturer at the University of Manchester. She completed her DPhil in the School of Geography and
the Environment before taking up a post-doc in the School. Her research focuses on the dynamics of dryland systems,
including environmental change, landscape dynamics and groundwater resources. She is interested in these processes
and dynamics over a range of timescales from Quaternary glacial-interglacial cycles to recent decades. Her research
addresses two broad themes: (i) late Quaternary (~250,000 years) landscape dynamics using geoproxies (including
sand dunes, water-lain sediments and fluvial tufa and applying OSL and U-series dating), (ii) the use of chemical tracers
as novel archives of groundwater recharge and palaeomoisture conditions in the unsaturated zone.
Prof Richard Washington is Professor of Climate Science. He has degrees from the University of Natal and University
of Oxford and taught at the University of Natal and University of Cape Town during the 1980s and early 1990s. He has
been a member of the World Climate Research Program CLIVAR Africa panel (VACS) for the last three years; VACS
serves as the scientific steering group for African climate science.
Dr Kevin Wheeler is a water resources engineer and Research Associate with the Environmental Change Institute at
the University of Oxford. His work focuses on trans-boundary rivers and increasing water security through multi-
stakeholder cooperation, specifically through collaborative risk-based modelling within negotiation contexts. As a
consultant for 15+ years, Dr Wheeler has worked on a variety of water-related issues ranging from community-based
water development projects to addressing trans-boundary disputes, including negotiations on Colorado River. For the
last 6 years, he has focused on the Nile River by exploring cooperation between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. He holds
an DPhil and MSc in Water Science, Management and Policy from the University of Oxford, as well as MSc in Water
Resource Engineering, and BSc in Civil/Environmental Engineering from the University of Colorado.
Prof Paul Whitehead is Visiting Professor of Water Science. He has degrees from Loughborough, Manchester and
Cambridge and has over 35 years of experience of hydrology, water quality and ecology with particular expertise in
developing linked land and water models. He has been an advisor to EA, DEFRA and NERC on many research
programmes and was on the Executive Committee of the EU research project Euro-limpacs which investigated impacts
of climate change on ecosystems across Europe and North America. Since 2010, Paul has been the Director of the
NERC’s Macronutrients Programme. He teaches water quality issues and environmental modelling.

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Appendix 2: CORE MODULES

Climate and Catchment Processes
Module leader: Dr Louise Slater
Teaching staff: Dr Neil Hart (NH), Dr Abi Stone (AS), Dr Feyera Hirpa (FH) and Dr Kevin
Wheeler (KW).
Michaelmas Term & Hilary Term
Module rationale
The aim of the module is to provide an understanding of basic processes affecting the catchment hydrological cycle
and its variability: inputs, internal processes, and outputs.
The module begins with a series of four lectures in Michaelmas term covering the principal features of the climate
system, including an account of the general circulation of the atmosphere, catchment-scale climate drivers including
precipitation and evaporation, key modes of climate variability such as El Niño and the North Atlantic Oscillation, and
anthropogenic climate change.
In Hilary Term, the focus switches to the physical hydrology of river catchments, including hillslope hydrology, channel
hydrology, groundwater flows, and catchment flood management. The module ends with a half-day workshop that
explores the ways in which models of climate and catchment processes can be used in decision making in the water
sector.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the
basic hydrological and climatological processes affecting the catchment hydrological cycle. Students will acquire the
ability to: (1) identify the climatic drivers of hydrological patterns and variability in river basins; (2) recognize the
different hydrological properties of river basins; (3) manipulate and interpret a range of climatic and hydrological data
from diverse sources; (4) assess the drivers of hydrological changes over time; (5) synthesize information and use
appropriate graphical techniques to produce a scientific poster; (6) critically evaluate the response of streamflow and
river channels to human impacts and management; and (7) appreciate the role of models in decision making and
negotiations.
Teaching approach
The module will comprise lectures, practicals, group work and student presentations. Eight lectures and/or practicals
of approximately two hours duration will be given, with discussion time included within each lecture, where
appropriate.

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A group-work program will run between weeks four and eight of Michaelmas Term and students are expected to
present results from this work in class in eighth week of Michaelmas. A half-day workshop in Hilary Term will draw
together the themes of the module with specific reference to a hands-on water security case study.
A preparatory reading list (below) provides key readings ahead of the lectures. Handouts of the lecture slides will be
available electronically to students in advance of each lecture, along with relevant lists of further reading.
Module outline (Michaelmas Term)

CLASS DESCRIPTION LECTURER
Precipitation and Evaporation

Atmospheric stability and instability, condensation and clouds, precipitation
1 meteorology. Regional precipitation regimes. Evaporation from water, soil and NH/FH
vegetation. Approaches to the measurement and estimation of rainfall and
evaporation. Visit to the Radcliffe Meteorological Station.
The General Circulation
The general circulation of the atmosphere. Climatology of the tropics, sub-tropics, mid-
2 latitude and polar regions. Seasonal variations in climate. The influence of the general NH/FH
circulation on global and regional patterns of rainfall and evaporation. In the practical
session students are introduced to a range of climate data sources that can be used to
characterise hydrological patterns and variability in river basins.
Climate Variability
Ocean-atmosphere interactions. Major mechanisms driving variability in the general
3 circulation (including ENSO and NAO). Regional examples and teleconnections. In the NH/FH
practical students will explore the key features of recent El Nino events and their
impacts.
Climate Change for Water Managers
Introduction to the basic principles of climate prediction for water-related applications.
4 Key achievements of climate models and evaluation of their performance. Key LS/FH
challenges for the next decade are discussed. In the practical session students will
examine key features of climate model output for a region of their choice.
Student Presentations
St Students will prepare a poster summarising the climatic and hydrological properties
8 LS/FH
of a river basin from the following list: Ebro, Thames, Nile, Ganges, Indus, Murray-
Darling, Colorado.

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Module outline (Hilary Term)
Hillslope Hydrology
The role of infiltration in hillslope hydrology. Soil moisture and infiltration processes.
1 Overland flow. Subsurface flow pathways and mechanisms. Return flows and dynamic LS/FH
contributing areas. In the practical session students will perform a water balance study
of a catchment undergoing land-use change.
Channel Hydrology
Understanding the forces influencing the flow of water in channels is critical to any
water resources or hazard management strategies. This lecture will introduce the
2 LS/FH
forces at work and the influences on shape and form and will discuss channel responses
to management. In the practical session students will learn to use seasonal forecasts of
river flow produced by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting’s
GLOFAS system.
Hydrogeology
3 An outline of the main principles of groundwater occurrence and flow. Geological AS

controls and porous media. Groundwater flow and residence times. Water balance.
Seasonal response. Groundwater development. The Chalk aquifer as case study.
Catchment Flood Management

This lecture will integrate and review the topics presented in the course so far and
4 draw together some themes underlying recent developments in catchment-based flood LS/FH
management and climate. We will also discuss key developments that are of
significance to water policy and management.
Science for Policy and Management: Water Security Case Study

Introduction to modelling and the role of models in decision making and negotiations,
Half-day including an overview of different modelling approaches; the application of systems
thinking; and exploration of uncertainty. The practical exercise will examine the use of KW
TBC
models in decision-making and negotiations. A case study will be used to draw together
different components discussed throughout the module and examine alternative
management options from different stakeholder perspectives.

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Recommended readings
There are numerous introductory climatology and hydrology books available in the University’s Radcliffe Science
Library and in College libraries. Some examples are included below. Those new to hydrology will find that the book by
Ward and Robinson provides an accessible overview of the basics and is as close as it is possible to get to a course
textbook. The text by Barry and Chorley is aimed at students with no prior knowledge of meteorology or climatology
and contains material relevant to lectures 1-4 of Michaelmas Term. Use this list to follow up on things that are
mentioned in lectures and to investigate further. The most important papers and books are starred, but don’t forget
to explore the literature and find your own material to read.
General Textbooks
*Barry, R. G., and Chorley, R. J. (2009). Atmosphere, Weather, and Climate. Routledge (9th Edition). [Thorough
introductory text]
*Hartmann, D.L. (2016) Global physical climatology. Elsevier (2nd Edition). [Rigorous physics-based introduction]
*Ward, R.C. & Robinson, M. (2017) Principles of Hydrology. IWA Publishing, London. [Excellent overview of
hydrology]
Lecture 1: Precipitation and Evaporation

*Barry, R.G. & Chorley, R.J. (2009) Atmosphere, Weather, and Climate. Routledge (9th Edition).
*Rodell et. al. (2018) Emerging trends in global freshwater availability. Nature 557: 651-659.
Henderson-Sellers, A. & Robinson, P.J. (2014) Contemporary Climatology. Routledge (2nd Edition).
Lecture 2: The General Circulation

*Barry, R.G. & Chorley, R.J. (2009) Atmosphere, Weather and Climate. Routledge (9th Edition).
Henderson-Sellers, A. & Robinson, P.J. (2014) Contemporary Climatology. Routledge (2nd Edition).
Maslin, M. (2013) Climate: A very short introduction, Oxford University Press.
Lecture 3: Climate Variability

*Hartmann, D.L. (2016) Global physical climatology. Elsevier (2nd Edition). Chapter 8.
*Hurrell, J.W., Kushnir, Y. & Visbeck, M. (2001) Climate: The North Atlantic Oscillation. Science, 291 (5504): 603-605.
*Timmermann et al. (2018) El Niño-Southern Oscillation complexity. Nature 559: 535-545.
Lecture 4: Climate Change for Water Managers

*Hartmann, D.L. (2015) Global physical climatology (Vol. 103). Newnes. Chapters 11 and 13.
Houghton, J. (2015) Global warming: the complete briefing. Cambridge, CUP.
Milly, P.C.D., Betancourt, J., Falkenmark, M., Hirsch, R.M., Kundzewicz, Z.W., Lettenmaier, D.P., & Stouffer R.J. (2008)
Climate change - Stationarity is dead: Whither water management? Science, 319(5863), 573-574.
Lecture 5: Hillslope Hydrology

Lu, N. & Godt, J.W. (2013) Hillslope hydrology and stability. Cambridge University Press. Chapters 2.4 and 3 [more
technical]

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Bachmair, S. & Weiler, M. (2011) New dimensions of hillslope hydrology. In Forest hydrology and biogeochemistry,
pp. 455-481. Springer, Dordrecht.
*Ward, R.C. & Robinson, M. (2017) Principles of Hydrology. Iwa Publishing, London. Chapters 3 and 6.
Lecture 6: Channel Hydrology

Alfieri, L., Burek, P., Dutra, E., Krzeminski, B., Muraro, D., Thielen, J., and Pappenberger, F. (2013) GloFAS – global
ensemble streamflow forecasting and flood early warning, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 17, 1161-
1175.
Fryirs, K. A., & Brierley, G. J. (2013) Geomorphic analysis of river systems: an approach to reading the landscape.
John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 4 (Catchment hydrology).
*Ward, R.C. & Robinson, M. (2017) Principles of Hydrology. IWA Publishing, London. Chapter 7.
Lecture 7: Hydrogeology
*Hiscock, K.M. (2005) Hydrogeology: Principles and Practice. Blackwell. See first 2 chapters dealing with physical
hydrogeology.
Alley W. M., Healy, R. W., LaBaugh, J. W., Reilly, T. E. (2002) Flow and storage in groundwater systems. Science 296,
1985-1990.
Rotzoll, K., Fletcher, C. H. (2012) Assessment of groundwater inundation as a consequence of sea-level rise. Nature
Climate Change 3, 477-481.
Lecture 8: Catchment flood management

Dadson, S.J., Hall, J.W., Murgatroyd, A., Acreman, M., Bates, P., Beven, K., Heathwaite, L., Holden, J., Holman, I.P.,
Lane, S.N. and O'Connell, E. (2017) A restatement of the natural science evidence concerning catchment-based
‘natural’ flood management in the UK. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 473: 20160706.
Fryirs, K.A., & Brierley, G. J. (2013) Geomorphic analysis of river systems: an approach to reading the landscape. John
Wiley & Sons. Chapter 13 (Human impacts).
Rogger, M., Agnoletti, M., Alaoui, A., Bathurst, J.C., Bodner, G., Borga, M., Chaplot, V., Gallart, F., Glatzel, G., Hall, J. &
Holden, J. (2017) Land use change impacts on floods at the catchment scale: Challenges and opportunities for
future research. Water Resources Research, 53(7), 5209-5219.

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Economics of the Environment
Module Leader: Dr Dustin Garrick
Teaching staff: Prof. Cameron Hepburn, Prof Robert Hope and Dr Linus Mattauch
Michaelmas Term
Module rationale
Economics is critical for understanding contemporary environmental, natural resource and sustainable development
challenges. Economic ideas, incentives and institutions are both a root cause of these challenges and a key feature of
market-based responses to them, spanning from climate change, biodiversity loss to water scarcity and service
delivery.
The Economics of the Environment module equips MSc students in SoGE with the foundational concepts, methods
and analytical tools to examine the role and application of economic approaches to environmental and related policy
issues across a range of contexts, scales and issues.
The module will be organised in two phases, leveraging the interdisciplinary economic research and teaching across
the School.
PHASE I (weeks 1-4) covers the foundations of economics and the environment, examining the economic roots of
environmental issues and problems and providing a survey of economic approaches to environmental policy ranging
from instrument choice to property rights.
PHASE II (weeks 6-8) of the module shifts from foundations to applications, organising the students into specialised
tracks for each MSc with interactive lectures and exercises. The specialised tracks in phase II are problem-based,
fostering critical examination and application of economics to a range of contexts, scales and issues relevant to water
policy and management.
In phase II students will cover water economics. This will include three specific topics: Valuing Water (week 6),
Pricing Water (week 7) and Impact Evaluation (week 8).
Learning outcomes
This module will equip students to understand and apply economic frameworks, methods and tools to environmental
and natural resource management, sustainable development and related policy challenges.
Students will identify the main trends and debates of economics in a logical and systematic way; acquire practical
experience with methodologies for policy analysis, instrument design and evaluation; and learn to apply economics
with other natural and social science frameworks, tools and methods for understanding and responding to current
and future environmental, resource and sustainable development issues.

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Teaching approach
The module will be taught through a series of lectures. The first four sessions (PHASE I, FOUNDATIONS) will introduce
and illustrate the conceptual building blocks, history and evolution of natural resource and environmental economic
theory and practice.
The three remaining sessions (PHASE II, APPLICATIONS) will include lectures and interactive discussions or exercises
across a spectrum of problems relevant to each course.
Examination
Students in Water Science, Policy and Management (WSPM) programme will be examined in Trinity Term.
Module outline
WEEK DESCRIPTION LECTURER

Economics of the Environment
This session introduces the economic roots of contemporary environmental problems,
Week 1 ranging from biodiversity loss and climate change to water shortages and deforestation.
CH
8th Oct It briefly defines economics along with some key concepts, before offering an overview
of debates about the feasibility and desirability of continued economic growth.
Markets and market failure

This session examines how markets allocate scarce resources, comparing different
environmental and resource management contexts. It identifies the sources of market
Week 2
and government failures that contribute to environmental and resource management DG
15th Oct
problems, and explores the opportunities and limits of market-based instruments to
correct these failures.
Week 3
Discussion Group
TBA
Governing the Commons, Revisited

This session reviews the theory and evidence regarding collective action and the
commons. It compares different approaches to resource allocation, including markets,
Week 3 states, communities, corporate stewardship and blended models. The session draws on
DG
22nd Oct concepts and tools in the fields of institutional economics and political economy,
including property rights, transaction costs and path dependency. It contrasts local and
global commons.

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Instrument choice: regulation and pricing

This session examines how the government can intervene to improve market
Week 4
outcomes. It covers which policy instruments economists suggest to address pollution LM
29th Oct
and to protect the environment and how these instruments work in practice across
diverse contexts.
Discussion Group
Week 5 No regular class this week; discussion session only.
5th Nov
Valuing Water
Valuing water poses a set of identification and measurement issues bounded by space,
Week 6 time and social preferences. Key topics include the Total Economic Value framework;
RH
12th Nov revealed preference and state preference methods; markets and payments for water
ecosystems; case studies.
Pricing Water
Pricing water for drinking water or bulk water for irrigation requires different economic
Week 7 approaches and methods. Key topics include tariff design; payment behaviour;
RH
19th Nov endowment effect; Natural Monopoly; opportunity cost; subsidies and targeting; non-
volumetric pricing for irrigation; case studies.
Impact Evaluation
Attributing the impact of policy for people or the environment can be evaluated and
Week 8 estimated by a range of economic methods. Key topics include theory-based
RH
26th Nov evaluation; randomised control trials; matching and double difference methods;
selection bias; instrumental variable; case studies.
Reading Expectations
Each session in the Foundations (Phase I) will have two to three key readings, addressing the following elements:
• an optional background reading on the basic economic concepts
• a single required reading for each week, examining the intersection of economics and the environment
• an optional, supplementary reading providing an in-depth application relevant for each course
Discussion groups will convene students in weeks 3 and 5 to deepen inquiry and debate, as well as develop analytical
skills; the discussion groups will be customised and coordinated separately for each MSc programme.
There are two required texts for the Phase I of the course.
1. Keohane and Olmstead (2nd edition, 2016; details below). Selected chapters are assigned in weeks 1-4, and
the remaining chapters are suggested reading. Order your paperback early or purchase the e-book version.

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2. The CORE Team (2017, 1st edition). The Economy: Economics for a Changing World. Oxford University Press
(2017). ISBN 978-0198810247. This book is available online for free or can be purchased.
Module Readings
PHASE I, FOUNDATIONS
Week 1: Economics of the Environment
Chapter 2 (pp. 11-34) in Keohane, N.O. and S. Olmstead (2016). Markets and the Environment, 2nd ed. Island Press,
2016.
Economics of the Environment’ in The CORE Team (2017, 1st edition). The Economy: Economics for a Changing
World. Oxford University Press.
Sandmo, A., (2015) The Early History of Environmental Economics. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy,
9(1): 43-63.
Additional recommended readings for the WSPM students:

Hanemann, W.H. (2006) The economic conception of water. In: Water Crisis: myth or reality? Eds. P.P. Rogers, M.R.
Llamas, L. Martinez-Cortina, Taylor & Francis., London
IUCN (2004). Value – Counting ecosystems as water infrastructure. Water and Nature Initiative, IUCN, Gland.
Available at: http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/2004-046.pdf
Week 2: Markets and Market Failure

Chapters 4 (69-80) and 5 (81-98) in Keohane and Olmstead, 2nd Edition, 2016.
‘Markets, Efficiency and Public Policy’ in The CORE Team (2017, 1st edition). The Economy: Economics for a
Changing World. Oxford University Press.
Additional recommended reading for the WSPM students:

Garrick, D., & Svensson, J. (2017) The Political Economy of Water Markets: 40 Years of Debates, Experiments and
Lessons Learned. In: Conca, K. and Weinthal, E.(eds.) Oxford Handbook of Water Politics and Policy. Oxford
University Press [available free online]
Grafton, R.Q., Lebecap, G., McGlennon, S., Landry, C. and O’Brien, B. (2011). An Integrated Assessment of Water
Markets: A Cross-Country Assessment. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 5(2): 219-239.
Kerr, J. et al. (2007) Managing watershed externalities in India: Theory and Practice. Environment, Development and
Sustainability, 9: 263-281.
Week 3: Governing the Commons, Revisited

Cole, D. H. and Ostrom, E. (2011) The Variety of Property Systems and Rights in Natural Resources. Property in Land
and Other Resources, eds. Cole, Daniel H. and Elinor Ostrom. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Available at: http://goo.gl/RupxNZ
‘Property and Power: Mutual Gains and Conflict’ in The CORE Team (2017, 1st edition). The Economy: Economics
for a Changing World. Oxford University Press.

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Additional recommended reading for the WSPM students:

Chomitz, K. Brenes, E. and Constantantino, L. (1999) Financing Environmental Services: the Costa Rican Experience.
The Science of the Total Environment, 240: 157-169
Libecap, G. D. (2007). The assignment of property rights on the western frontier: lessons for contemporary
environmental and resource policy. The Journal of Economic History, 67(2), 257-291.
Meinzen-Dick, R. (2007). Beyond panaceas in water institutions. Proceedings of the national Academy of sciences,
104(39), 15200-15205
Week 4: Instrument Choice

Chapters 8 (139-167) and 9 (168-198) in Keohane and Olmstead, 2nd Edition, 2016.´
Hepburn, C. (2006) Regulation by prices, quantities, or both: a review of instrument choice. Oxford review of
economic policy, 22(2): 226-247.
Additional recommended reading for WSPM students:

Diner, A. (Ed). The Political Economy of Water Pricing Reforms. Oxford University Press, Oxford - GOOD book in
general, in particular, Chapter 8: Hall, D. C. Public choice and water rate design. In: pp 189-212
Grafton, R.Q. et al. (2011) Determinants of Residential water-consumption: Evidence and analysis from a 10-country
household survey. Water Resources Research 47
Jack, K.B. et al. (2008). Designing payments for ecosystem services: Lessons from previous experiences with
incentive-based mechanisms. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 105 (28).
Chapter 2, F. Molle and J. Berkoff (2007). Water Pricing in Irrigation: Mapping the Debate in the Light of Experience.
In, Molle and Berkoff (Eds), Irrigation Water Pricing – The Gap between Theory and Practice. CAB
International.
PHASE I, OTHER ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READINGS

Aldred, J. (2009) The Skeptical Economist. New York & London: Routledge.
Keohane, N.O. and S. Olmstead (2016) Markets and the Environment, 2nd ed. Island Press.
Kolstad, C. (2011 Intermediate Environmental Economics: International Edition, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.
Perman, R., Y. Ma, M. Common, D. Maddison, and J. Mcgilvray (2011). Natural Resources and Environmental
Economics, 4th Edition. Addison Wesley.
Stavins, R., ed. Economics of the Environment: Selected Readings. 6th ed. W. W. Norton Co., 2012.
Wall, D. (2014) The Sustainable Economics of Elinor Ostrom: Commons, contestation and craft. New York & London:
Routledge.
PHASE II, APPLICATIONS

Week 6: Valuation and Choice
Becker, G. (1993) Nobel Laureate: The Economic Way of Looking at Behaviour. The Journal of Political Economy,
101(3): 385-409.
Jack, K. B. et al. (2008) Designing payments for ecosystem services: Lessons from previous experiences with
incentive-based mechanisms. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 105 (28).

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Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J.L. and Thaler, R.H. (1991) Anomalies: The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion and Status Quo
Bias. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(1): 193-206.
Garrick, D. E., Hall, J. W., Dobson, A., Damania, R., Grafton, R. Q., Hope, R., ... & O'Donnell, E. (2017). Valuing water
for sustainable development. Science, 358(6366), 1003-1005
Fenichel, Eli P., et al. "Measuring the value of groundwater and other forms of natural capital." Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences 113.9 (2016): 2382-2387.
Additional optional resources:

Ansar, A., Flyvbjerg, B., Budzier, B. and Lunn, D. (2014). Should we build more dams? Energy Policy, 69: 43-56.
Beckering, P.J.H. van, Cesar, H.S.J. & Janssen, M.A. (2003). Valuation of ecological services of the Leuser National
Park in Sumatra, Indonesia. Ecological Economics44 (1), 43-62.
Bateman, I. and Munro, A. (2006). Household versus Individual Valuation: What’s the Difference? Discussion Paper,
Royal Holloway, London.
Bateman, I.J., Lovett, A.A. and Brainard, J.S. (2005). Applied Environmental Economics: a GIS Approach to Cost-
Benefit Analysis, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Greenhalgh, S. and Sauer, A. (2003). Awakening the Dead Zone: An investment for agriculture, water quality and
climate change. World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C.
Ferrini, S.,M. Schaafsma, and I. Bateman (2014). Revealed and stated preference valuation and transfer: A within-
sample comparison of water quality improvement values, Water Resour. Res., 50, doi:10.1002/ 2013WR014905
IUCN (2004). Value – Counting ecosystems as water infrastructure. Water and Nature Initiative, IUCN, Gland.
Available at: http://data.iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/2004-046.pdf
Pattanayak, S.K. and Kramer, R.A. (2001). Worth of Watersheds: A producer surplus approach for valuing drought
mitigation in eastern Indonesia. Environment and Development Economics 6: 123-146.
Rigby, D., Alcon, F. and Burton, T. (2010.) Supply uncertainty and the economic value of irrigation water. European
Journal of Agricultural Economics 37(1): 97-117.
Thaler, R. and Sunstein, C. (2010) Nudge. Improving Decisions about health, wealth and happiness. Yale University
Press.
Turpie, J. and Joubert, A. (2001). Estimating potential impacts of a change in river quality on the tourism value of
Kruger National Park : An application of travel cost, contingent and conjoint valuation methods. Water SA.
Yang, W. et al (2008). Ecosystem service value assessment for constructed wetlands: A case study in Hangzhou,
China. Ecological Economics, 68: 116-125.
Week 7: Water Pricing

Grafton, R.Q. et al. (2011) Determinants of Residential water-consumption: Evidence and analysis from a 10-country
household survey. Water Resources Research, 47.
Chapter 2 in F. Molle and J. Berkoff (2007) Water Pricing in Irrigation: Mapping the Debate in the Light of Experience.
In, Molle and Berkoff (Eds) Irrigation Water Pricing – The Gap between Theory and Practice. CAB International.
Whittington, D. (2003) Municipal water pricing and tariff design: a reform agenda for South Asia. Water Policy, 5: 61-
76.

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Dinar, A. (Ed.). The Political Economy of Water Pricing Reforms. Oxford University Press, Oxford - GOOD book in
general, in particular, Chaper 8: Hall, D. C. Public choice and water rate design. In: pp 189-212.
Foster, T. and Hope, R.A. (2016). A multi-decadal and social-ecological systems analysis of community waterpoint
payment behaviours in rural Kenya. Journal of Rural Studies, 47: 85-96.
Foster, T., and R. Hope (2017). Evaluating waterpoint sustainability and access implications of revenue collection
approaches in rural Kenya, Water Resour. Res., 53, 1473–1490,doi:10.1002/2016WR019634.
Whittington, D. (2003). Municipal water pricing and tariff design: a reform agenda for South Asia. Water Policy, Vol
5: pp61-76.
Chapter 8 (measured tariffs), In, Walker Review (2009) The Independent Review of Charging for Household water
and sewerage services. Defra, London. At:
http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/water/industry/walkerreview/documents/final-report.pdf
Week 8: Evaluation
Hansen, R. (2007) The digital provide: Information (technology), market performance and welfare in the South Indian
fisheries sector'. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122: 879-924.
Jalan, J. & Ravallion, M. (2003). Does piped water reduce diarrhea for children in rural India? Journal of
Econometrics, 112: 153–173.
Kremer, M., Leino, J., Miguel, E. and Zwane, A.P. (2011) Spring Cleaning: Rural Water Impacts, Valuation, and
Property Rights Institutions. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 126(1): 145-205.

Baker, J L. (2000). Evaluating the impact of development projects on poverty. A handbook for practitioners.
Washington, DC: World Bank.
Hope, R.A. (2007). Evaluating social impacts of watershed development in India. World Development, 35(8): 1436-
1449.
Newman, J.,M. Pradhan, L.B. Rawlings, G. Ridder, R. Coa, and J.L. Evia. (2002). An Impact Evaluation of Education,
Health, and Water Supply Investments by the Bolivian Investment Fund. The World Bank Economic Review
16 (2): 241-274.
World Bank (2006). Impact Evaluation – The Experience of the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank.
World Bank, Washington, D.C.
World Bank (2006) A Guide to Water and Sanitation Sector Impact Evaluation. Doing Impact Evaluation, N0. 4. World
Bank, Washington, D.C. At: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTISPMA/Resources/383704-
1146752240884/Doing_ie_series_04.pdf
World Bank (2008). What Works in Water Supply and Sanitation? Lessons from Impact Evaluations. Summary of
Findings. IEG, World Bank, Washington, D.C.

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Institutional Governance and Regulation
Module Leader and Lecturer: Michael Rouse CBE
Michaelmas Term
Module rationale
The objective of this module is to provide an understanding of the elements of institutional governance and
regulation which are necessary for the delivery of effective, efficient and sustainable water supply and sanitation
services. These same elements have to be in place for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 6.1
and 6.2. There is exploration of critical governance policy matters such as separation of policy and delivery
functions, roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and centralisation/decentralisation issues. There is discussion
on myths and barriers to progress such as the emotive arguments on public or private provision of services. The
module shows various public and private structures all of which can succeed if essential elements are in place,
and all can fail if those essential elements are missing. Emphasis is given to sustainable cost recovery and failures
of subsidies. Water is a capital intensive industry and approaches to financing major infrastructure development
are considered. Examples of transparency and public involvement are given in the context of a participation
structure with examples of community systems. Approaches to economic and quality regulation and regulatory
bodies are considered, and how these evolve through water sector reform. Drinking water safety and regulation
is explored, as is sanitation safety, with emphasis on the management of risk. Approaches and standards related
to environmental water quality are given. The module draws on experience from around the world on what has
worked well and what has contributed to failures. Generally, the elements and principles apply equally to
developed and developing countries, but the module considers circumstances where the requirements are
different.
Teaching approach
The module will be delivered in eight 2 hour sessions during Michaelmas term. The first hour will be a lecture.
There will be more lecture material provided in slides than will be presented in that hour. After a short break the
remaining time will be split between a discussion on a specific topic and team working. Discussion topics will be
chosen from issues related to the lecture of that day, or on a wider topic embracing several aspects. Students are
encouraged at the beginning of the module to propose discussion topics. Students will be advised of each
discussion topic ahead of each session together with associated reference material. Following the discussion
period teams of five will apply the module thinking on problems in countries or cities chosen by each team. The
amount of time taken for the discussion, and the remaining time available for the team work, is a matter for
student consensus preference. Institutional Governance and Regulation is a large subject, and it is important
that students study the lecture material, and associated references, outside the session periods. The selected
team study areas, where possible, will be the same as those in other relevant modules to provide for integrated
thinking on water, sanitation and environmental water matters. Teams are expected to work on their case study
projects between sessions. Each team will produce a plan, presented as a powerpoint presentation at the final
session, recommending solutions to the identified problems and deficiencies. For the module in general, the more
pre-reading by students the greater the opportunity for discussing issues of interest.

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Module outline
Session Description
1 Module Overview and Policy Issues
An overview of the elements of effective governance and a description of the range of private and public
structures. Some key policy issues critical to governance including: (i) Structural options. (ii) Integration and
1a
consolidation. (iii) Types of regulatory structure; importance of separation from government. (iv) Water and
sanitation as a human right (v) Charging policies. (vi) Provisions for the poor (vii) Licensing (viii) Specific policy
Introducing team ‘projects’. Formation of teams. Selection of countries/cities for study. From initial information
1b from students, some additional discussion on issues and problems. Discussion on work required on team projects
before next session. Student proposals for Discussion Topics. Introduction of Discussion Topic for Session 2b.
2 Transparency, Public Participation and Community Systems
Transparency: (i) Importance of transparency. (ii) Anti-corruption measures.

2a Public Participation: (i) A structure for considering degrees and stages of public participation. (ii) Examples of
degrees of involvement. (iii) Citizens Action in relation to International Goals. (iv) Community systems and success
stories.
2b Discussion Topic
2c Work in project teams to consider policy aspects, and identify public participation shortcomings.
3 Institutional Structures, Economic Regulation and Planning and Finance

(i) Regulatory structures including public/private aspects. (ii) Some background theory to economic regulation. (iii)
3a Approaches to finance and cost recovery. (iv) Strategic planning, delivery planning, business planning, some
examples of planning processes (v) How regulation can evolve as part of water sector reform.
3b Discussion Topic
3c Work in project teams to develop public participation, and consider regulation and planning shortcomings.
4 Performance Measures, Benchmarking and Non-revenue Water
(i) (i) Measurement, Audits, Enforcement and Benchmarking. (ii) The important question of non-revenue water
4a
including leakage, its measurement and a key performance indicator.
4b Discussion Topic
4c Work in project teams to develop regulation and planning, and consider performance measures and benchmarking

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5 Water Quality Regulation

i) Threats to the safety of drinking water, and approaches to meeting those threats. (ii) WHO Guidelines and
country standards (iii) Drinking Water Safety Plans - the Bonn Charter and WHO Guidelines (iv) Drinking Water
5a
Quality Regulation (v) Legislation including EU Water Framework Directive (vi) Environmental quality standards.
(vii) Discharges to rivers (viii) Discharges to sewers (v) Sanitation Safety Planning.
5b Discussion Topic
5c Work in project teams to continue on aspects in 2b, 3b and 4b
6 Public Sector Operations

(i) Benefits and limitations of municipal operations (ii) Corporatised public utility concept. (iii) Pro-poor approaches.
6a (iv) Analysis of success stories including discussion on leadership.
6b Discussion Topic
6c Work in project teams on all aspects, and consideration of experience from public operations success stories.
7 Procurement and Private Equity Model
(i) Degrees of use of the private sector. (ii) Principles of successful procurement. (iii) Concession and other
7a contracts. (iv) Partnering. (v) Successes and failures. (vi) The private equity model with examples of England and
Chile.
7b Discussion Topic
7c Work in project teams on all aspects of case studies and begin preparation of team presentations for final session
8 Filling in Gaps and Team Presentations
General Discussion on gaps and issues highlighted during the earlier sessions with additional lecture material if
8a required.
8b Project Team Powerpoint Presentations
Readings
The most important reference for the module is the Module Reference Book. That book provides references on each
of the chapter subjects. The amount of pre-reading is a matter for individual students. Suggested reading is given for
each of the module weeks. Post-lecture reading is equally important especially to consider the content of the lecture
in the context of the project teams’ studies and other case scenarios.
Module Reference Book

Rouse, M. (2013) Institutional Governance and Regulation of Water Services - the Essential Elements. Second Ed. IWA
Publishing. ISBN: 9781780404509. October 2013. www.iwa.org

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Some General References on Governance, Policy and Management

Castro, J.E. and Heller, L. (2009) Water and Sanitation Services, Public Policy and Management, Earthscan. ISBN 978-
1 -84407-656-7
Berg, S.V. Best practices in regulating state-owned and municipal water utilities: Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) LC/W.542 Copyright © United Nations, May 2013
Bakker, K. (2003) Good Governance in Restructuring Municipal Water Supply: A Handbook.
http://www.powi.ca/PDFs/governance/goodgovernance.PDF
Characteristics of well-performing pubic water utilities: World Bank and Water and Sanitation Working Note No 9
May 2006.
Chan, E.S. (2009) Bringing Safe Water to Phnom Penh's City International Journal of Water Resources Development:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title-.content=t713426247; Online publication date: 18 November 2009
Brown, P. and Novotny, V. (2007) Cities of the Future: Towards integrated sustainable water and landscape
management. IWA Publishing. ISBN: 1843391368
Baptiste, Jaime Melo. The Regulation of Water and Wastewater Services. IWA Publishing 2014. ISBN:
9781780406527 (Hardback). ISBN: 9781780406534 (eBook)
OECD (2015). The Governance of Water Regulators, OECD Publishing, Paris.

http//dx.doi.org.10.1787/9789264231092-en
History
Juuti, P.S. and Katko, T.S. Water, Time and European Cities. Available in PDF format [www.watertime.net]. [Valuable
background to why various cities in Europe developed their water supply and sanitation systems in different
ways, and a useful account of historical private sector involvement].
Mallaby, S. (2004) The World's Banker. Penguin Press. ISBN 1 -59420-023-8
Defra and Ofwat (2006). The Development of the Water Industry in England and Wales. Crown Copyright.
Weekly Readings.
Module Reference Book chapters are recommended. Other reading is for consideration. It is recommended that
students also do their own literature research.
Week 1. Module Overview and Policy Issues

Module Reference Book: Chapter 1, Parts 1 and 2
Week 2. Transparency, Public Participation and Community Systems

Module Reference Book: Chapter 5
Other Reading:
Raut, Kalyani, Sustainability of Community Water Supply Systems Managed by Water User Committee – A Case Study
of Rural Water Supply System in Nepal.
https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/277702/Raut2014.pdf

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Flowers, Cara. Literature Scoping on Sustainability of Rural Community-Managed Water Supply Systems. DFID 2009.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/.../DEWPoint_A0231_Mar2009 This provides links to a number of
case studies.
Week 3. Institutional Structures, Economic Regulation, Planning and Finance

Module Reference Book: Chapters 2 and 3
Other Reading:
Dieter, B. Regulation: Theory and Concepts, October 2001. Discussion Paper 32/2001, Bonn Graduate School of
Economics, University of Bonn. (A useful summary of public utility regulatory approaches)
Baldwin, R. and M. Cave (1999) Understanding Regulation: Theory, Strategy and Practice. Oxford University Press.
Franceys, R. and Gerlach, E. (eds). Regulating Water and Sanitation for the Poor: Economic Regulation for Public and
Private Partnerships. Earthscan/DFID 2008. ISBN 978-1 -84407-61 7-8
Financing Water For All. (2003) Report of the World Panel on Financing Water Infrastructure: The Camdessus Report.
[www.worldwatercouncil.org]
Week 4. Performance Measures, Benchmarking and Non-Revenue Water

Other Reading:
Alegre, H., J.M. Baptista, E. Cabrera Jr, F. Cubillo, P. Duarte, W. Hirner, W. Merkel and R. Parena. Performance
Indicators for Water Supply Services, Second Edition, IWA Publishing, 2006. ISBN 9781843390510.
Matos, R., A. Cardoso, R. Ashley, P. Duarte, A. Molinari, and A. Schulz (Eds). Performance Indicators for Wastewater
Services, IWA Publishing, 2003. ISBN 9781900222907
Saleth, R.M. and A.l Dinar. Evaluating Water Institutions and Water Sector Performance. World Bank, 1999. ISBN
0821 34561 3
Cabrera Jr. E., Dane P., Theuretzbacher-Fritz, H. Benchmarking Water Services: Guiding Water Utilities to Excellence.
IWA Publishing /AWWA March 2011. ISBN: 9781843391982
Mugisha, S. Utility Benchmarking and Regulation in Developing Countries – Practical Application of Performance
Monitoring and Incentives. IWA Publishing April 2011. ISBN: 9781843392576
Week 5. Water Quality Regulation.

Module Reference Book: Chapter 4.
Other Reading:
Baldwin, R., et al., Eds. (1998). A Reader on Regulation. Oxford University Press. (Chapter One on Drinking Water
Quality).
Drinking Water Inspectorate 2017. Summary of Annual Report related to the year 2016 -
http://www.dwi.gov.uk/about/annual-report/2016/Drinking_water_2016
Hrudey, S.E. and E. J. Hrudey. Safe Drinking Water - Lessons from Recent Outbreaks in Affluent Nations, IWA
Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1843390426.

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Sanitation Safety Planning. Manual for safe use and disposal of wastewater, greywater and excreta. World Health
Organisation 2015. ISBN 978 92 4 1549240. Available on WHO website www.who.int
Routledge Handbook of Water and Health. Routledge 2015. ISBN: 978-1-138-91007-2 (hbk). ISBN: 978-1-315-69360-
6 (ebk)
Week 6. Public Sector Operations.

Other Reading:
Chan, E.S. Bringing Safe Water to Phnom Penh's City International Journal of Water Resources Development:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title-.content=t713426247; Online publication date: 18 November
2009
Characteristics of well-performing pubic water utilities: World Bank and Water and Sanitation Working Note No 9
May 2006
Week 7. Procurement and Private Equity Model

Module Reference Book: Chapters 8 and 9
Other Reading:
Bauer C.J. (1998). Against the current: privatisation, water markets and the state in Chile. Boston: Kluver..
Barlow, M. and Clarke, T (2002). Blue Gold: The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World's Water. Earthscan.
Gomez-Ibãnez, J.A. et al. (2004) The Future of Private Infrastructure. Working Paper. Tauber Center for State and
Local Government, Harvard University.
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/taubmancenter/publications/papers.htm
Bakker, K.J. (2003) From public to private to mutual? Restructuring water supply governance in England and Wales,
Geoforum Vol 34 (3): 359-374.
Marin, P. Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities - A Review of Experience in Developing Countries.
Trends and Policy Options No 8. World Bank 2009. ISBN 978-0-821 3-7956-1
Week 8. Filling in Gaps and Team Presentations

Module Reference Book. Chapter 10

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Water Quality
Module Leader: Dr Jocelyne Hughes
Teaching staff: Dr Jocelyne Hughes (JH), Prof Paul Whitehead (PW), Dr Pauline Smedley (PS)
Hilary Term
Module rationale
The module will provide a basic understanding of the chemical, geochemical and biological processes taking place
within the hydrological cycle; water-rock interactions, aquatic ecology and ecological functions. These relationships
are all linked by water flows and reactions taking place at different rates within the water cycle. The human and
societal impacts related to water quality and pollution will be discussed and evaluated.
An understanding of the processes and reactions in natural water systems across a wide range of geographical and
climatic regimes is a necessary foundation for understanding human impacts on the hydrological cycle. The first three
lectures will introduce concepts in water quality and highlight human impacts on the natural physical and ecological
cycles. Topics covered include diffuse and point source contamination including agricultural practices giving rise to
eutrophication of surface waters, nitrate pollution which affect many groundwater sources, acidification from
industrial emissions, and other pollution sources that are significant for both surface and groundwater. Processes in
surface waters and groundwater are closely linked and lectures 4 – 6 will stress the physicochemical and geochemical
controls on the composition of natural waters. The module concludes with lectures 7 and 8 on the influence of
biogeochemical cycles on aquatic ecological processes, in rivers, lakes and wetlands, including topics on the impacts
of invasive aquatic species, constructed wetlands for water quality management, water quality ecosystem services,
and the link between water quality and environmental flows.
Teaching approach
The main teaching will be through lectures, discussions or practicals within each session. It is expected that students
should read the specific readings related to the lecture in advance of the session- see texts and resources shown below.
The importance of field and practical work is also stressed and opportunities for these will be offered during the course,
both locally around Oxford and further afield, and where possible these will be interconnected with laboratory
activities.
Learning objectives
The Dorset field trip provides the main introduction to several natural science elements of the course. This will include
an introduction to hydrogeology and ground and surface water quality, including groundwater pollution and also
freshwater biology. Throughout the module the relevance of the science as underpinning management and policy will
be stressed. Students will be asked to maintain the field notebooks provided for observations and field notes during
field or practical sessions.
Opportunities to expand on these themes also exist with the visit to the nearby British Geological Survey and
Environment Agency. Here, field chemistry, laboratory studies and borehole logging of water quality will be

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demonstrated, as well as an understanding of statutory water quality obligations and biological monitoring of UK
rivers. There will be an opportunity for a visit to Otmoor RSPB reserve in the upper Thames catchment (aquatic
ecosystems and invertebrate sampling) in Trinity term.
Module outline

Surface Water Quality and PollutionAn outline of the main principles of water quality
and pollution of surface waters. Determination of key concepts in water pollution;
sources, pathways and impacts. Details of key surface water pollutants (organic,
inorganic, toxins and heavy metals). Rosia, Montana, case study.
1 PW
• Kummerer et al. 2018.
• Whitehead et al 2012.
• Jones 1997. Chapter 8
Acidification
Acidification causes, impacts and processes; international context and approaches to
predict recovery and reverse acidification; case studies from across Europe, North
America and China.
2 PW
• Berner and Berner 2012. Chapter 3

• Whitehead et al. 1997.
Eutrophication
Causes and problems of eutrophication; Water Framework Directive and measures
considered for restoration; estuarine eutrophication and case studies including the
3 Axford Public Enquiry. PW
• Berner and Berner 2012. Chapters 5-7

• Chislock et al 2013.
Groundwater quality and the hydrological cycle
An overview of groundwater and the hydrological cycle from a geochemical
perspective: from rainwater to groundwater, chemical reactions
(dissolution/precipitation, ion exchange, sorption, redox), evolution along flow lines,
4 groundwater residence times. PS
• Hiscock and Bense 2014. Chapters 1, 4, 5, 8, 9.

• Edmunds and Shand 2008. Chapters 1-8.

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Groundwater, geochemistry and impacts

Groundwater quality in relation to health; natural biogeochemical reactions and their
impacts on water supply; impacts of pyrite oxidation; case studies on arsenic and
fluoride in groundwater.
5 PS
• Edmunds and Smedley 2013.

• Fendorf et al. 2010.
Groundwater Baselines and Pollution

Groundwater baselines in space and time; establishing the baseline; departures from
the baseline - nitrate in groundwater, pesticides, emerging contaminants, urban
6
impacts; case studies on shale gas in the context of groundwater quality. PS
• Vidic et al. 2013.

Aquatic ecosystems
Introduction to biota, structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. Spatial and
temporal changes in response to the dynamics of the physical environment. Aquatic
ecosystem services and environmental flows
7 JH
• Moss (2018) Chapters 2, 3, 17 and 18

• Tharme, R. et al. in Hughes (2018) Chapter 2
Wetlands and water quality

Introduction to the structure, function and productivity of wetlands; responses to
spatial and temporal hydrological changes; nutrient cycling and carbon storage;
wetland ecosystem services; constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment.
8 JH
• Mitsch and Gosselink (2015) Choose a chapter or section that interests you
• ‘Wetland Functions & Values- chapters 1-4’, four youtube videos by
Connecticut Dept. of Energy & Environmental Protection -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3WZDZFvTZQ
Introductory readings
Berner, E.A and Berner R.A. 2012. Global Environment: Water, Air, and Geochemical Cycles (Second Edition.
Princeton University Press.
Bronmark, C & Hansson, L-A (2005) The Biology of Lakes and Ponds. 2nd ed., OUP.
Chislock, M. F., Doster, E., Zitomer, R. A. and Wilson, A. E. (2013) Eutrophication: Causes, Consequences, and
Controls in Aquatic Ecosystems. Nature Education Knowledge, 4, 10.
https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/eutrophication-causes-consequences-and-controls-in-
aquatic-102364466
Edmunds W.M and Shand P. (2008) Natural Groundwater Quality. Blackwell. Chs 1&9

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Edmunds, W. M. and Smedley, P.L. (2013) Chapter 13: Fluoride in natural waters. In: Essentials of Medical Geology,
Second Edition. Eds: Selinus, O., Alloway, B., Centeno, J.A., Finkelman, R.B., Fuge, R., Lindh, U. and Smedley,
P.L. Springer, pp 311-336.
Fendorf, S. Michael, H. and van Geen, A. (2010) Spatial and temporal variations of groundwater arsenic in South and
Southeast Asia. Science, 28, 1123-1127.
Giller, P S & Malmqvist, B (1998) The Biology of Streams and Rivers. OUP (a great introduction to aquatic ecology).
Hem J.D. 1985 Study and interpretation of the chemical characteristics of natural waters. Water Supply paper 2254.
(Third edition) Downloadable as PDF from USGS: http://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/wsp2254/html/PDF.html
Hiscock, K.M. and Bense, V.F. 2014. Hydrogeology: principles and practice. Second Edition. Wiley Blackwell. (Note
the First Edition (2005) is also suitable).
Hughes, J.M.R. (ed.) (2018) Freshwater Ecology and Conservation: Approaches and Techniques. Oxford University
Press.
Jones, J.A.A. (1997) Global hydrology: processes, resources and environmental management. Longman, Harlow.
Kummerer, K., Dionysiou, D.D., Olsson, O. and Fatta-Kassinos, D. (2018) A path to clean water. Science, 361, 223-
224.
Mitsch WJ & Gosselink JG (2007) Wetlands, John Wiley & Sons, 4th edition.
Moss, B (2017) Ecology of Freshwaters: A View for the 21st Century. 5th ed., Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford.
Vidic et al. (2013) Impact of shale gas development on regional water quality. Science, 340, DOI:
10.1126/science.1235009.
Whitehead, P.G., Battarbee, R.W., Crossman, J., Elliott, J.A., Wilby, R., Monteith, D.T. and Kernan, M. (2012) River
and lake water quality: future trends. NERC/Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/17812/
Whitehead, P.G., Barlow, J., Hayworth, E.Y. and Adamson, J.K. (1997) Acidification in Three Lake District Tarns.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 1, 197-204.

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Water and Health
Module Leader: Prof David Bradley and Dr Katrina Charles
Teaching staff: Prof David Bradley and Dr Katrina Charles
Michaelmas Term & Hilary Term
Module rationale
Water plays a key part in the causation, transmission and prevention of many diseases as well as being essential for
life and health. The core module explains the scale and nature of the health risks related to water, including domestic
water use, waste water and sanitation, hygiene behaviour, water resource development and environmental water.
Emphasis is on communicable diseases and their prevention by good water management; non-communicable diseases
are also introduced. The epidemiology of the major water-related diseases will be taught in relation to a functional
classification of these diseases. Rural and urban domestic water supplies are considered, both in tropical and
temperate climates and in poor and rich societies, and the health problems related to both water access and water
quality. The health effects of a range of water improvements are considered, and the methods of measuring these
benefits critically examined. Sanitation, the disposal of human wastes, and hygiene behaviour are also similarly
considered. The range of diseases related to surface waters and water resource developments are reviewed, together
with their vectors and intermediate hosts, along with health impacts and opportunity assessments, and particularly
environmental control of diseases. Risk-related interventions, including water safety plans, will be covered, as will
effects of climate and other environmental changes.
The module assumes no health background on the part of students. It therefore also teaches basic epidemiological
principles (which are also of value beyond the health field), mainly through practical exercises in relation to water.
Other aspects of water-related health are dealt with on the induction course, Otmoor, and in relation to other modules
and visits.
By the end of the course, participants should have sufficient understanding of health issues in relation to water that
they can ask appropriate questions on human health of any project they undertake, can critically read expert reports
that they may commission; have a sense of the work involved in dealing with any health-related problem they
encounter; and have a good basis for more specialized study if they wish to pursue health and water issues further.
Teaching approach
The core module comprises eight morning sessions which combine lectures with discussions, and practical afternoon
sessions will take up epidemiological methodology, microbiology of pathogens and indicator micro-organisms and of
water-related tropical parasites and their insect and other vectors, and exercises on water-related outbreak
investigation and control and on health impact assessment for water resource developments. Teaching will be
complemented by a field visit to Otmoor nature reserve in Trinity Term to illustrate the interaction of health
preservation and nature conservation, site visits to water and sewage treatment works in Wessex and in Spain. Some
disease-related work will be included in practicals for other modules.

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Module outline
Term CLASS DESCRIPTION LECTURER

Epidemiology and Control of Water-Related Diseases.
Water and Health. Overall relations of health opportunities and disease risks for all
aspects of domestic water, wastes and sanitation, ambient waters and water
resource development. Effects of climate, economy and environmental
interventions. Global burdens of water-related disease and consequences for
public health. Communicable disease epidemiology in relation to water and
sanitation provision and hygiene behaviour, and the functional classification of
water-related disease (WRD) transmission processes. Water and the transport and
health consequences of non-communicable disease agents.
Sobsey, M.D. 2015. Waterbome and water-washed disease, in Bartram, J. et al.
1 (eds) Routledge Handbook of Water and Health. London and New York: Routledge. DB
Pp 38-50.
Bartram, J. and Hunter, P. 2015. Bradley classification of disease transmission
routes for water-related hazards, in Bartram, J. et al. (eds) Routledge Handbook of
Water and Health. London & New York: Routledge. Pp 20-37.
Bartram J, Cairncross S (2010) Hygiene, Sanitation, and Water: Forgotten
Michaelmas term
Foundations of Health. PLoS Med 7(11): el 000367.doi:1 0.1371 /journal.pmed.1

000367. Published 9 November http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/1
0.1371 /journal.pmed.1 000367 [There are three linked papers in addition].
Health Aspects of Rural and Urban Domestic Water Supply

Water access and quality in tropical poor countries as an archetype of health in
relation to water use and improvements in rural supply. Faecal-oral disease
transmission cycles and household water management and treatment. Epidemic
and endemic diseases. Basic pathogen biology. Epidemiology of major waterborne
diseases: diarrhoeal and other pathogens. Disease outbreaks and their
investigation and management. Epidemiology and survival of pathogens in excreta
and sewage. Measuring disease and transmission of infection, and effects of
2 intervention. Introduction to indicators and monitoring. DB
Thompson, J., Ina T Porras, J K Tumwine, M R Mujwahuzi, M. Katui-Katua, Nick

Johnstone, Libby Wood 2002. Drawers of water II: 30 years of change in domestic
water use and environmental health. Overview. London: IIED.
http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/9049IIED.pdf
Johnson, Steven (2006). The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying
Epidemic – and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World. Riverhead
Books. ISBN 1-59448-925-4

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Curtis, V and Cairncross, A. 2003. Effect of washing hands with soap on diarrhoea
risk in the community: a systematic review. Lancet Infect Dis. 3(5):275–281. doi:
10.1016/S1473-3099(03)00606-6.
Water-based, Zoonotic and Vectorborne Diseases related to Water

Parasitic Diseases. Zoonotic and opportunist infections. Life cycles of vector–borne
diseases (VBD) in relation to water, sanitation, and water resources development.
Applied ecology of insect vectors and of intermediate host snails in relation to
water developmentsion. Malaria. Schistosomiasis. Arboviruses. Emerging
infections and changing patterns of water-related disease. Major epidemics.
Gerba, C.P. and Nichols, G. 2015. Water-based disease and microbial growth', in
Bartram, J. et al. (eds) Routledge Handbook of Water and Health. London and New
3 York: Routledge. Pp 51-70. DB
Autino, B., Noris, A., Russo, R., & Castelli, F. (2012). Epidemiology of Malaria in
Endemic Areas. Mediterranean Journal of Hematology and Infectious Diseases,
4(1), e2012060. http://doi.org/10.4084/MJHID.2012.060
Colley, D. G., Bustinduy, A. L., Secor, W. E., & King, C. H. (2014). Human
schistosomiasis. The Lancet, 383(9936), 2253-2264. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-
6736(13)61949-2
Water Resource Development and Disease Control

Health consequences of water resource development. Life cycle of developments.
Interactions with engineering, population, agriculture and conservation. Water
management in disease control. Interdisciplinary aspects of health management.
Ways to conceptualize the issues: population biology and genetics; behavioural
and landscape epidemiology. Public health strategy and its relations to global
development goals: MDGs, SDGs and JMP; disease control, disease eradication,
health and wellbeing.
Birley, M. H. 1991Guidelines for Forecasting the Vector-borne Disease:
4 DB/KC
Implications of Water Resources Development 2nd edition, 1991 PEEM
secretariat, WHO, Geneva PEEM Guidelines 2 Joint WHO/FAO/UNEP/UNCHS Panel
of Experts on Environmental Management for Vector Control WHO/CWS/91.3
Distr.: general . (VBC/89.6) WHO_CWS_91.3_eng.pdf
Environmental management for vector control World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/vectcont/en/ This
will take you to part of the WHO web site and below the text are 3 (A-C) download
buttons. The material is rather old but gives a sound account of methods relevant
to water resources development, especially for irrigated agriculture.

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Kirchherr, J., Pohlner, H. and Charles, K.J. (2016) Cleaning up the big muddy: A
meta-synthesis of the research on the social impact of dams. Environmental
Impact Assessment Review. 60, Pages 115–125
Water Safety Plans: a risk based approach to water quality management
Over two sessions we will use a risk-based framework to explore drinking water
management, drawing on case studies of outbreaks, incidents and health risk
management in drinking water supplies, with a focus on developed countries. This
first session addresses catchment management, wastewater treatment and the
multiple barrier approach.
Charles, K. (2015). Chapter 23 Water Safety Plans. In J Bartram et al. (eds),

5 “Routledge Handbook of Water and Health". Routledge. KC
Gunnarsdottir, M. J., S. M. Gardarsson, M. Elliott, G. Sigmundsdottir and J. Bartram

(2012b). "Benefits of water safety plans: Microbiology, compliance, and public
health." Environmental science & technology 46(14): 7782-7789.
Omar, Y. Y., Parker, A., Smith, J. A., & Pollard, S. J. (2017). Risk management for
drinking water safety in low and middle income countries-cultural influences on
water safety plan (WSP) implementation in urban water utilities. Science of the
Hilary term
Total Environment, 576, 895-906.
Water Safety Plans: a risk based approach to water quality management

Following on from the previous week, we will continue to explore risk-based
approaches to drinking water management, focusing on water treatment,
distribution systems, and the consumer.
Kot, M., Castleden, H., & Gagnon, G. A. (2014). The human dimension of water
safety plans: a critical review of literature and information gaps. Environmental
Reviews, 23(1), 24-29.
6 Larsson, C., Andersson, Y., Allestam, G., Lindqvist, A., Nenonen, N., & Bergstedt, O. KC
(2014). Epidemiology and estimated costs of a large waterborne outbreak of
norovirus infection in Sweden. Epidemiology & Infection, 142(3), 592-600.
Mahmud, S. G., Shamsuddin, S. A. J., Ahmed, M. F., Davison, A., Deere, D., &
Howard, G. (2007). Development and implementation of water safety plans for
small water supplies in Bangladesh: benefits and lessons learned. Journal of water
and health, 5(4), 585-597.

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Household drinking water treatment

Point of use drinking water treatment approaches offer an important tool for
protecting health. However, there are limitations on when and where they will be
effective. Through this session we will explore the causes of poor household
drinking water quality, and how it is measured. We will investigate the difference
between efficacy and effectiveness of POU treatment methods. We will consider
the opportunities and risks for promotion of household drinking water treatment.
Luby, S. P., Agboatwalla, M., Painter, J., Altaf, A., Billhimer, W., Keswick, B., &
7 Hoekstra, R. M. (2006). Combining drinking water treatment and hand washing for KC
diarrhoea prevention, a cluster randomised controlled trial. Tropical medicine &
international health, 11(4), 479-489.
Vandewalle, E., & Jepson, W. (2015). Mediating water governance: point‐of‐use
water filtration devices for low‐income communities along the US–Mexico border.
Geo: Geography and Environment, 2(2), 107-121.
Waddington, H., & Snilstveit, B. (2009). Effectiveness and sustainability of water,
sanitation, and hygiene interventions in combating diarrhoea. Journal of
development effectiveness, 1(3), 295-335.
Sanitation in low income settings
This session will focus on sanitation in rural and urban low income communities,
critically reviewing the narratives and evidence of health risks/benefits, and the
major challenges to improving access to sanitation and achieving effective health
gains.
Exley, J. L., Liseka, B., Cumming, O., & Ensink, J. H. J. (2015). The sanitation ladder,
what constitutes an improved form of sanitation? Environmental science &
8 technology, 49(2), 1086-1094. KC
Mara, D., Lane, J., Scott, B., & Trouba, D. (2010). Sanitation and health. PLoS
medicine, 7(11), e1000363.
Sahoo, K. C., Hulland, K. R., Caruso, B. A., Swain, R., Freeman, M. C., Panigrahi, P.,
& Dreibelbis, R. (2015). Sanitation-related psychosocial stress: a grounded theory
study of women across the life-course in Odisha, India. Social Science & Medicine,
139, 80-89.
What is the benefit of WASH for health?

In the wake of the SHINE and Wash Benefits trials, there is conflicting information
on the benefits of WASH for health. This session is designed to help students
9 develop their ability to critically assess research in this area, and the evidence to KC/DB
advocate for WASH investment.
Students will be assigned readings from the SHINE and WASH Benefits trials, and
academic and policy discussions around these papers.

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Introductory and Reference readings

Bartram, J., Baum, R., Coclanis, P. A., Gute, D. M., Kay, D., McFadyen, S., Pond, K., Robertson, W., Rouse, M. J. (2015).
Routledge handbook of water and health. Taylor and Francis Inc. DOI: 10.4324/9781315693606
Cairncross A and Feachem RG. 1993. Environmental Health Engineering in the Tropics; an Introductory Text. (2nd
ed.) Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Curtis, V. (2013). Don't look, don't touch: The science behind revulsion. OUP Oxford.
Drechsel, P., Scott, C.A., Raschid-Sally, L., Redwood, M. & Bahri, A. (eds). 2010 Wastewater Irrigation and Health:
Assessing and Mitigating Risk in Low-Income Countries. London: Earthscan
Evans, B.; Bartram, J.; Hunter, P.; Williams, A.R.; Geere, J.A.; Majuru, B.; Bates, L.; Fisher, M.; Overbo, A.; Schmidt,
W.P. Public health and social benefits of at-house water supplies. Final Report. University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
(2013) vi + 53 pp.
Feachem RG, MG McGarry and D Mara (eds) 1977. Water, Waste and Health in Hot Climates, New York: Wiley.
Feachem RG, Bradley DJ, Garelick H and Mara DD. 1983. Sanitation and Disease: Health Aspects of Excreta and
Wastewater Management. Chichester: John Wiley
Fewtrell , L & Bartram J. 2001. Water quality: guidelines, standards, and health : assessment of risk and risk
management for water-related infectious disease. London: IWA Pub., 2001. on behalf of the World Health
Organization.
Gray, N. F. 2010. Water Techhnology; An introduction for Environmental Scientists and Engineers. 3rd Edition.
London: IWA Publishing
Hrudey, E. J. (2004). Safe drinking water: lessons from recent outbreaks in affluent nations. IWA publishing.
Hunter, P. R. 1997. Waterborne disease : epidemiology and ecology. Chichester: John Wiley.
Jobin W (1999) Dams and disease. Ecological design and health impacts of large dams, canals and irrigation systems.
E&FN Spon, London and New York.
Mack, A., & Choffnes, E. R. (Eds.). (2009). Global Issues in Water, Sanitation, and Health: Workshop Summary.
National Academies Press.
Mara, DD and Evans, BE (2011) Sanitation and Water Supply in Low-income Countries. Ventus Publishing . ISBN 978-
87-7681-866-1
Oomen JMV, De Wolf J, Jobin WR (1988) Health and irrigation. Incorporation of disease control measures in
irrigation, a multi faceted task in design, construction, operation. Volume 2. ILRI Publication 45, International
Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement, Wageningen.
Oomen JMV, De Wolf J, Jobin WR (1990) Health and irrigation. Incorporation of disease control measures in
irrigation, a multi faceted task in design, construction, operation. Volume 1. ILRI Publication 45, International
Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement, Wageningen.
Prüss-Ustün, A., et al. (2014), Burden of disease from inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene in low- and middle-
income settings: a retrospective analysis of data from 145 countries. Tropical Medicine & International
Health. Doi: 10.1111/tmi.12329
Smith, PG; Morrow, RH; Ross, DA (2015). Field Trials of Health Interventions: A Toolbox. Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press.
Tumwine, J. K., Thompson, J., Katua‐Katua, M., Mujwajuzi, M., Johnstone, N., Wood, E., & Porras, I. (2002). Diarrhoea
and effects of different water sources, sanitation and hygiene behaviour in East Africa. Tropical Medicine &
International Health, 7(9), 750-756.

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WELL. 1998. Water, Engineering, and Development Centre. Guidance manual on water supply and sanitation
programmes. Loughborough: WEDC for DFID.
White GF, Bradley DJ and White AU. 1972. Drawers of Water: Domestic Water Use in East Africa, Chicago: Chicago
University Press.

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Water Policy
Module Leader: Professor Rob Hope and Dr Dustin Garrick
Teaching Staff: Professor Rob Hope, Dr Dustin Garrick and Johanna Koehler
Hilary Term
Module rationale
Policy sets the principles and priorities guiding institutions and society. The policy process is dynamic and contested,
moulded by laws, custom and politics. This module explores water policy providing an introduction to theory, methods
and practice drawing upon case studies from around the world. The first three classes introduce key concepts around
policy, politics and institutional analysis. The following five classes explore the translation of policy into thematic
domains applicable in the global context, including Human Rights, Property Rights, Decentralisation, Competition,
Social Choice and Evaluation. The overall learning outcome of the module is to provide students with the skills and
knowledge to understand, interpret and evaluate policy from design to implementation to evaluation.
Teaching approach
The module will comprise lectures, discussions and group activities. Lectures of two hours duration will be given, with
discussion time included within each lecture. Students will be given short preparatory reading lists prior to lectures.
Students will have opportunities to engage more deeply with this material through activities in the Water Management
module, including reading circles, policy debates and workshops, and field trips.
Module outline
Class Description Lecturer

Water Policy
Theory, methods and concepts that underpin the characteristics of water policy in the
1 areas of water resources and water services will be introduced to inform the structure and RH
logic of the module.
Policy as Politics
Epistemological perspectives will introduce theoretical approaches to water politics
2 including practice, discourse, hegemony, political ecology and structuration. Case studies RH
will illustrate how different theories manifest and influence policy.
Public Policy and Institutional Analysis

The policy process will be defined and debated to understand the how water policy is
3 DG
developed and implemented. Methods for assessing the effectiveness of public policy will

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be illustrated through case studies at different levels of governance, including national

water law, river basin planning and water users associations.
Human Rights and Property Rights

Water has been recognised as a human right, but it is also governed by systems of formal
or informal property rights setting rules about who gets water, how much and when. The
4 DG
similarities, differences and relationships between the human right and property rights to
water will be explored in laws, policies and practice.
Competition and Cooperation

Increasing competition between water users and sectors is placing water resources under
pressure, creating strong connections between urban and rural regions, industry and
5 agriculture, and communities and ecology. Existing and emerging models for cooperation DG
and conflict resolution are reviewed and discussed with examples from local and regional
contexts around the world.
Decentralisation
Decentralisation is a process of state reform transferring political authority,
implementation responsibilities or budget decisions to lower levels of government.
6 JK
Decentralisation of water services and water resource management is a longstanding trend
dating from the 1980s in both developing and developed countries.
Social Choice
We explore the extent to which policy reflects the choices of people. The nature of social
choice mechanisms is examined through ‘Impossibility Theorem’, ‘information asymmetry’
7 RH
and the ‘Principle-Agent Problem’. We question approaches to public participation in
water policy drawing upon anthropological, sociological and economic perspectives.
Evaluation
The purpose of policy is in theory to improve social, economic and environmental
outcomes. The degree to which water policy achieves these goals is evaluated differently
7 across time and space. Different actors, knowledge, perspectives and methods result in RH
inevitably different conclusions. We explore the nature of water policy evaluation, its
reproduction and implications.
Introductory readings*
Briscoe, J. (2011) Invited opinion interview: Two decades at the center of world water policy. Water Policy 13:
pp147–160.

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Conca, K. (2005) Governing Water. Contentious Transnational Politics and Global Institution Building. MIT Press.
Conca, K. and Weinthal, E., Eds. 2017. The Oxford Handbook of Water Politics and Policy. Oxford University Press.
Online access at:
http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199335084.001.0001/oxfordhb-
9780199335084
Connell, D. (2007). Water Politics in the Murray Darling Basin. Federation Press.
de Albuquerque, C. (2014). Realising the human rights to water and sanitation: A Handbook by the UN Special
Rapporteur. UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation. Available from
http://www.righttowater.info/handbook/
Fleck, J. (2016). Water is for fighting over…and other myths about Western Water. Island Press.
Garrick, DE. (2015). Water Allocation in Rivers under Pressure: Water Trading, Transaction Costs and Transboundary
Governance. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Press
Grey D & Sadoff C. (2007). Sink or Swim? Water Security for Growth and Development. Water Policy Vol. 9, No. 6.
pp 545- 571.
Ingram, H. (1971). Patterns of Politics in Water Resources Development. Natural Resources Journal. 11: 102.
Mehta, L. (2001). The manufacture of popular perceptions of scarcity: Dams and water-related narratives in Gujarat,
India. World Development 29 (12): 2025-2041.
Meinzen-Dick, R. (2007). Beyond panaceas in water institutions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
vol. 104 no. 39 15200-15205
Molle, F. and P. Wester. (2009). River Basin Trajectories: Societies, Environments and Development. IWMI
Mollinga, P. (2008) Water, Politics and Development: Framing a political sociology of water resources management.
Water Alternatives 1(1): 1-23.
Mosse, D. (1997) The Symbolic Making of a Common Property Resource: History, Ecology and Locality in a Tank-
irrigated Landscape in South India. Development and Change Vol. 28 (1997), 467-504
Mullin, M. (2009). Governing the Tap: Special District Governance and the New Local Politics of Water. MIT Press,
280 pages.
Norman, E., C. Cook, and A. Cohen (eds) (2015) Negotiating Water Governance: Why the Politics of Scale Matter.
Ashgate
Sabatier, P, editor. (2007). Theories of the Policy Process. 2nd edition. Westview Press.
Saberwal, V.K. (1998). Science and the Desiccationist Discourse of the 20th Century. Environmental History. 3:309-43
Swyngedouw, E. (1999) Modernity and Hybridity: Nature, Regeneracionismo, and the production of the Spanish
Waterscape, 1890–1930. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 89(3):443–465.
Wallace, T., & Coles, A. (2005). Gender, water and development. Berg.
Winkler, I. T. (2014). The human right to water: significance, legal status and implications for water allocation.
Bloomsbury Publishing.
*Disclaimer: Introductory readings are provided for background purposes. Readings will be updated before the Hilary
Term.

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Water Management
Module Leaders: Dr Jocelyne Hughes & Prof Edmund Penning-Rowsell
Teaching Staff: Jocelyne Hughes (JH), David Grey (DG), Edmund Penning-Rowsell (EP-R),
Christine McCulloch (CM), Michael Rouse (MR), David Bradley (DB), David Johnstone (DJ),
Katrina Charles and Louise Slater (LS)
Michaelmas, Hilary & Trinity Terms
Module rationale
Effective water management, whether it is of water supply, water resources or water security and risks, requires
complex, interdisciplinary knowledge of water. It requires knowledge from the natural sciences of how water behaves,
as precipitation, surface water, groundwater, and as a habitat for aquatic organisms. It requires knowledge from the
social sciences of how people interact with water, and how policy is developed and implemented. But beyond these,
effective water management also requires a critical understanding of the interaction of the natural and social sciences,
and to go beyond the academic to understand how the water industry works in practice.
This module is designed to complement the other core modules, helping students to develop a more integrated
understanding of the academic and practical aspects of water science and policy to support water management
through a range of learning experiences. Students will develop an understanding of how evidence is produced, and
how it can be used and communicated effectively to inform change; as well as an understanding of how trade-offs
between water ‘sectors’ occur in practice, considering the political and practical aspects of decision making and policy
implementation.
Intended learning outcomes

• Critical understanding of the interactions and trade-offs between water sectors and water management in
academic and practitioner environments;
• The ability to formulate and communicate compelling arguments in water management, appropriate for
different stakeholders.
Teaching approach
The module uses a combination of lectures, workshops, seminars, reading circles, online materials and field trips, from
core staff as well as invited speakers. Sessions will be diverse to give students a range of learning experience and
opportunities to engage with a broad range of researchers and practitioners. Lectures and seminars will be used to
explore core module content in a practitioner focused setting. Formative assessments will provide the basis for
students to develop argumentative writing and critical thinking skills. Field trips and interactive workshops will provide
a forum to develop a deeper understanding of water management in practice and contextualise and synthesise
material across the core modules.

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Module outline
The content and timing of individual sessions may vary depending on speaker availability (for indoor sessions) and
weather (for fieldtrips).
Term Description Leader

Induction Field Trip, Dorset
A residential fieldtrip to explore the scientific and policy aspects of water management JH
around the Swanage area of Dorset.
Jubilee River Field Trip: managing the river channel into London
Appraisal of a flood alleviation channel on the River Thames near to Windsor: all-day visit EP-R
and on-site discussion.
Reading Circles part 1
Critical appraisal of significant books dealing with key water issues and management in a CM
variety of geographical regions. Formatively assessed book review.
Water Security part 1
DG
Introduction to the water security challenges of the 21st century from a global perspective.
Water Security part 2: Turbulent Waters – Managing International Rivers
MT Interactive session on the special policy and political challenges associated with DG
international watercourses.
Farmoor Field Trip: managing the supply of drinking water
Visit to Thames Water’s Farmoor Reservoir and water treatment works, supplying the
DJ/JH
Oxford region with drinking water. Hosted by Thames Water- half day site visit and indoor
discussion/lecture.
Policy controversies: memo and debate
A two-part exercise to debate major water policy controversies. Students prepare memos
JH
independently (part 1) to generate evidence for their position/s. Memos serve as
preparation for team-debates (part 2) on competing ‘sides’ of policy controversies.
Wessex Field Trip: managing effluent and water quality
Visit to Wessex Water’s Avonmouth plant for wastewater and sewage treatment (near to DJ
Bristol). All-day visit hosted by Wessex Water- indoor lecture/discussion and site visit.
Reading Circles part 2
Critical appraisal of significant books dealing with key water issues and management in a CM
variety of geographical regions. Formatively assessed book review.
Water and Gender
Exploration of gender issues in the management of water: half-day session with KC
HT presentations and discussions
Dams, reservoirs and water storage
A two-part session on the political ecology of long-term water storage; and the Grand KW/CM
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

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Water Security part 3 JH/DG

Crosscutting case studies at different scales, ranging from basins and aquifers, to dry lands
and the Tropics. These case studies are designed to connect multiple course sessions and
activities across a range of geographic contexts.
City Water
Presentations by core staff and student-led discussions to consider the challenges of urban
MR/JH
water, sanitation, wastewater and flooding, plus associated governance and management
issues. Half-day workshop and discussion.
British Geological Survey and Environment Agency Field Trip
Indoor talks, discussions and site visits to a) BGS- managing groundwater, science and
research, and b) EA- the statutory organisation managing and monitoring surface water JH/LS
(quantity and quality) in the UK. All-day trip to BGS and EA in Wallingford.
Evenlode River Field Trip: water management through a catchment partnership

Half-day field trip to the Evenlode catchment in the Upper Thames, to meet stakeholders EP-R/JH
and discuss key issues.
Ebro field trip: integrated water management
A residential fieldtrip to explore scientific and policy aspects of water management in the JH
Ebro river basin in Spain.
Otmoor Field Trip: management and assessment of a created wetland
Macroinvertebrate surveys for water quality assessment in a created wetland in the upper
TT DB/JH
River Thames catchment. Practical field work followed by a guided visit by the reserve
manager to understand the water management context of the wetland creation scheme.
Indicative readings (also see field trip handbooks and session hand-outs)
Erlikh, H. (2002) The Cross and the River: Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Frid, C. and Dobson, M. (2013) The Ecology of Aquatic Management (2nd edition). Oxford University Press.
Hahn, H. P., Cless, K., & Soentgen, J. (Eds.). (2012). People at the well: kinds, usages and meanings of water in a
global perspective. Campus Verlag.
Mithen, S. (2012) Thirst: For Water and Power in the Ancient World. Harvard University Press.
Pahl-Wostl, C., Bhaduri, A. and Gupta, J. (eds.) (2016) Handbook on Water Security. Edward Elgar.
Sadoff, C. W., & Grey, D. (2002) Beyond the river: the benefits of cooperation on international rivers. Water
policy, 4(5), 389-403.

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RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Module Leader: Dr Jocelyne Hughes
Michaelmas, Hilary & Trinity Term
Module rationale
Conceptualizing, designing and executing research that generates new knowledge is a fundamental process and
skill for postgraduate students to learn. This programme will support students to develop their ideas into
successful research projects.
Learning outcomes
• Conceptualize and articulate research questions appropriate for a 3-month MSc dissertation;
• Write a critical evaluation and analysis of the literature, rather than a summary;
• Professionally plan and execute primary research with appropriate ethical standards and risk assessment;
• Acquire foundational knowledge and use key geographic research methods and skills.
Teaching approach
This module will use a combination of workshops, seminars, demonstrations and hands-on experiences
throughout the three terms to guide students through the research design process and give them an opportunity
to engage with key geographic research methods. Workshops and seminars with DPhil students and alumni will
provide opportunities for students to engage with peers across different disciplines to learn about their
experiences in undertaking their first independent research project. Students will present their dissertation
research design to the class and a panel of faculty staff for evaluation and feedback.
Module outline
Week Michaelmas Hilary

1 Research Design Dissertation planning
2 Epistemology Student Presentations
3 Methodology Ethics
4 Presenting Arguments Proposal funding
5 Fieldwork Planning Risk Assessment
6 Topic Selection
7 Research Question Exam skills
8 Literature Analysis Writing a dissertation
Research Skills workshops will be delivered by a range of lecturers from across the department on topics including
focus group discussions, key informant interviews, ethnographic skills, and survey design and analysis.
Indicative readings

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Braude, S. and Low, B. (2010) An Introduction to Methods and Models in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology.
Princeton University Press, Oxford.Bryman, A. (2012) Social Research Methods. OUP: Oxford.
Clifford, N.J. and Valentine, G. (2003) Key Methods in Geography. Sage: London.
Kanbur, R. (2003) Q-Squared. Qualitative and Quantitative Methods of Poverty Appraisal. Permanent Black: Delhi (Also,
see Cornell University webpages)
Karban, R., Huntzinger, M. Pearse, I.S. and Karban, R. (2014) How to Do Ecology: A Concise Handbook. 2nd edition.
Princeton University Press, New Jersey and Oxford
.
Locke et al. (2007) Proposals that work. A guide for planning dissertations and grant proposals. Sage: Thousand Oaks,
CA.
Marsland et al. (2001) Combining qualitative (informal) and quantitative (formal) research methods. SSC: Reading.
Medawar, P. B. (1979) Advice to a Young Scientist. Basic Books.
Poteete, A, M. Janssen, and E. Ostrom. 2010. Working Together: Collective Action, the commons, and Multiple
Methods in Practice. Princeton University Press.
Ragin, C.C. (2008) Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy sets and beyond. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
Vaccaro, I., Smith, E.A. and Aswani, S. (2010) Environmental Social Sciences: Methods and Research Design. Cambridge
University Press.
Weston, A. (2008) A Rulebook for Arguments. 4th edition. Hackett Pub Co.
Yin, R. K. (2014) Case study research: Design and methods. 5th Edition. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.

66
SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY
AND THE ENVIRONMENT
MSc/MPhil WATER SCIENCE, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT

Academic Director: Dr Simon Dadson
Course Director: Dr Jocelyne Hughes COURSE HANDBOOK
2018–2019
CONTACTS:
Tel: +44 (0)1865 285120
Email: msc-coordinator-ecm-wspm@ouce.ox.ac.uk
SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY
AND THE ENVIRONMENT
OUCE, South Parks Road
Oxford OX1 3QY
United Kingdom
W: www.geog.ox.ac.uk

WSPM Course Handbook 2018-2019

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WSPM Course Handbook 2018-2019

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SCHOOL OF GEOGRAPHY

AND THE ENVIRONMENT

MSc/MPhil WATER SCIENCE, POLICY AND MANAGEMENT

WSPMCoursebk_COVERS_2018.indd 1 11-Sep-18 7:40:20 PM

The Examination Regulations relating to this course are available at www.admin.ox.ac.uk/examregs/

MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management

2018: version 1.0

For the latest version of this handbook please see

WSPMCoursebk_COVERS_2018.indd 2 11-Sep-18 7:40:20 PM

… and to the International Graduate School

As the Director of Graduate Studies (Taught Programmes), I am delighted to welcome you

A very warm welcome from the WSPM teaching staff.

Professor Simon Dadson Dr Jocelyne Hughes

MSc Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

1.1. Course Introduction

1.2. School of Geography and the Environment

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

MSc Biodiversity, Conservation and Management

1.3. Transfer from MSc to MPhil

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

1.4. Oxford Learning Environment

1.4.1. Learning Approach

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

1.4.3. Monitoring Academic Progress

1.4.4. Library and Learning Facilities

1.6. Alumni Networks

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

Master of Science in Water Science, Policy and Management

The specific objectives of the MSc course include:

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

2.2. Core Teaching Staff

The core staff teaching on the course includes:

Dr Jocelyne Hughes: Course Director, Departmental Lecturer

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

The MSc course comprises:

• Eight core modules, which are assessed by written examination;

2.4. Course Structure

Water & Society

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

2.5.1. Water Science

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

2.5.2. Water & Society

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

2.5.3. Water Management

2.6. Elective Modules

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

2.11. Health and Safety

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

3.1. University Examinations

3.2. The Exam Board

MSc/MPhil Water Science, Policy and Management Course Handbook

The Examination Conventions for this course may be found at:

These conventions are the definitive version to apply to examinations in 2019.

4.1. Written Examination

(a) Core courses