Because water is such a critical aspect of our physical and human environment, all of our programs require some understanding of water systems and water management including: physical water cycles; physics and chemistry of rock-water interactions; human impact on water supplies due to pollution and overuse; water use policy-making; and water resource management. As such, we have assembled a faculty in our department with expertise to support the water-related aspects of our programs.

This certificate program in Water Resource Management takes advantage of our faculty expertise by assembling our water-related courses into one coherent program rather than simply a series of discrete courses taken as part of several different degree programs. This certificate provides an integrated sequence of courses covering drainage basin-scale cycling of water, water contamination, surface and groundwater modeling, and water-related policy and resource management issues.

Career Opportunities

The program is designed primarily for people employed or seeking employment in a wide array of careers related to water management. These include:

• Private environmental engineering and consulting companies. Typical projectsencountered in this industry range from assessing groundwater pollution levels or predicting movement of contamination in a groundwater system to assessing the spatial distribution of wetland regions, which serve as principle groundwater recharge areas.
• Public agencies involved in environmental assessment and regulation enforcement such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, N.J. Department of Environmental Protection and county agencies such as Passaic County Environmental Health. Tasks performed by these agencies include monitoring water quality, identifying and monitoring contamination sources, enforcing environmental regulation, and developing recommendations for public policy that will impact water resource availability and quality.
• Manufacturing, transportation and service industry (both public and private). Many large corporations in industries such as pharmaceuticals and petroleum refining as well as public agencies, such as NY/NJ Port Authority, maintain environmental health and safety divisions responsible for ensuring compliance with environmental regulation, interactions with environmental enforcement agencies, and development of recommendations for safe practice within the industry. The vast majority of regulations that must be handled involve potential contamination of water resources.
• Public and private utilities. The most obvious utility requiring water resource expertise are water utilities, where expertise is required in maintaining water quality and adequate sources of clean water. Solid and liquid waste treatment facilities as well as gas and electric utilities also maintain staff with water resource expertise to ensure adequate supply of water needed for the utility (i.e. coolant for power plants) or to ensure that the utilities activities do no damage to existing water resources.

Many people working in these industries enter with a traditional natural science undergraduate degree (i.e. geology, biology, chemistry, and physics), environmental science degree or engineering degree. While many of these undergraduate programs may include one or two courses in hydrology, hydrogeology or water chemistry, few students entering the industries noted above with BA or BS degrees have a coherent body of coursework related specifically to water resources. This type of specific, applied study is usually reserved for graduate degree work.

The certificate course provides people already employed in these industries the opportunity to gain new skills directly applicable to their employment without committing to completion of the longer M.S./M.A. graduate degree program. It enhances productivity and chances of promotion for those already working in the industries.

WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATE

Complete to earn 13 semester hours with a minimum GPA of 2.50.

EAES	322	Environmental Geochemistry (2 hours lecture, 2 hours lab)	3
EAES	331	Geohydrology (3 hours lecture)	3
EAES	532	Applied Groundwater Modeling (3 hours lecture, 2 hours lab)	4
EAES	533	Water Resource Management (3 hours lecture)	3