CIV E 633 - ENVIRONMENTAL HYDROLOGY
FALL 2021
FINAL EXAM
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021, 1530-1730

Instructions: No online consultation; no notes. Answer only 10 questions. Submit to the course email in pdf form by THU 211216 1730.


  1. What mistakes, if any, were made in the establishment of the Salton Sea in the beginning if the 20th Century? How can the Salton Sea be remedied? Who should pay for the fixes?

  2. How did the concept of 100-yr flood come about in the United States? Who is credited with its creation? Can the concept of 100-yr flood be applied outright, on a global basis?

  3. How does the flood pulse concept differ from that of river continuum? Why is the concept of flood pulse necessary in river ecology?

  4. Describe the work of Meinzer (1927). What presumably distinct fields of study did he encompass in his pioneering work?

  5. What are the four sources of salts to be considered in the irrigation of arid lands? Which one is the hardest to track down? Why?

  6. What is the only irrigation project in the United States that pumps both irrigation water in and drainage water out? What is the fate of that drainage water? What was, and currently is, the role of the Yuma desalination plant?

  7. What is Pillsbury' significant contribution to the management of arid-land irrigation? Should rivers be managed to limit their salinity throughout their length, from headwaters to ocean? What are the negative effects of evaporation basins?

  8. Why is the leaching fraction necessary in irrigated agriculture? Can drip irrigation survive without leaching? Why is the Colorado river saltier than normal?

  9. Describe Chebotarev's model of the metamorphism of groundwaters. How does it affect the decisions of contemporary societies regarding groundwater use?

  10. What is a commons? Why is the groundwater resource a commons? What is the generally established practical limit to groundwater pumping? What global value of pumping/precipitation ratio makes initial sense, pending detailed local hydrogeologic/hydrologic studies?

  11. What is the main difference between the water balance in surface-water hydrology and groundwater hydrology? Under what circumstances can a basin yield runoff coefficient exceed 1?

  12. What is the proof that the pumping in Sawyer Creek and Ash Creek, near Cedar City, Utah, in the 1990s, affected the baseflow in the vicinity? How was the legal issue resolved?