Abstract:

The Faculty of Engineering (Bilbao) is part of University of the Basque Country, the most important University in the Autonomous Region of the Basque Country, Spain.

Engineering students select a block of subjects intended to enhance their knowledge on Hydraulics and Fluid Mechanics. The recent compromise of the European Union towards a climate-neutral economy by 2050 represents a major challenge for Higher Education institutions that must also incorporate climate-related contents in the syllabus of a number of subjects.

In one of these subjects called “Management and Maintenance of Hydraulic Systems” students learn to solve a set of practical exercises linked to the urban water management. The methodology followed during the classes is Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and due to the rather small number of students (<15), peer-to-peer methodology is also encouraged. This means that students focus in learning in a hands-on way instead of memorizing facts related to water management.

In urban water management, three hydraulic systems are connected: water supply, stormwater and wastewater systems. Water supply is an issue of major concern in the context of a rapidly evolving economy with important changes in industry needs and population numbers. Long-term changes driven by climate oscillations in precipitation and evapotranspiration have an impact on water availability for all kind of human uses.

For this reason, if water shortage is to be avoided, information on future projections must be incorporated by decision makers and stakeholders into the long-term hydraulic planning of any region or country. Recently, the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) has released the AR6 report with updated climate projections that can be used to estimate future projections for a region like the Iberian Peninsula.

In the subject “Management and Maintenance of Hydraulic Systems” in the framework of the PBL methodology, a specific problem has been incorporated to teach students how to understand what climatic models are and how to extract sensible information on future projections of water availability. The last step includes how to include this information into the long-term planning of water supply in several regions of Spain .

Incorporating climate change contents in a completely practical way, has been most welcomed by students. To that purpose, the PBL methodology has proven an appropriate tool, thus exhibiting again all its potential as an educational tool in engineering studies. PBL can provide an easy adaptation to a continuously changing professional environment where new challenges –like climate change impacts- must be addressed from both, a technical and economical point of view.

For this reason, the PBL methodology contributes to minimizing the gap between theoretical education and real-life problems for future engineers dealing with future water availability planning in a context of climate-driven changes that they must know how to deal with.

Keywords:

PBL, Climate change, Water management.