“N.Z. NEEDS TRAINED HYDROLOGISTS”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31109, 12 July 1966, Page 20

“N.Z. NEEDS TRAINED HYDROLOGISTS”

An enormous amount of hydrological research was being carried out in New Zealand but little was being achieved because of the lack of trained hydrologists to direct the research, Professor J. R. Burton, head of the department of agricultural engineering at Lincoln College and director of the New Zealand Agricultural Engineering Institute, told a meeting of the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Professor Burton said there had been a great deal of research in hydrology since the beginning of the International Hydrological Decade last year. One of the aims of the decade was to make people aware of the problems involved and to encourage people to come into the field. Behaviour of Water He said that hydrology dealt with the behaviour of water on the land and the processes of repletion and depletion of water resources. The science was concerned with the measurement of quantities and rates of flow during the hydrological cycle, the establishment of laws governing the occurrence of water and its movements, and the practical application of this knowledge in the field of water resources. The practical applications of hydrology had often directed attention away from the theoretical side, Professor Burton said. Many of the world’s dams had been built without hydrological assistance, including many in New South Wales. “New South Wales, besides its white elephant on the side of Sydney harbour, has a whole herd of white elephants galloping across the States,” he said. An important part of

the International Hydrological Decade was the education and training of scientists. Everyone in New Zealand was aware of erosion problems, flooding, and other things related to water and a great deal of discussion took place, but there was very little action. The explanation for this was that New Zealand had no trained hydrologists, Professor Burton said.

New Zealand needed badly post-graduate courses in hydrology. At present it was only taught for half of the final year in civil engineering degree courses at two universities. Professor Burton said that hydrologists were needed to direct the research that was now being undertaken, and a national organisation was required to co-ordinate the research and to deal with problems of water resources. A lot of well-meaning people were on committees, but they did not know their hydrology or water resources, he said.