This course is intended to develop a student’s ability to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate approaches to water resource management in terms of their technical feasibility, economic merits, and public policy implications. We will discuss the fundamental optimization theories and the application potentials for water resources and environmental systems planning, resources conservation, and pollution control. The operational research techniques, including linear programming, dynamic programming, nonlinear programming, stochastic programming and multi-objective programming, will be introduced. Both engineering and economic principles will be incorporated into optimization exercises that are used as a means of policy analysis. Most examples cover typical planning, design, and operation problems for water resources and environmental infrastructure with regard to complex multidisciplinary decision-making. Water resources system models addressing the interfaces and interactions between the built environment and the natural systems will be emphasized. Students are expected to finish a term-project according to their research interest to demonstrate their understanding of the course contents.