Course Details

Academic Year 2026/27

BSA105 course is part of 1 study plan

​ BPC-SIS / V Summer Semester 3rd year

The course focuses on runoff and erosion conditions in small catchments, as well as the drainage of waterlogged areas. Students will gain hands-on experience with Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and contour line analysis to identify critical entry points where concentrated surface runoff enters built-up areas, posing a risk of property damage.

Using the SCS Curve Number (CN) rainfall-runoff method, students will calculate runoff characteristics required for the design of soil conservation and flood protection measures aimed at protecting built-up areas, soil, and water resources. Furthermore, the course addresses soil erosion processes. Students will conduct spatial analyses of soil erosion and learn to quantify soil loss.

They will also master the fundamentals of drainage engineering, including designing land drainage systems for waterlogged areas, field identification of existing drainage networks, and evaluating potential changes in the use and management of agricultural drainage systems within the landscape.

Credits

5 credits

Language of instruction

Czech

Semester

summer

Course Guarantor

Ing. Veronika Sobotková, Ph.D.

Institute

Institute of Landscape Water Management

Forms and criteria of assessment

course-unit credit and examination

Entry Knowledge

Fundamentals of hydraulics, hydrology, pedology (soil science), and hydropedology. Basic working knowledge of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), MS Excel, and MS Word.

Aims

Professional Knowledge:

Students will gain fundamental professional knowledge regarding runoff and erosion conditions in small catchments. They will retain, understand, analyze, and subsequently apply this knowledge to different practical scenarios. During practical classes, students will learn to analyze areas in terms of runoff and erosion conditions and identify critical entry points for the protection of built-up areas. They will acquire the knowledge necessary to calculate runoff characteristics, quantify soil loss, and design drainage facilities.

Professional Skills:

Upon completing the course, students will be able to apply, evaluate, and utilize the acquired knowledge for practical application in civil engineering. Practical classes will strengthen students' ability to reason and engage in technical discussion. Students will be able to calculate runoff characteristics for small catchments and estimate soil loss at the level of a Runoff Assessment Study. They will learn to identify drainage systems in the field and subsequently design modifications for the use and operation of agricultural drainage facilities within the landscape

General Competencies:

Students will acquire the qualifications and competence necessary to pursue advanced coursework in landscape water management. Should they choose a different specialization, they will remain fully qualified to perform fundamental spatial analyses. Students will be capable of independently interpreting spatial analysis results and applying their knowledge of runoff and erosion conditions to diverse areas, up to the level of preparing a comprehensive Runoff Assessment Study.

Basic Literature

SOBOTKOVÁ, Veronika; KOZEL, Tomáš a DUMBROVSKÝ, Miroslav. Odtokové a erozní poměry v povodí. Přednášky. Online. VUT, 2026. Dostupné z: ELEARNING IS VUT https://moodle.vut.cz/login/index.php?noredirect=1. (cs)
PODHRÁZSKÁ, Jana a kol. Ochrana zemědělské půdy před erozí. Metodika. Praha: Výzkumný ústav meliorací o ochrany půdy, 2024. ISBN 978-80-7212-667-5 (aktuální vydání).  (cs)

Recommended Reading

CÁBLÍK, Jan a JŮVA Karel. Protierozní ochrana půdy. Praha: Státní zemědělské nakladatelství, 1963.  (cs)
DRBAL, Karel.; DUMBROVSKÝ, M. a kol. Metodický návod pro identifikaci KB. Brno: MŽP, 2009, 7 str. Dostupné online: https://heis.vuv.cz/data/webmap/datovesady/uap/kritickebody/HTML_UAP$KritickeBody$stazeni.asp?doc=full  (cs)
DÝROVÁ, Eva. Ochrana a organizace povodí. Skripta. Brno: VUT v Brně, 1988.   (cs)
HOLÝ, Miloš a kol. Eroze a životní prostředí. Praha: ČVUT, 1998.  (cs)
HRÁDEK, František. Implementace hydrologického modelu DeSQ. Praha: ČZU, 1997.  (cs)
JANEČEK, Miloslav a kol. Ochrana zemědělské půdy před erozí. Metodika. Praha: ČZU, 2012. ISBN 978-80-87415-42-9.  (cs)
KULHAVÝ František a KULHAVÝ Zbyněk. Navrhování hydromelioračních staveb. Praha: ČKAIT, s.r.o., 2008. ISBN 978-80-87093-83-2.  (cs)
MORGAN, Royston Philip Charles. Soil Erosion and Conservation. Third Edition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 2005, p. 304, ISBN 1-4051-1781-8.  (en)
MORGAN, Royston Philip Charles a NEARING, Mark A. (ed.). Handbook of Erosion Modelling, London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4051-9010-7.  (en)
TOY, Terrence J.; FOSTER, George R. a RENARD, Kenneth G. Soil erosion: processes, prediction, measurement and control. New York: Wiley, 2002, 352 p. ISBN 0-471-38369-4.  (en)
Vyhláška č. 240/2021 Sb. Vyhláška o ochraně zemědělské půdy před erozí. 2021.  (cs)
Vyhláška č. 227/2018 Sb. Vyhláška o charakteristice bonitovaných půdně ekologických jednotek a postupu pro jejich vedení a aktualizaci. 2018.  (cs)
ČSN 75 4500 Protierozní ochrana zemědělské půdy. 1996.  (cs)
ČSN 75 0140 Meliorace – Terminologie eroze, hydromeliorace a rekultivace půdy. 2016.  (cs)
ČSN 75 0145 Meliorace. Terminologie v pedologii. 1995.  (cs)
ČSN 75 4200 Hydromeliorace. Úprava vodního režimu zemědělských půd odvodněním. 1994. (cs)

Prerequisites

Fundamentals of hydraulics, hydrology, pedology (soil science), and hydropedology. Basic working knowledge of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), MS Excel, and MS Word.

Offered to foreign students

Not to offer

Course on BUT site

https://www.vut.cz/en/students/courses/detail/298934

Lecture

13 weeks, 2 hours/week, elective

Syllabus

  1. Runoff Conditions – Introduction, overview of runoff conditions in small catchments, identification of critical entry points threatening built-up areas.
  2. Runoff Conditions – Rainfall-runoff modeling, classification of hydrological models, determination of catchment retention capacity.
  3. Runoff Conditions – The SCS-CN method, determination of surface runoff parameters, methods for calculating peak discharge and direct runoff volume in small catchments.
  4. Erosion Conditions – Soil erosion occurrence globally and in the Czech Republic, erosion classification, factors influencing erosion, erosion intensity, and tolerable soil loss limits.
  5. Erosion Conditions – Soil erosion modeling, classification of erosion models, theoretical analysis of water erosion.
  6. Erosion Conditions – Assessment of soil erosion risk, catchment analysis for quantifying erosion risk.
  7. Erosion Conditions – Other types of erosion: wind erosion and snowmelt erosion, analysis of erosion processes, erosion forms, intensity determination.
  8. Soil Conservation and Watershed Management – Design of soil conservation and erosion control measures, their classification and detailed description.
  9. Land Drainage – Causes, occurrence, and assessment of soil waterlogging, distribution and movement of water in soil.
  10. Land Drainage – Modeling water movement in soil, model classification, saturated and unsaturated flow in non-deformable porous media, subsurface runoff.
  11. Land Drainage – Main drainage structures: classification, design principles, and sizing; detailed drainage systems: classification, design parameters, and subsurface pipe drainage sizing.
  12. Land Drainage – Special drainage applications: close-to-nature drainage, landslide-prone areas, sports fields, calculation principles, drainage water quality.
  13. Land Drainage – Environmental impact of land drainage, field identification of drainage systems, and potential adaptations of the primary function of drainage systems in the landscape.

Exercise

13 weeks, 2 hours/week, compulsory

Syllabus

  1. Runoff Conditions – Overview of the case study area, basic territory characteristics.
  2. Runoff Conditions – Identification of basic landscape elements (land cover, soil types, hydrological network), preparation of map outputs.
  3. Runoff Conditions – Identification of critical entry points where concentrated surface runoff enters the municipality, delineation of contributing catchments and thalwegs.
  4. Runoff Conditions – Continuation of critical point identification, delineation of contributing catchments and thalwegs.
  5. Runoff Conditions – Calculation of basic parameters for contributing catchments and thalwegs, preparation of map and textual outputs.
  6. Runoff Conditions – Calculation of runoff characteristics in contributing catchments using the SCS-CN method.
  7. Runoff Conditions – Continuation of runoff characteristics calculation, preparation of map and textual outputs.
  8. Erosion Conditions – Calculation of the long-term average soil loss for the selected case study area.
  9. Erosion Conditions – Alternative calculation scenarios for the long-term average soil loss.
  10. Erosion Conditions – Preparation of map and textual outputs.
  11. Land Drainage – Overview of the waterlogged area, design of a land drainage system.
  12. Land Drainage – Dimensioning of the drainage system.
  13. Land Drainage – Preparation of technical drawings for the proposed drainage system.

Self-study

26 weeks, 1 hours/week

Individual preparation for an ending of the course

52 weeks, 1 hours/week