Wasserbau

Wasserbau, or water engineering, is a discipline within civil engineering that deals with the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of infrastructure to manage water resources and protect people and property from water-related hazards. It covers rivers and floodplains, lakes, coastal zones, and groundwater, with aims to secure water supply, enable navigation, generate hydropower, regulate flows, and protect natural ecosystems.

Key activities include river regulation and flood protection (dams, levees, channels), harbor and port engineering, coastal protection against storm surges and erosion, drainage and land reclamation, groundwater management, and sediment control. Practical work combines hydrology, hydraulics, sediment transport theory, geotechnical considerations, and numerical modeling to predict flows, design structures, and assess risk. Design follows codes and standards to ensure safety under extreme events, while increasingly integrating environmental constraints such as ecological or environmental flow requirements.

Historically, Wasserbau emerged from canal building and dike construction in ancient and medieval contexts, expanding in the 19th and 20th centuries with large-scale dams, flood protection systems, and navigational channels. Since the late 20th century, the emphasis has shifted toward integrated water resources management and sustainability, including climate change adaptation and nature-based solutions.

In practice, Wasserbau projects balance technical performance, economic feasibility, and environmental impact, and are coordinated with water management, urban planning, and regional development to support resilient infrastructure and sustainable use of water resources.