> Introduction
Hydraulics and Environment Department
THE PRESENT
The Hydraulics and Environment Department (DHA) carries out Research and Technological Development activity (R&TD) in the field of water. The current staff is about a hundred people, which makes the Department the largest research unit of the country in this area. The body of researchers, consisting of more than sixty people (research career and research grant holders), stands out for the multidisciplinarity of their academic degrees. Although they are mainly civil engineers, hydraulics branch, there are also researchers with a background in chemical engineering, geology, geography, microbiology, mathematics, computer science, oceanography and technological physics.
DHA’s proud history is clearly a proof that, over the years, it has always had the know-how to successfully evolve and update. This shows that it has always been aware of the signs of the times and of change, in an attempt to respond to the new increased strategic challenges.
Its main activity areas are as follows:
- Maritime Hydraulics;
- Water Resources and Hydraulic Works;
- Sanitary Engineering;
- Hydroinformatics and Information Technologies;
- Support to the Water Industry;
- Environment.
It is the Department’s policy to approach water problems both in quantitative and in qualitative terms, by simultaneously having an increasing interaction with environmental and socio-economic aspects and with risk analysis and management, and by closely following the present society concerns. Integrated approach instruments and methodologies are increasingly used, which very often combine analytical studies, mathematical modelling, physical modelling, in-situ experimentation and laboratory experimentation. More recently, the Department has invested in using methodologies of integrated strategic analysis, with special emphasis on Strategic Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes. It is expected that this activity will grow in the near future to comply with the requirements of the legislation regarding the water and sewerage sectors.
For a detailed description of the DHA activity, the reader is invited to visit LNEC´s website www.lnec.pt.
Water is, and will be, a determinant factor for the economic and social progress of modern societies, creating new challenges and opportunities to research, technological development and innovation
Following the sprit of its ancestors, DHA has been seeking, with success, to reinforce its participation in large projects, including broad consortia and strategic platforms, at European and international levels. Examples are: the WSSTP (Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform) a water-focussed vision and agenda for Europe in the medium run, and the ASEM-Waternet, a platform between Europe and Asia, in the domain of the water resources sustainable management. The Department has also actively participated in such networks as the European Hydraulic Laboratories (since 1990), the Iberian-American Hydraulic Laboratories (since 2004), the CYTED program´s Iberian-American network Water and the City (since 2005), and, at the national level, the Hidronet-Pt – Network for Knowledge Enhancing in Hydraulics and Water Bodies (since 2005, charter member).
 Maria Rafaela de Saldanha Gonçalves Matos (Head of the Hydraulics and Environment Department) |
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Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, I.P. |
The Organization Chart of the Hydraulics and Environment Department is divided into six Divisions:
