The Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering was established in 1972, as one of the constituent departments of the College of Agricultural Engineering and Research Institute to offer soil and water engineering courses for an undergraduate degree programme in Agricultural Engineering.
The Department had a well qualified faculty of reputed scientists and professors from its inception. The professional excellence of the faculty in teaching, research and extension enabled the Department to grow fast and this resulted in the offering of postgraduate programmes in 1977, within five years of its establishment.
Higher education and research grew hand-in-hand in the Department and this brought in a number of international and national research projects to the Department in the areas of surface and ground water hydrology, irrigation hydraulics, land use planning, and soil erosion studies. Active research programmes and results of such projects in the earlier days attracted many donors. A major outcome of donor cooperation was the creation of the “Water Technology Centre” at TNAU with technical assistance from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).
Today, the Department is well established with a full complement of teaching and support staff, a well equipped laboratory and research programmes in major areas of water management and soil conservation.
MANDATE
v To offer Post Graduate (PG) degree programmes in the field of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering and jointly offer Under Graduate (UG) degree programmes in Energy and Environmental Engineering and Food Process Engineering. The Department also offers courses to the other UG and PG degree programmes of TNAU.
v To conduct research and develop technologies in water management, soil conservation and environmental engineering.
v To disseminate knowledge in natural resources management, environmental protection and related technologies to the farming community and extension personnel.
v To assist the State Government to formulate development plans for soil conservation, watershed development, micro irrigation expansion and environmental protection.
