Book excerpt: This book introduces the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method and its application to shallow water flows. The emphasis is to show details and modifications required to apply the scheme to real-world flow problems. It allows the readers to understand and develop robust and efficient computer simulation models that can be used to model flow, contaminant transport, and other factors in rivers and coastal environments. The book includes a large set of tests to illustrate the use of the model for a wide range of applications.