Engineering Commons^™

A Snapshot Of Sars-Cov-2 In Wastewater Treatment Plants In Northwest Arkansas, Katie Loethen

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Because SARS-CoV-2, a coronavirus, is released in the fecal shedding of covid-positive patients, the virus enters the municipal waste stream and flows to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The goal of this research is to quantify the effectiveness of wastewater treatment processes at removing SARS-CoV-2 from wastewater and preventing its release into the environment. Sampling at Paul R. Noland and West Side WWTPs in Fayetteville, Arkansas, took place from August 2020 to May 2021, and samples were tested for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 using N1 and N2 primers via RT-qPCR. Sampling days which returned positive detection of one or both of …

Use Of Halide Radicals In Water Treatment, Madhusudan Kamat

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The increasing population and a reduction in freshwater resources has made the reuse of water imperative [1-3]. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) enable the safe reuse of wastewater through the removal of persistent pollutants. The highly reactive nature of reactive species, like hydroxyl radicals is limited by their reactivity with ubiquitous compounds like dissolved organic matter (DOM)[4, 5]. The use of halide radicals can help improve the efficiency of UV-based AOPs.

This thesis investigates the mechanism of halide radicals in three different systems: a) the use of iodine radicals in functionalized fullerenes b) the use of UV/chlorine as an advanced oxidation …

Kinetic Study Of The Anaerobic Digestion Of Recycled Paper Mill Effluent (Rpme) By Using A Novel Modified Anaerobic Hybrid Baffled (Mahb) Reactor, Siti Roshayu Hassan, Yung-Tse Hung, Irvan Dahlan, Hamidi Abdul Aziz

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The process kinetics of an anaerobic digestion process for treating recycled paper mill effluent (RPME) was investigated. A laboratory-scale modified anaerobic hybrid baffled reactor (MAHB) was operated at hydraulic retention times of 1, 3, 5, and 7 days, and the results were analyzed for the kinetic models. A kinetic study was conducted by examining the phase kinetics of the anaerobic digestion process, which were divided into three main stages: hydrolysis kinetics, acetogenesis kinetics, and methane production kinetics. The study demonstrated that hydrolysis was the rate-limiting step. The applied Monod and Contois kinetic models showed satisfactory prediction with µmax values of …

Applications Of Nano-Zeolite In Wastewater Treatment: An Overview, Rehab O, Abdel Rahman, Ahmed M. El-Kamash, Yung-Tse Hung

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Nano-zeolite is an innovative class of materials that received recognition for its potential use in water and tertiary wastewater treatment. These applications include ion-exchange/sorption, photo-degradation, and membrane separation. The aim of this work is to summarize and analyze the current knowledge about the utilization of nano-zeolite in these applications, identify the gaps in this field, and highlight the challenges that face the wide scale applications of these materials. Within this context, an introduction to water quality, water and wastewater treatment, utilization of zeolite in contaminant removal from water was addressed and linked to its structure and the advances in zeolite …

Potential Water Treatment Residual Used For Eutrophication Prevention: Varying Bake Time And Wet-Dry Release Experiments, Noor Fahoum

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A challenge faced today in water ways is the excessive growth of algae due to eutrophication. These harmful algal blooms create problems for the environment and safety concerns for the use of water for drinking purposes. An increase in limiting nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are one of the factors that contribute to eutrophication. This is a concern for the Akron Water Treatment plant where preventative measures are being taken to avoid the potential formation of harmful algal blooms and the cyanotoxins they may release in the water. Through various studies, water treatment residuals (WTR) have been found to …

Adapting Colorado River Basin Depletions To Available Water To Live Within Our Means, Jian Wang, David E. Rosenberg

Publications

The Colorado River’s two largest reservoirs are drawing down because releases exceed inflows and releases adapt to reservoir elevations instead of elevation and inflow triggers. To help slow reservoir drawdown and sustain target elevations, we introduced a new rule that adapted basin depletions to available water. We simulated inflow-based operations and validated existing operations in a new open-source exploratory model for the Colorado River Basin. We developed the exploratory model to more easily adapt Upper and Lower Basin depletions to available water, reduce run time, and lower costs to use compared to the proprietary RiverWare Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS) …

Lessons From Real-Time, Online Collaborative Modeling To Discuss More Adaptive Reservoir Operations, David E. Rosenberg

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

This work had the purpose to model and discuss in real-time more adaptive Colorado River reservoir operations with manager and experts. I created real-time, online collaborative modeling environments by using an interactive web spreadsheet (Google Sheet) during video conference sessions. 26 Colorado River managers and experts participated. Within each session, up to 6 people from the same stakeholder group simultaneously consumed, saved, and traded water in six basin water accounts, protected reservoirs, and sustained endangered, native fish of the Grand Canyon. The collaboration differed from prior studies that excluded stakeholders, extracted data from participants, had a lead modeler or facilitation …

Machine-Learning Algorithms For Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operation (Firo) To Reduce Flood Damages, Manizhe Zarei, Omid Bozorg-Haddad, Sahar Baghban, Mohammad Delpasand, Erfan Goharian, Hugo A. Loaiciga

Faculty Publications

Water is stored in reservoirs for various purposes, including regular distribution, flood control, hydropower generation, and meeting the environmental demands of downstream habitats and ecosystems. However, these objectives are often in conflict with each other and make the operation of reservoirs a complex task, particularly during flood periods. An accurate forecast of reservoir inflows is required to evaluate water releases from a reservoir seeking to provide safe space for capturing high flows without having to resort to hazardous and damaging releases. This study aims to improve the informed decisions for reservoirs management and water prerelease before a flood occurs by …

Quaternary Ammonium Compounds As Precursors To Disinfection Byproducts, Padmanabhan Krishnaswamy

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Disinfection of drinking water is crucial for providing a safe potable water supply. Some of the most common disinfectants employed are chlorine, chloramines and ozone. While these disinfectants successfully inactivate pathogenic microorganisms, they simultaneously react with inorganic or organic precursors to form toxic byproducts, most commonly referred to as disinfection byproducts (DBPs). While there is a wide variety of organic matter and disinfection byproducts known, in this study we have looked into the potential of certain quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) to act as precursors to form DBPs, namely trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetonitriles (HANs) and nitrosamines.

The ubiquitous nature of QACs in …

Study Of Performance Of Vertical Drainage Well Construction From Polymer Materials, I.A. Akhmedov, Z.K. Mirkhasilova

Irrigation and Melioration

The article is devoted to the reconstruction and construction of vertical drainage wells. The use of vertical drainage wells is characterized by a decrease in the level of groundwater. The article presents data and typical regions of the use of vertical drainage wells.Also presented are mechanical, physical and chemical methods of well cleaning in practice. The information on the design and construction of vertical drainage wells is described. The analysis of corrosion resistance of vertical drainage well materials and their service life has been carried out. It is known that polymeric materials are resistant to corrosive environments. Using filters made …

Solar Disinfection Of Turbid Hygiene Waters In Lexington, Ky, Usa, Atena Amirsoleimani, Gail M. Brion

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Solar disinfection (SODIS) could be a key to providing a clean, hygiene water for birthing uses, but the recommended climate zone is limited, the microbial indicators are related to gastrointestinal illness and not wound infections. SODIS feasibility was investigated to remove Escherichia coli from turbid water at temperatures less than 50 °C in Lexington, KY. Increasing turbidity from 0 to 200 NTU decreased E. coli inactivation from 5 to 1 log. With the same experimental protocol, more than 4-log inactivation of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis (common human-skin microorganisms related to serious post-partum infections of both mother and child) was …

Managing Lake Urmia, Iran For Diverse Restoration Objectives: Moving Beyond A Uniform Target Lake Level, Somayeh Sima, David E. Rosenberg, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Sarah E. Null, Karin M. Kettenring

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

There is widespread interest in restoring drying saline lakes. At Iran’s hypersaline Lake Urmia, managers have sought a uniform target lake level of 1274.1 m above sea level to lower salinity below 263 g L−1 and recover Artemia to sufficient densities to support flamingos. We suggest that addressing a broader range of objectives will allow more flexibility for managing the lake. We define eight restoration objectives to lower salinity, sustain Artemia and flamingo populations, separate islands from each other and the mainland, reduce lakebed dust, maintain commercially valuable ions, and improve recreational access from resort beaches. We use 40 years …

Breaking Wave Hazard Estimation Model For The U.S. Atlantic Coast, Spencer T. Hallowell

Publications

As offshore wind development is in its infancy along the U.S. Atlantic Coast challenges arise due to the effects of strong storms such as hurricanes. Breaking waves on offshore structures induced by hurricanes are of particular concern to offshore structures due to high magnitude impulse loads caused by wave slamming. Prediction of breaking wave hazards is important in offshore design for load cases using long mean return periods of environmental conditions. A breaking wave hazard estimation model (BWHEM) is introduced that provides a means for assessing breaking hazard at long mean return periods over a large domain along the U.S. …

Editorial: Integrated Water Management For Enhanced Water Quality And Reuse To Create A Sustainable Future, Eldon R. Rene, Veeriah Jegatheesan, Li Shu

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Safe drinking water and sanitation are very important for the survival of human life. With the rapid proliferation of industries, growth in population and different forms of pollution, i.e. in water, air, soil and sediments, the living environment and the ecosystem is constantly polluted. In this context, integrating different water resources for enhanced water quality and reuse is important to solve the persisting problems and challenges in developing and the developed nations. Integrated water management offers environmental, economic and social benefits because it aims at maximizing the existing resources and prevents further depletion of the ecosystem.

Applications Of Membranes For Sustainability, Veeriah Jegatheesan, Chettiyappan Visvanathan, Li Shu, Faisal I. Hai, Ludovic F. Dumée

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Applications of membranes in water and wastewater treatment, desalination, as well as other purification processes, have become more widespread over the past few decades. However, we continue to ponder on (i) how well do we get maximum benefits from membrane applications? (ii) In what areas of membranes do we need to further our fundamental understanding? (iii) Which membrane technologies find difficulties in scale-up? (iv) How good are we in integrating membrane technologies? (v) How can we improve the reliability of membranes and reduce the cost? (vi) Where are we in disseminating the needs if we are to use membranes all …

Case Study Of Gravity-Fed Mountain Spring Tap System In Ha Leronti, Lesotho, Africa, Sarah Peterson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Water security has been declining rapidly in Lesotho, Africa in recent years. Lack of water has led to food insecurity, livestock deaths, and the spread of disease. Rural Basotho depend on rainfall to sustain their livelihoods; however, precipitation variability has recently increased due to climate change. For those who reside in the highlands of Lesotho, mountain springs can be a clean source of water. The tap system in the village of Ha Leronti relies on gravity to distribute water from two mountain springs to the ten village taps and nearby school campus. However, it is incapable of transporting the basic …

Data And Analysis Toolbox For Modeling The Nexus Of Food, Energy, And Water, Mojtaba Sadegh, Arvin Farid

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Energy, water, and food resources are highly interdependent. Agricultural irrigation accounts for 84% of global consumptive freshwater use, the food supply chain demands up to 30% of global primary energy use, and roughly 80% of global electricity generation depends on water for cooling (an average of nearly 100 L of water withdrawn per kWh). Improving understanding of the complex interactions of this resource nexus is, therefore, a top priority for human well-being, sustainable development, and policymaking. Here, we present an interactive analysis toolbox, Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water (NeFEW), that synthesizes available global data to …

Restoring Lake Urmia: Moving Beyond A Uniform Lake Level (2-Page Summary), Somayeh Sima, Dory Rosenberg, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, Sarah E. Null, Karin M. Kettenring

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

More than 5 million people live near Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran, one of the world's largest hypersaline lakes. Over the past two decades, the lake has lost 95% of its volume, lake level has dropped more than 7 m, and lake restoration has gained widespread interest. The government seeks a uniform "ecological" target lake level of 1274.1 m above sea level to lower salinity below 240 gL^-1 and recover brine shrimp (Artemia spp.) and flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus).

We have synthesized over 40 years of available data, defined 8 ecosystem services for human health, water quality, ecology, recreation, and …

Estimation Of Evapotranspiration And Energy Fluxes Using A Deep-Learning-Based High-Resolution Emissivity Model And The Two-Source Energy Balance Model With Suas Information, Alfonso F. Torres-Rua, Andres Ticlavilca, Mahyar Aboutalebi, Héctor Nieto, Maria Mar Alsina, Alex White, John H. Prueger, Joseph Alfieri, Lawrence Hipps, Lynn Mckee, William Kustas, Calvin Coopmans, Nick Dokoozlian

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Surface temperature is necessary for the estimation of energy fluxes and evapotranspiration from satellites and airborne data sources. For example, the Two-Source Energy Balance (TSEB) model uses thermal information to quantify canopy and soil temperatures as well as their respective energy balance components. While surface (also called kinematic) temperature is desirable for energy balance analysis, obtaining this temperature is not straightforward due to a lack of spatially estimated narrowband (sensor-specific) and broadband emissivities of vegetation and soil, further complicated by spectral characteristics of the UAV thermal camera. This study presents an effort to spatially model narrowband and broadband emissivities for …

Irrigation Design In Montana: Accommodating Varying Water Accessibility Across The Continental Divide., John Garrett Lampson

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The design work performed in this project was conducted over two summers (2018, 2019) of internship experience with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) across the state of Montana. The first summer’s design work was based out of Glendive, MT, in Dawson County, approximately 50 kilometers from the North Dakota border. The second summer was in Missoula, MT, in Missoula County, near the Idaho border. The two areas differ significantly in topography, weather, and water availability with the main separating geographic influence being the Rocky Mountains.

This paper focuses on the design process and requirements for two farms located outside …

Promoting The Sustainable Utilization Of Groundwater Resources In Ethiopia Using The Integrated Groundwater Footprint Index, Xinyu Lin

Honors Scholar Theses

The country of Ethiopia is highly vulnerable to human-caused climate change and is already suffering from the effects. The predominately rural population relies heavily on small-scale agriculture, with 78% of households having at least one member engaged in the field, yet staple crops are highly susceptible to droughts and other weather shocks. Total and agricultural GDP growth in the country have been strongly linked to inter-annual rainfall variability, of which Ethiopia has among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. A decrease in rainfall since the 1970s has been one of the primary causes of low crop yields, and stresses the immediate …

Acoustic Sonolysis Of Antibiotics In Water, Natalie Pinon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Antibiotic resistance is a prominent issue in the world today. It is said by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it is one of the major public health challenges we face today. Predominantly, antibiotic resistance is growing because conventional wastewater treatment processes are not able to completely break down antibiotics. As bacteria are exposed to such antibiotics, which don’t kill them due to selective pressure, they become immune and develop resistance which is a huge health concern. To prevent this from occurring, antibiotics need to be removed from hospital wastewater. Sonication is a promising technology that can be …

Optimizing Household Water Decisions For Managing Intermittent Water Supply In Mexico City, Savannah Wunderlich

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Nearly 1 billion people around the world experience intermittent water supply (IWS), including about 70% of residents in the Mexico City area. Households with IWS often rely on multiple sources of water to meet their needs, including municipal piped water, trucked water, and rainwater. When calculating water costs and reliability of supply, models of these systems must account for household decision-making regarding the volume of water to use from each different source each day. Modeling these household decisions (or “control policies”) is challenging, especially when households use rainwater as a water source, due to the complexity of the input variables …

Treenuts And Groundnuts In The Eat-Lancet Reference Diet: Concerns Regarding Sustainable Water Use, Davy Vanhama, Mesfin Mekonnen, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

The EAT-Lancet universal healthy reference diet recommends an increase in the consumption of healthy foods, among which treenuts and groundnuts. Both are, however, water-intensive products, with a large water footprint (WF) per unit of mass and protein and already today contribute to blue water stress in different parts of the world. The envisaged massive required increase in nut production to feed a global population with this reference diet, needs to occur in a water-sustainable way. In this paper, we identify and quantify where current nut production contributes to local blue water stress and discuss options for water-sustainable nut production. We …

Civil Engineering Research In Ireland 2020: Conference Proceedings, Kieran Ruane, Vesna Jaksic, Bidisha Ghosh, Magdalena Hajdukiewicz, Ciaran Hanley, Niall Holmes, Jennifer Keenahan, Zili Li, Patrick Mcgetrick, Ted Mckenna, Mary Moloney, Vikram Pakrashi, Niamh Power

Books

Civil Engineering Research in Ireland 2020: Conference Proceedings.

Review Of Pollution Sources Of Sitnica River, Kosovo And Approaches For Improving The River Quality, Ermal Daka

UBT International Conference

The paper aims to provide an overview and in-depth analysis concerning the main sources of pollution of Sitnica River in the section from its springs to discharge into Ibër River. All the existing emitters discharging into the river and its tributaries are analyzed and ranked according to their impact on the river body in terms of pollution load. The main source of pollution appears to be the untreated domestic and industrial wastewater, as the pressure increases with the increasing of population living in the river basin. Different wastewater management approaches (centralized and decentralized) are proposed for the most significant emitters …

Kentucky's Environmental Future, Fall/Winter 2004, Issue 9

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Williston Basin Water Treatment Technology Test Bed, University Of North Dakota. Energy And Environmental Research Center

EERC Brochures and Fact Sheets

Fact sheet about Energy & Environmental Research Center plan to pilot-test technology to treat high-TDS (total dissolved solids) water. Includes a description of proposed water treatment technology and plan for the testing process.

Assessment Of Point Of Use (Pou) Systems For Reducing Health Risks Associated With Drinking Water Along The U.S.-Mexico Colonias In The Paso Del Norte Region, Varinia Viridiana Felix Parra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the Paso del Norte Region along the U.S. Mexico Border, there are more than 5,000 families living in impoverished communities known as colonias that lack access to basic infrastructure services such as a public water system. These depend on hauling trucks that deliver water into their storage tanks. Water storage practices by colonia residents on both sides of the border pose an enormous risk for waterborne disease outbreaks and heavy metal contamination because the water quality can decrease rapidly due to volatilization of the residual chlorine, intrusion of rainfall and air-laden dust. Since connection to centralized water treatment and …

Techno- Economic Feasibility Study Of Solar Water Pumping For Public Facilities In Nigeria, Anamika Singh

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis presents a techno-economic feasibility analysis of solar water pumping systems in public facilities located in rural parts of Nigeria. Three different public facilities namely, a primary health care center in Ibwa (PHC, Ibwa), a comprehensive health care center in Kwali (CHC, Kwali), and the LEA Primary School in Mapa (LEA School, Mapa), all located in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria, were analyzed. The facilities considered in the study have varying levels of water demand (micro, small, and medium), and they are used as cases to establish the techno-economic suitability of solar water pumping systems to deliver water …