Engineering Commons^™

Design Of A Viability Test For Freshwater Prawn Aquaculture Of Two Different Macrobrachium Species In Aneityum, Vanuatu, Cameron Koizumi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

There is a unique opportunity for freshwater prawn aquaculture on the island of Aneityum in the Republic of Vanuatu. Aneityum has an abundance of fresh water, the streams and rivers on Aneityum are the natural habitat for a freshwater prawn species, Macrobrachium lar, and the people on Aneityum regularly work on projects using communal labor for the benefit of the community. Aneityum also hosts 40 – 120 cruise ships a year, bringing hundreds of thousands of tourists to Aneityum and the nearby islet Mystery Island which creates a readily available market in which to sell freshwater prawns.

The objective …

Spread Of Emerging Contaminants In Water Distribution Systems, Danielle Pilarski

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Emerging contaminants are a growing concern to humans and the environment. Studies have shown these contaminants are present in the environment through continuous release into surface waters from wastewater treatment effluent, manufacturing processes, and agricultural use. The effects of these contaminants have been observed in ecological studies, but they have not yet been well studied for long term exposure in humans. These emerging contaminants have also not been well studied to determine the rates at which they decay or how they move through distribution systems. This study aims to determine the importance of decay rate on concentration throughout a distribution …

A Preliminary Sustainability Analysis Of Producing Class A Biosolids With Conventional And Low-Cost, Low-Tech Processes, Janna Brown

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Producing Class A biosolids is a beneficial way to reuse wastewater sludge. Low-cost, low-tech (LCLT) processes are attractive to small water resource recovery facilities (WRRF) because of their low capital costs and simple designs. This study examined the sustainability of conventional and LCLT processes at small WRRFs. The environmental impacts were determined by conducting life cycle assessments. Cost analyses determined the economic impacts. The social impacts were analyzed by investigating case studies and surveys of social response to biosolids. The environmental, economic, and social impacts were normalized, and each technology received an overall score. The technologies studied were direct heat …

Assessing Benthic Recovery In The Torch Lake Aoc, Anya Clare Leach

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Torch Lake, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, was a site of copper ore processing from the 1860s through the 1960s. During this time, various mining by-products were deposited into the lake and along its shoreline, including mine tailings and associated heavy metals contaminants (e.g., copper). It was anticipated that natural sediment deposition would cover and attenuate toxic sediments over time, but a comprehensive assessment of the benthos has not been performed since a baseline survey conducted in 1999 and 2000. This study was conducted in 2018 to evaluate the current benthic community status as well as sediment composition and metal …

Pathogen And Indicator Organism Inactivation And Quantification For Low-Cost Low-Tech Biosolids Treatment, Karina Eyre

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Biosolids are a by-product of municipal wastewater treatment which, when treated to reduce pathogens, can be land applied as a fertilizer. Class A biosolids must contain low pathogen levels and are unrestricted in their use. This thesis describes methods to identify pathogen and indicator organism (PIO) inactivation mechanisms and PIO inactivation rates for use in low-cost low-tech Class A processes. Procedures to control the levels of spiked bacteria and viruses, total solids, volatile fatty acids, pH, and temperature in biosolids are described for their use in laboratory experiments. Methods for coliphage in biosolids as a surrogate for total enteric viruses …

The Role Of Ephemeral Stratification, Anoxia, And Entrainment In Mediating Spatiotemporal Trophic State Dynamics In A Lake Michigan Drowned River Mouth System (Mona Lake, Mi), Hayden Henderson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Mona Lake, MI (a drowned river mouth system) has become eutrophic as result of cultural eutrophication. The integrated monitoring effort and subsequent modeling (LAKE2K) reported on here has shifted the management focus to internal phosphorus loads (60 percent of annual load, 90 percent of load during the stratified and anoxic period) as a necessary precursor to trophic state change. Sediment phosphorus release can yield extreme elevations (> 1 mgSRP/L) of bottom water soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), with blooms of potentially toxic cyanobacteria (largely Microcystis) occurring annually. Such blooms are ascribable to stochastic mixing and phosphorus entrainment to the surface waters, …

Improved Methods For The Quantification Of Viable Ascaris Suum And Application To Biosolids, Tanner Keyzers

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The current method for detection of Ascaris ova in biosolids and wastewater has several drawbacks including being labor and time intensive as well as being difficult to quantify viable ova that have larvated during treatment. The goal of this thesis was to improve several methods for the detection and quantification of Ascaris ova during long term-storage of biosolids including improvement of quantifying viable ova using a heat and bleach treatment to promote movement of larvae inside of ova, and comparison of the traditional microscopic method with qPCR and PMA-qPCR to prevent the false-positive results. Improved methods to promote movement of …

Investigation Of Long Term Pillar Stability In An Abandoned Gypsum Mine Based On Dissolution Models, Mohammadhossein Sadeghiamirshahidi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The abandoned Domtar Mine in Grand Rapids, MI underlies Interstate I-196. The mine operated for over 140 years, mining a 30-meter-deep, four-meter thick gypsum seam. In 2000, the mine was abandoned with the removal of the mine’s dewatering pumps allowing groundwater to flood the mine. The initial flooding resulted in saturating the mine pillars along with some amount of pillar dissolution. Overtime, gypsum dissolution would cease as the water becomes saturated with the gypsum dissolution products. The mine, however, is located adjacent to the Grand River and has groundwater moving through the mine resulting in the potential for continuing dissolution. …

Flood Inundation Mapping For Huron Creek, Houghton County, Michigan, Sarah Washko

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The 2018 Father’s Day Flood rattled the Houghton County, MI community. Thousands of dollars in damage to public and private property were incurred due to slope failure, scour and stagnant water. Though the flood was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime event, hazard mitigation planning has become essential, as extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent with a changing climate. While Federal Emergency Management Agency funding will provide detailed flood hazard maps in the future, mapping is expected to be several years out. To aid the City of Houghton community with immediate flood hazard mitigation planning, a hydraulic-based flood depth …

Technology For Integrated Groyne-Vetiver Erosion Reduction (Tiger): Case Study In A West African River, Chase M. West

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

River erosion is a problem all over the world. The effects of river erosion are especially hard for farmers in developing countries, where the river is an important part of their farming practices and daily lives. A case study was done in the small village of Fode Binea in Senegal, West Africa to reduce this stream erosion. A new hybrid approach, Technology for Integrated Groyne-Vetiver Erosion Reduction (TIGER) method, was developed. The method includes combining groynes at the toe of the riverbank to reduce toe erosion in the channel and planting a buffer strip with vetiver grass to reduce erosion …

Hydrologic Impacts And Trade-Offs Associated With Forest-Based Bioenergy Development Across The Americas, Azad Heidari

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

A simulation-based framework for studying hydrologic impacts and associated tradeoffs for existing and proposed biofuel projects in the US (poplar), Argentina (eucalyptus) and Mexico (oil palm) is developed. For each case study, a representative watershed is selected and a SWAT model is set up and calibrated for an improved simulation of hydrologic processes and plant growth cycles. Potential bioenergy scenarios are developed that represent various planting densities, harvest cycles, fertilization and irrigation rates, land cover types being converted, slope, and locations across the watershed.

Simulations indicate that growth and biomass production are significantly dependent on nitrogen availability, making fertilization a …

Urban Evapotranspiration In Water Scarce Regions Estimates For The Middle Rio Grande Basin, United States And Mexico, Jessica Alger

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Urban evapotranspiration (ET) in semi-arid and arid regions is an important component of the urban water cycle, especially in regions that have limited freshwater supplies. Understanding urban evapotranspiration in these regions is necessary for assessing and managing water resources and ensuring that conservation strategies are effective and sustainable. The objective of this study is to estimate urban ET in the Middle Rio Grande Basin to provide an understanding of evaporative water losses in semi-arid to arid urban environments for future water management decisions. The focus of this study is on the cities of El Paso, TX, US; Las Cruces, NM, …