Environmental Engineering Commons^™

2017 Spring Engr333 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Spring 2017 ENGR333 project focused on campus energy consumption.

I asked the students “Can you construct a fine-grained, bottom-up electricity demand model that predicts the annual electricity consumption for the dormitories (section A) and the PE complex (section B) for each year of the last decade with an accuracy of ±2%?”

Customer

The customer for this project was Jack Phillips, Assistant Director (Mechanical) at Calvin’s Physical Plant.

The Irreversible Momentum Of Clean Energy, Barack Obama

United States Department of Energy: Publications

The release of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) due to human activity is increasing global average surface air temperatures, disrupting weather patterns, and acidifying the ocean. Left unchecked, the continued growth of GHG emissions could cause global average temperatures to increase by another 4°C or more by 2100 and by 1.5 to 2 times as much in many midcontinent and far northern locations. Although our understanding of the impacts of climate change is increasingly and disturbingly clear, there is still debate about the proper course for U.S. policy—a debate that is very much on display …

2017 Nebraska Water Monitoring Programs Report, Marty Link, Ryan Chapman

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) is charged with monitoring, assessing, and to the extent possible, managing the state’s water resources. The purpose of this work is to protect and maintain high quality water and encourage or execute activities to improve poor water quality. Monitoring is done on nearly 17,000 miles of flowing rivers and streams, more than 134,000 acres of surface water in lakes and reservoirs, as well as the vast storage of groundwater in Nebraska’s aquifers.

Multiple Drivers Of Seasonal Change In Pri: Implications For Photosynthesis 2. Stand Level, Anatoly A. Gitelson, John A. Gamon, Alexei E. Solovchenko

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The goal of this study was to explore the relationships between stand-level photochemical reflectance index (PRI) and canopy structure/ pigment pools, as well as light use efficiency (LUE) of photosynthetically active vegetation focusing on seasonal or ontogenetic time frames. PRI was originally designed as a means of assessing the xanthophyll cycle and LUE over short (e.g. diurnal) time frames, and few studies have explored the drivers of PRI over longer, seasonal time frames, particularly in crops having different photosynthetic pathways or canopy structures. Consequently, our purpose was to understand and quantify the drivers of PRI responses over seasonal time scales …

Assessing Interactions Between Estuary Water Quality And Terrestrial Land Cover In Hurricane Events With Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing, Chandan Mostafiz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Estuaries are environmentally, ecologically and environmentally important places as they act as a meeting place for land, freshwater and marine ecosystems. They are also called nurseries of the sea as they often provide nesting and feeding habitats for many aquatic plants and animals. These estuaries also withstand the worst of some natural disasters, especially hurricanes. The estuaries as well as the harbored ecosystems undergo significant changes in terms of water quality, vegetation cover etc. and these components are interrelated. When hurricane makes landfall it is necessary to assess the damages as quickly as possible as restoration and recovery processes are …

Phytoforensics: Applications In Vapor Intrusion Assessment, Jordan Lee Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations

"Vapor intrusion (VI) occurs when contaminants in the vapor phase migrate in the shallow subsurface and enter buildings through cracks, seams, and gaps and has been recognized as a serious human-health threat as occupants are exposed to potentially harmful concentrations over long periods of time. The VI pathway has recently (2017) been identified as a primary exposure pathway and implemented into the Hazard Ranking System for inclusion on the Nation Priorities List. However, assessing VI and human exposure is not simple and current methods are time-, cost-, and labor-intensive; intrusive; and temporally and spatially variability. Trees are ideal candidates for …

Nebraska Public Water Supply Program Summary Report 2017

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) Program under the authority of the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Under the SDWA and the 1986 Amendments, EPA sets national limits on contaminant levels in drinking water to ensure that the water is safe for human consumption. These limits are known as Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) and Maximum Residual Disinfectant Levels (MRDLs). For some regulations, EPA establishes treatment techniques in lieu of an MCL to control unacceptable levels of contaminants in water.

2017 Nebraska Groundwater Quality Monitoring Report

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The 2001 Nebraska Legislature passed LB329 (Neb. Rev. Stat. §46-1304) which, in part, directed the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) to report on groundwater quality monitoring in Nebraska. Reports have been issued annually since December 2001. The text of the statute applicable to this report follows: “The Department of Environmental Quality shall prepare a report outlining the extent of ground water quality monitoring conducted by natural resources districts during the preceding calendar year. The department shall analyze the data collected for the purpose of determining whether or not ground water quality is degrading or improving and shall present the …

Removal Of Pharmaceuticals From Aqueous Solutions Using A1-Mg/Rgo Composite, Spencer Jones

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

The Environmental Impacts Of Alternative Food Waste Treatment Technologies In The U.S., Krista L. Thyberg, David J. Tonjes

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted to determine the environmental impacts of several waste treatment scenarios for a suburban New York (U.S.) municipality. The study goal was to determine if separate food waste recovery and management was environmentally sounder than waste-to-energy incineration (the baseline case). Three alternatives, enclosed tunnel composting, enclosed windrow composting, and anaerobic digestion with subsequent enclosed windrow composting of residuals, were examined considering the entire residual waste stream (not just separated food wastes). Impact categories assessed were climate change, environmental eutrophication and acidification, resource depletion, and stratospheric ozone depletion. A normalized, aggregated impact assessment was created …

Spatiotemporal Distribution Of Eutrophication In Lake Tai As Affected By Wind, Wenhui Zhang, Qiujin Xu, Xixi Wang, Xiaozhen Hu, Cheng Wang, Yan Pang, Yanbin Hu, Yang Zhao, Xiao Zhao

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

One common hypothesis is that wind can affect concentrations of nutrients (i.e., nitrogen and phosphorus) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) in shallow lakes. However, the tests of this hypothesis have yet to be conclusive in existing literature. The objective of this study was to use long-term data to examine how wind direction and wind speed affect the spatiotemporal variations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and Chl-a in Lake Tai, a typical shallow lake located in east China. The results indicated that the concentrations of nutrients and Chl-a tended to decrease from the northwest to the southeast of Lake Tai, with …

Heavy Metal Distribution And Groundwater Quality Assessment For A Coastal Area On A Chinese Island, Sha Lou, Shuguang Liu, Chaomeng Dai, An Tao, Bo Tan, Gangfeng Ma, Roman Sergeeyvich Chalov, Sergey Romanovich Chalov

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Chongming Island is located in the lower Yangtze Estuary in China. Due to the Leachate from a refuse landfill and the hydrodynamics of the Yangtze Estuary, the groundwater environment is particularly complicated on Chongming Island. Field observations were carried out around the landfill disposal site. The groundwater table, temperature, pH, salinity, and dissolved oxygen were measured in the field by portable equipment, and 192 water samples were collected at eight groundwater sites and one surface water site. Through laboratory analysis we found the highest measured concentration of Cr to be 54.07 μg/L, and the measured concentration of Zn was in …

Characterization Of Ecological Water Stress In The U.S. Great Lakes Region Using A Geospatial Modeling Approach, Sara Alian

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Anthropocentric water resources management affects aquatic habitats by changing streamflow regime. Understanding the impacts of water withdrawal from different sources and consumption by various economic sectors at different spatial and temporal scales is key to characterizing ecologically harmful streamflow disturbances. To this end, we developed a generic, integrative framework to characterize catchment scale water stress at annual and monthly time scales. The framework accounts for spatially cumulative consumptive and non-consumptive use impacts and associated changes in flow due to depletion and return flow along the stream network. Application of the framework to the U.S. Great Lakes Region indicates that a …

Cloth-Air Partitioning Of Oxybenzone, Jonathan T. Hill

Masters Theses

"Clothing has been proven to be a significant accumulator of chemicals from the air. Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) have a high affinity towards textiles, and measuring the equilibrium partition coefficient between cloth and air (K_cloth-air) for SVOCs is crucial in predicting human exposure to these compounds. This study aims to quantify K_cloth-air for oxybenzone to contribute to a larger human exposure experiment carried out at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). K_cloth-air for oxybenzone was calculated using data collected from the exposure chamber at DTU and from performing extractions of oxybenzone in fabric samples from the …

Effects Of Nonaerated Circulation Water Velocity On Nutrient Release From Aquaculture Pond Sediments, Xiangju Cheng, Dantong Zhu, Xixi Wang, Deguang Yu, Jun Xie

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Sustaining good water quality in aquaculture ponds is vital. Without an aerator, the dissolved oxygen in ponds comes primarily from mass transfer at the water-ambient atmosphere interface. As sediment can seriously affect water quality, this study used indoor experiments to examine the nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) release mechanisms and fluxes from sediment in aquaculture ponds with moving water but no aeration. The results showed that the ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N) concentration in the overlying water was inversely proportional to flow velocity and that a higher flow velocity tended to result in a lower concentration in the overlying water, a …

Upscaling Stem To Community-Level Transpiration For Two Sand-Fixing Plants: Salix Gordejevii And Caragana Microphylla, Limin Duan, Yang Li, Xue Yan, Tingxi Liu, Xixi Wang

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The information on transpiration is vital for sustaining fragile ecosystem in arid/semiarid environment, including the Horqin Sandy Land (HSL) located in northeast China. However, such information is scarce in existing literature. The objectives of this study were to: (1) measure sap flow of selected individual stems of two sand-fixing plants, namely Salix gordejevii and Caragana microphylla, in HSL; and (2) upscale the measured stem-level sap flow for estimating the community-level transpiration. The measurements were done from 1 May to 30 September 2015 (i.e., during the growing season). The upscaling function was developed to have one dependent variable, namely sap …

Water–Soil–Vegetation Dynamic Interactions In Changing Climate, Xixi Wang, Xuefeng Chu, Tingxi Liu, Xiangju Cheng, Rich Whittecar

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Previous studies of land degradation, topsoil erosion, and hydrologic alteration typically focus on these subjects individually, missing important interrelationships among these important aspects of the Earth's system. However, an understanding of water–soil–vegetation dynamic interactions is needed to develop practical and effective solutions to sustain the globe's eco-environment and grassland agriculture, which depends on grasses, legumes, and other fodder or soil-building crops. This special issue is intended to be a platform for a discussion of the relevant scientific findings based on experimental and/or modeling studies. Its 12 peer-reviewed articles present data, novel analysis/modeling approaches, and convincing results of water–soil–vegetation interactions under …

The Former Asarco Demolition Fallout, A Post Study On Lead Soil Concentrations And Environmental Agents Of Redistribution In El Paso, Texas, Stephanie A. Robinson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The former El Paso ASARCO Smelting and Refining Co. operated between 1877 and 1999, the pyrometallurgic activity was estimated to have discharged excess of a 1,000 tons of lead (Pb) into the atmosphere from 1969-71. It was estimated 96 tons of (Pb) were emitted on an annual basis from the standing ore and fluid beds. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that lead (Pb) is the heavy metal of the highest concentration within the vicinity of the smelter. After the smelter production ceased, flash flooding common to the southwest, such as the 2006 historic flood, increased transportation of superficial contaminants …

Studies Of Air Pollutants And Their Impact On Respiratory And Cardiovascular Diseases In The El Paso Del Norte Region With Emphasis On Mobile Emissions, Juan Gustavo Arias Ugarte

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Air pollution may cause different diseases, such as cardiovascular and lung diseases. Traffic is a major source of mobile emissions causing air pollution. Exhaust emissions from mobile sources (Emissions of Carbon Monoxide, Nitrogen Oxides and Hydrocarbons) and Non-exhaust (Brake and Tire) are complex mixtures of gases and dust, including a large number of ultrafine particles, especially in areas with high traffic density. Recent studies have shown high rates of morbidity and mortality in people exposed to these types of emissions because the fine and ultrafine particles can be transported from the respiratory airways to the organs, thus contributing to increase …

Cost-Effective Recovery Of Concentrated Cooling Tower Blowdown Using The Cerro Process, Lindsey Nicole Larson

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Concentrate Enhanced Recovery Reverse Osmosis (CERRO) process is a seawater-RO unit that can cost-effectively achieve extremely high recoveries from water high in silica, carbonate and sulfate concentrations. This relatively new technology takes advantage of the induction time of potential foulants to recover more water than what is normally achievable with a conventional desalination system. The scope of the project was to evaluate the efficiency of the CERRO process as a pilot study using cooling tower blowdown which varied in water quality parameters daily. It was found that the CERRO pilot could successfully achieve 85% recovery, and the main limitation …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2016, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Field Emissions Of (Hydro)Chlorofluorocarbons And Methane From A California Landfill, Alexander H. Sohn

Master's Theses

A comprehensive field investigation was conducted at Potrero Hills Landfill (PHL) located in Suisun City, California to quantify emissions of twelve (hydro)chlorofluorocarbons (i.e. F-gases). The specific target constituents for this study included CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113, CFC-114, HCFC-21, HCFC-22, HCFC-141b, HCFC-142b, HCFC-151a, HFC-134a, HFC-152a, and HFC-245fa. The majority of the F-gas emission studies have been conducted outside of the United States and very limited field landfill emission data are available in the United States. Because of historical usage of blowing agents in insulation foams including CFC-11, HCFC-142b, HFC-134a, and HFC-245fa, models reported in literature predicted high F-gas emissions from a landfill …

Characterization And Delineation Of Karst Geohazards Along Rm652 Using Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Culberson County, Texas, Adam F. Majzoub

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Delaware Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico is the major western subdivision of the Permian Basin and a northern extension of the Chihuahuan Desert. The major evaporite unit within the Delaware Basin is the Castile Formation, which consists of gypsum/anhydrite and is highly susceptible to dissolution and karsting. Manifestations of karst within the Castile outcrop are abundant and include sinkholes, subsidence features and caves, both epigene and hypogene in origin.

Land reconnaissance surveys conducted during the summer of 2015 documented abundant karst landforms in close proximity to a major thoroughfare, RM 652, in Culberson County, Texas. 2D …

Pepper Mild Mottle Virus As A Surrogate For Enteric Viruses: Implications For Assessing Water Quality, Erin Michelle Symonds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Less than 10% of the world’s domestic wastewater is disinfected prior to discharge into surface waters; therefore, human exposure to diverse wastewater-related pathogens results in millions of cases of illness each year. Among the enteric pathogens, viruses represent an important group of emerging pathogens and are frequently the cause of food- and water-borne outbreaks of illness. Although the World Health Organization and many government agencies mandate the use of bacterial indicators to identify poor microbial water quality, it is well known that these indicators poorly correlate with fecal pollution contamination events and risk of disease. The field of public health-related …

Wind Power: Frustrating Yet Inevitable, Garth Woodruff

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Surrounding Water Table On A Forested Wetland Habitat In East Coast Of Virginia, Lane Stokes

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Exchanges into and out of a wetland, including surface water flow, groundwater flow, and constituents in the flows, usually determine the wetland physicochemical characteristics and biodiversity. To date, of these three exchanges, groundwater flow is the least studied, particularly in the United States of America. In this thesis, field observations were conducted at a forested non-tidal wetland, located on a flat hilltop. The position of the wetland is such that groundwater outflow is the only significant exchange that could be impacted by the surrounding land use. In addition, a spatially variable steady-state model was set up to extrapolate the observations …

Longitudinal Tidal Dispersion Coefficient Estimation And Total Suspended Solids Transport Characterization In The James River, Beatriz Eugenia Patino

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The longitudinal dispersion coefficient is a parameter used to evaluate the effect of cross-sectional variations on substance mixing mechanisms in estuaries influenced by tide, wind and internal density variations. Considering a two dimensional approach, this study aims at evaluating a tidal area of the lower James River at approximately 19 miles upstream from the mouth at the Chesapeake Bay, in the City of Newport News, and applies an experimental procedure based on in-situ salinity concentrations to estimate the dispersion coefficient in the area where receives a discharge from the HRSD James River Wastewater Treatment Plant, and further characterizes Total Suspended …

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 10 - Play 3 - 2016/06/15), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 1/2 - Play 3 - 2016/06/12), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.

University Of New Mexico Bioalgal Energy, Photosynthesis Rates Of Poplar Plants - Measurements With Tdl Machine (Enriched Co2 - Enriched-Exposed - Tray 1/3 - Play 1 - 2016/06/08), David Hanson

Energize New Mexico (NSF EPSCoR Track 1 IV)

Collect the photosynthetic rate of poplar plants under different isotopic compositions of CO2 with the TDL machine and with the Licor equipment.