Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Water Recovery From Silica Saturated Ro Concentrate By The Concentrate Enhanced Reverse Osmosis Process, Gautam Patwardhan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Membrane fouling due to silica precipitation during reverse osmosis (RO) continues to be documented as the most common challenge in attaining stable continuous operation of RO systems across water treatment plants (1). Silica scale precipitation is time dependent and involves multiple steps leading to aqueous polymerization, condensation of polymers to form colloids, and deposition onto a solid surface (2). Exceeding the solubility of silica, widely considered to be in the range of 100-140 ppm, under a pH of 8 at 25 °C by various researchers, results in the precipitation of silica on the membranes, thereby limiting water recovery. Once the …

2014 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.

2014 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 …

Nebraska Water Center Annual Report 2014, Nebraska Water Center

Nebraska Water Center: Administrative Materials

Letter from the Director

I am pleased to present this annual report on the activities, finances and many accomplishments of the Nebraska Water Center (NWC) during 2013 and 2014, a time when the NWC is celebrating its Golden Anniversary. More than being a simple look back at where we’ve been and what we have accomplished over the past year, this report looks forward to the complex challenges and exciting opportunities that lie ahead of us. We are now an integral part of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute (DWFI), a growing global institute focused on one of the …

Simulation Of Heat And Mass Transfer In Suns River Solar Distillation, Houman Azari

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Many regions around the world have limited fresh water resources, and we need to desalinate brackish water resources for drinking and irrigation purposes. Most of the world is also facing energy challenges which encourages engineers and scientists to use renewable energy resources instead of hydrocarbon fuels. Arid regions such as the Middle East, many African countries, and the southwestern United States typically have abundant solar irradiance and brackish or saline water supplies. Solar-thermal desalination could be an important supply of fresh water in these regions.

The classic solar still is not efficient for providing large amounts of clean water for …

Assessing The Impact Of Chlorine Residual On Trihalomethane And Haloacetonitrile Formation Under Chlorination And Chloramination Disinfection Regimes, Thien Duc Do

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation potential (FP) test can be used to indirectly measure the concentration of DBP precursors in natural waters, permitting assessment of various DBP-related treatment processes and control strategies. While these tests require a 7-day chlorine residual (CR) between 3-5 mg L^-1 as Cl², it is not well known if this recommended residual corresponds to the true DBPFP (i.e., the maximum concentrations) for trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetonitriles (HANs). In this study, THMs and HANs were quantified as a function of CR under three common disinfection regimes: (1) free chlorine at pH 7.0 (FC7), (2) …

Phosphorus Removal From Ebpr Sludge Dewatering Liquors Using Lanthanum Chloride, Aluminum Sulfate And Ferric Chloride, Michael Strileski

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In wastewater treatment, enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to chemical precipitation (CP) because of its lower costs and reduced sludge production. However, downstream solids handling processes such as digestion, sludge storage and dewatering promote an undesirable release (i.e. secondary release) of polyphosphate that was stored within EBPR sludge. Released phosphate is recycled to the head of the plant with the liquors of sludge dewatering processes. The concentration of phosphate in recycle streams from EBPR systems can be one to two orders of magnitude higher than the influent phosphorus concentration entering the EBPR system. Plants …

Floatovoltaics: Quantifying The Benefits Of A Hydro-Solar Power Fusion, Abe Mckay

Pomona Senior Theses

To slow climate change, humans should take immediate and widespread action. One way to slow climate change is by switching to switch to renewable power plants such as solar fields. Recently, pioneering companies have built solar fields on water bodies. This study found that such a pairing of water and solar could increase production efficiency by 8-10% through panel cooling, save millions of liters of water from evaporation, and produce energy with under-utilized space.

Evaluating Alternatives For Augmented Water Quality Improvement Utilizing Oyster Restoration As Best Management Practice (Bmp), Stephanie Roberts Long

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Due to several anthropogenic influences, the Chesapeake Bay has experienced a marked decrease in water quality since the colonists arrived at the Jamestown settlement in Virginia during the 1600s. Higher concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus have enriched the estuaries and coastal waters via point sources (sewage treatment plants and industrial wastes), nonpoint sources (agricultural run-off and septic tank discharges) and the atmosphere (Newell et al., 2005). Restoring oyster beds is considered a Best Management Practice (BMP) to improve water quality as well as provide physical habitat for aquatic species and a healthier estuarine system (USACE Native Oyster Restoration Master …

2013 Nebraska Water Monitoring Programs Report, Marty Link, Joe Kenning

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 good quality water and encourage or execute activities to improve poor water quality. Monitoring is done on the over 16,000 miles of flowing rivers and streams, our greater than 148,000 acres of surface water in lakes and reservoirs, and the vast storage of groundwater in Nebraska’s aquifers.

Evaluation Of Non-Stationarity In Annual Maximum Flood Series Of Moderately Impaired Watersheds In The Upper Midwest And Northeastern United States, Neila Salvadori

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

United States federal agencies assess flood risk using Bulletin 17B procedures which assume annual maximum flood series are stationary. This represents a significant limitation of current flood frequency models as the flood distribution is thereby assumed to be unaffected by trends or periodicity of atmospheric/climatic variables and/or anthropogenic activities. The validity of this assumption is at the core of this thesis, which aims to improve understanding of the forms and potential causes of non-stationarity in flood series for moderately impaired watersheds in the Upper Midwest and Northeastern US. Prior studies investigated non-stationarity in flood series for unimpaired watersheds; however, as …

A Classification Methodology For Landfill Leachates, David J. Tonjes

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

A characterization scheme based on landfill leachate chemical signatures could support studies of leachate evolution over time, liner performance, and help confirm or disprove potential leachate contamination of groundwater. Wide variations in single constituents across time, sites, and site practices, and inconsistencies related to common bivariate measures suggest a robust, multivariate analysis could be useful. A variant Stiff diagram approach (a subjective analytical comparison of soluble salts) has been developed, and supports graphical depictions of multiple samples. The hypothesis is that leachates with similar chemistry form clusters, and this was tested using a data set of 652 samples from 26 …

2013 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 …

Using Gis To Delineate Headwater Stream Origins In The Appalachian Coal-Belt Region Of Kentucky, Jonathan A. Villines

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Human activity such as surface mining can have substantial impacts on the natural environment. Performing a Cumulative Hydrologic Impact Assessment (CHIA) of such impacts on surface water systems requires knowing the location and extent of these impacted streams. The Jurisdictional Determination (JD) of a stream’s protected status under the Clean Water Act (CWA) involves locating and classifying streams according to their flow regime: ephemeral, intermittent, or perennial. Due to their often remote locations and small size, taking a field inventory of headwater streams for surface mining permit applications or permit reviews is challenging. A means of estimating headwater stream location …

Stilling Basin Scour Remediation Using Air Injection And Flat Plate Extension, Rachael Barlock

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) is responsible for managing over 2500 miles of waterways and hundreds of water control structures. Many of these control structures are experiencing erosion, known as scour, of the sediment downstream of the structure. Laboratory experiments were conducted in order to investigate the effectiveness of two-dimensional air diffusers and plate extensions (without air injection) on a 1/30 scale model of one of SFWMD gated spillway structures, the S65E gated spillway. A literature review examining the results of similar studies was conducted. The experimental design for this research was based off of previous work done …

An Evaluation Of The Cerro Process As An Efficient Ro Concentrate Management System, Guillermo Guadalupe Delgado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Concentrate Enhanced Recovery Reverse Osmosis (CERRO) Process is a new method to treat RO concentrate and brackish water with high concentrations of silica and calcium sulfate. Prior investigations have shown that the CERRO process can treat this kind of water without fouling or scaling the membranes, but the main factors that allow the system to operate in such conditions were not studied. The research presented here is an evaluation of the CERRO process as an efficient RO concentrate management system. The parameters of operation of the system were evaluated and improved. The precipitation of calcium sulfate was identified as …

Recovering Magnesium Hydroxide And Sodium Chloride From Zero Discharge Desalination Concentrate Streams, Alemayehu Asfaw Yetayew

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

UTEP and Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies have been demonstrating and commercializing the Zero Discharge Desalination (ZDD) technology as part of a three year project sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. ZDD is able to achieve up to 98% recovery by desalinating brackish groundwater. ZDD is typically comprised of a reverse osmosis (RO) or nanofiltration (NF) system and a unique variation of electrodialysis called electrodialysis metathesis (EDM). The ZDD technology increases the yield of fresh water from water supplies that contain enough CaSO4 to cause precipitation problems when the water is treated with RO or NF alone. The EDM …

Assessment Of A Modified Double Agar Layer Method To Detect Bacteriophage For Assessing The Potential Of Wastewater Reuse In Rural Bolivia, Sakira N. Hadley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water scarcity is a global concern that impacts many developing countries, forcing people to depend on unclean water sources for domestic, agricultural, and industrial needs. Wastewater is an alternative water source that contains nutrients needed for crop growth. Wastewater reuse for agriculture can cause public health problems because of human exposure to pathogens. Pathogen monitoring is essential to evaluate the compliance of wastewater with established World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wastewater reuse guidelines. Indicator organisms are commonly used to detect pathogens in water and wastewater because they are quick and easy to measure, non-pathogenic, and …

Investigating The Impacts Of Conventional And Advanced Treatment Technologies On Energy Consumption At Satellite Water Reuse Plants, Jonathan Roy Bailey

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the ever increasing world population and the resulting increase in industrialization and agricultural practices, depletion of two of the world's most important natural resources, water and fossil fuels, is inevitable. Water reclamation and reuse is the key to protecting these natural resources. Water reclamation using smaller decentralized wastewater treatment plants, known as satellite water reuse plants (WRP), have become popular in the last decade. With stricter standards and regulations on effluent quality and requirements for a smaller land footprint (i.e. real estate area), additional treatment processes and advanced technologies are needed. This greatly increases the energy consumption of an …

Effects Of Testing Time On Anaerobic Toxicity Assessment, Omolola Atinuke Akintomide

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anaerobic digestion has been widely used for wastewater treatment for decades. Several Anaerobic Toxicity tests have been developed to screen wastewater for toxicity and assess the treatability of such toxicants. However, past research and reviews on Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) test and Anaerobic Toxicity Assay (ATA) were considered in this study.

The experimental tests included ammonium-nitrogen and sodium chloride toxicity tests with varied concentration and solid retention time. These tests were designed to demonstrate the impact of ammonia- nitrogen and sodium chloride on the biological degradation process. The anaerobic test set-up includes bench-scale test reactors and respirometers used for measuring …

Estimating Annual Precipitation For The Colorado River Basin Using Oceanic-Atmospheric Oscillations, Ajay Kalra, Sajjad Ahmad

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Estimating long-lead time precipitation under the stress of increased climatic variability is a challenging task in the field of hydrology. A modified Support Vector Machine (SVM) based framework is proposed to estimate annual precipitation using oceanic-atmospheric oscillations. Oceanic-atmospheric oscillations, consisting of Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) for a period of 1900–2008, are used to generate annual precipitation estimates with a 1 year lead time. The SVM model is applied to 17 climate divisions encompassing the Colorado River Basin in the western United States. The overall results revealed that …

Synergy Of Alum And Chlorine Dioxide For Curbing Disinfection Byproduct Formation Potential At Central Arkansas Water, Corey W. Granderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Central Arkansas Water (CAW), the water utility for Little Rock, AR, draws their source water from Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona. To curb disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation, CAW has begun retrofitting their two plants to use chlorine dioxide as an alternative primary disinfectant followed by free chlorine secondary disinfection in the distribution system. In this study, fluorescence parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis was combined with free chlorine simulated distribution system (SDS) tests and DBP formation potential (DBPFP) tests to study the benefit of chlorine dioxide primary disinfection (CDPD) with alum coagulation. Of the DBPs screened, trichloromethane (TCM) was formed in highest …

Sediment Removal From The San Gabriel Mountains, Mary C. Ferguson

Pitzer Senior Theses

The issue of sediment removal from the San Gabriel Mountains has been a complex issue that has created problems with beach replenishment, habitat destruction and the need to spend millions of dollars at regular intervals to avoid safety hazards. Most recently 11 acres of riparian habitat, including 179 oaks and 70 sycamores, were removed for sediment placement. Other sites including Hahamongna Watershed Park and La Tuna Canyon also face a similar fate. This thesis questions: How did we get to this point of destroying habitat to dump sediment which is viewed as waste product? What are the barriers for creating …

Modeling Passive Solar Distillation In Las Vegas, Nv, Noe I. Santos

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Project Background

• Many rural areas on the planet do not have easy access to clean water!

• Water distillation basins are capable of distilling water by using incident solar radiation to evaporate polluted water.

• Current thermodynamic models used to predict behavior require instantaneous data; requires the use of expensive equipment.

• Distillation basins are dependent on multiple meteorological variables: insolation, temperature, wind speed, cloud cover.

• Non‐linear behavior is difficult to predict for long term operations.

Impact Of Sludge Treatment Processes On Estrogen Concentration In Wastewater Sludge, Erica Marti

College of Engineering: Graduate Celebration Programs

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), such as estrogen, are known to be present in the aquatic environment at concentrations that affect fish and other wildlife. For example, juvenile male fish exposed to estrogen will synthesize vitellogenin, which is a female-specific protein. Estrogen exposure is also linked to sex reversal, intersexuality, and inhibition of gonadal growth (Jobling et al., 1996).

Wastewater treatment plants are major contributors of EDCs into the environment. EDCs end up in wastewater as a result of natural excretion from the body or being washed off the skin. WWTPs are not designed to remove these substances. As a result, EDCs …

Optimization Of Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron For The Remediation Of Groundwater Contaminants, Andrew W. E. Mcpherson

Theses and Dissertations

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is an emerging tool for the remediation of groundwater contaminants. The nanoparticles are capable of reductively destroying or immobilizing a wide range of contaminants. Their small size results in a high surface area to mass ratio, making them much more reactive compared to their more-coarse predecessors. Small particle size also allows nZVI particles to be injected directly into contaminated areas via a well, limiting the above-ground footprint and allowing access to contaminated areas that are beyond the reach of some conventional methods. nZVI technology has the potential to facilitate remediation in difficult situations, improve remediation outcomes, …

Losing The Lake: Development And Deployment Of An Educational Game, Joseph M. Vesco, Katie Gilgen, Anne Paine, Marissa Owens, Michael Nussbaum, Gale M. Sinatra, Sajjad Ahmad, Kent J. Crippen, Sergiu Dascalu, Frederick C. Harris

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

When asked what the top three issues of the Las Vegas region were, the reply was “water, water, water!" This was the result of a survey done a few years ago of Las Vegas Valley TV anchors. The reason for this response is that sustainability of the urban environments requires sufficient water resources as does population growth. With the advent of global climate change, this resource is in danger. Water flow and mountainous ice packs are impacted by this change in climate there by impacting the amount of water the the region. This is compounded over time as the population …

2012 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 …

An Improved Flood Forecasting Model Of The Blue Nile River In Sudan, Gamal Abdo, Ahmed Nasr

Articles

Reliable flood predictions with a reasonable lead time in the Blue Nile River in Sudan are vitally important to avoid catastrophic damages due to flooding of this river and the main River Nile. A HEC-RAS model was initially applied to the Blue Nile by representing the river as a single reach. The resulting original model was subsequently improved by including the two tributaries of the river, Rahad and Dindir, and also the two existing reservoirs, Rosaries and Sinnar, to the model. The original and the improved models were calibrated using 1988 flood data for the period from June to September …

2012 Nebraska Water Monitoring Programs Report, Marty Link, Mike Archer

Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality: Reports

The following Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality staff have contributed to this report with their photos, maps, numbers, words, and editing. Their efforts are greatly appreciated and gratefully acknowledged here: Mike Archer, Ken Bazata, Dave Bubb, Ryan Chapman, Jason Garber, Patrick Hartman, Tom Heatherly, Dave Ihrie, Dan Inman, Greg Michl, Will Myers, Patrick O’Brien (NARD), Brad Routt, and Dave Schumacher.