Environmental Engineering Commons^™

The Role Of Nitrification And Denitrification In Successful Cultivation Of Oxygenic Photogranules For Wastewater Treatment, Kristie Stauch-White

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Oxygenic photogranules (OPGs) are compact, spherical, self-immobilizing biofilms in the form of dense aggregates of microorganisms with a predomination of filamentous cyanobacteria cultivated from photoilluminated activated sludge. In this study, aerobic and anaerobic nitrogen transformation processes occurring simultaneously within OPGs, during both successful and unsuccessful cultivations, were examined. Chemical analyses including ammonium, nitrate, and nitrite concentrations at the beginning and periodically during OPG cultivations indicated nitrogen transformations occurring during successful cultivations. Additionally, qPCR studies revealed that successful cultivations supported a greater relative abundance of cyanobacteria, nitrifying, and denitrifying populations during the cultivation period. Dissolved oxygen microprofiles within a successfully cultivated …

Analyzing Streamflow Forecasts In The Context Of System Performance: A Case Study Of The City Of Baltimore Water Supply, Alexandra Mcintyre

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

A major challenge confronting water suppliers is how to best incorporate emerging forecasting technologies into their drought management operations. The need for drought plans that make use of proactive drought mitigation actions is particularly pressing as climate change is expected to cause more frequent and severe droughts in the near future. This research evaluates streamflow forecast skill in the context of drought planning. The City of Baltimore’s water supply system serves as a case study. Forecasts generated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service’s Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center (MARFC) are integrated into a …

Drought Management Using Streamflow Forecasts: A Case Study Of The City Of Baltimore Water Supply, Kathryn Booras

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

This research investigates forecast skill in predicting the onset and severity of drought in the Susquehanna River Basin. Streamflow forecasts developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Mid-Atlantic River Forecast Center (MARFC) are incorporated with other key drought indices in an aggregate drought index to predict and classify drought severity and to trigger drought mitigation actions. Climate drought index parameters for the Susquehanna River Basin, such as the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Days of Storage Remaining Index (DSR), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), are evaluated by their ability to detect water supply droughts of record. Drought indicators …

Biogenic Organic Carbon Compounds In Air And Rain, Iman Hosseini Shakib

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Rainwater quality has not been an issue of concern until recent decades of increasing urbanization and industrialization. Therefore, the role of biogenic contamination sources has been always underestimated as generally, anthropogenic contaminants are thought to be responsible for rainwater quality deterioration. This study aims to find the sources and reasons of biogenic VOC emission into the air and their changes in the air. Also, transfer of biogenic VOCs into the rainwater and their abundance have been investigated. The effects of these biogenic VOCs on rainwater quality have been studied by sampling of two rain events in the University of Massachusetts …

Assessing The Economic And Flow Regime Outcomes Of Alternative Hydropower Operations On The Connecticut River's Mainstem, Luke Detwiler

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Hydropower provides a source of reliable and inexpensive energy, producing approximately 20% of the global energy supply, though it comes at a cost to riverine ecosystems. To maximize revenues, major hydropower facilities store and release water with respect to short-term changes in energy price, causing significant sub-daily flow regime alterations that impact downstream ecological communities. In the United States, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is responsible for hydropower regulation and this is administered, in part, during periodic relicensing of existing facilities. The process of relicensing provides the opportunity to evaluate the goals and concerns of interested parties and evaluate …

Investigating Interactions Between Water And Society On A Global Scale: Econometric Analyses Of Hydroclimatic Variability And Water Policy, Hassan Furqan Khan

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

INVESTIGATING INTERACTIONS BETWEEN WATER AND SOCIETY ON A GLOBAL SCALE: ECONOMETRIC ANALYSES OF HYDROCLIMATIC VARIABILITY AND WATER POLICY AUGUST 2016 HASSAAN FURQAN KHAN Directed by: Professor Casey M. Brown Water-related hazards such as floods, droughts and disease cause damage to an economy through the destruction of physical capital including property and infrastructure, the loss of human capital and the interruption of economic activities, like trade and education. The question for policy makers, however, is whether the impacts of water-related risk accrue to manifest as a drag on economic growth at a scale suggesting policy intervention. In this work, we use …

Hydrologic Modeling At Ungauged Locations In Support Of The Development Of A Vulnerability Ranking Protocol System For Road-Stream Crossing Infrastructure, Gordon Clark

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Recent tropical storms that have resulted in flood events with large economic impacts in the Northeastern US have catalyzed efforts to understand the complex interactions between human and natural systems. Specifically, the resilience of our transportation infrastructure to climate and the impact of our transportation systems on the aquatic environment are of significant interest on both the local and regional scales to state and federal agencies. It is important that new, innovative approaches be developed that consider both the robustness of our infrastructure today and its ability to cope with forecasted extremes due to climate change. Because few streams are …

Understanding Factors That Affect Microbial Fuel Cell Performance: Inoculum Characteristics And Methanogenesis, Joshua Jack

Environmental & Water Resources Engineering Masters Projects

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a promising approach to wastewater treatment that use anode-respiring bacteria (ARB) to oxidize organic matter and generate electric current. Although these devices have great potential, MFCs are not yet commercialized primarily due to their low power output at pilot scale. Past studies have hypothesized power production may be largely limited by high internal resistances and competing microbial metabolisms (Logan et al., 2008).

The source of inoculum used to build MFC communities has been demonstrated to significantly influence cell resistance and microbial dynamics (Sun et al., 2008; Chae et al., 2008). Studies that have shown these …