Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Balancing Water Needs In Walker Basin, Peter Stanton

Spring Runoff Conference

Walker Lake 

Supported 50% of Mineral County economy 

Traditional homeland of Walker River Paiute Tribe (Agai Dicutta) 

World-class fishery

Annual Loon Festival

Utah’S Water Network Panel, Brad Mortensen, Kelly Pehrson, Nate Daugs, Brad Parry, Lindsie Smith, Camille Touton, Megan Nelson

Spring Runoff Conference

A panel on Utah's water network at the 2026 Spring Runoff Conference.

2026 Northern Utah Water Champion Award, Spring Runoff Conference

Spring Runoff Conference

Recognizes individuals who have demonstrated sustained, meaningful contributions to the stewardship, management, governance, or understanding of water in Northern Utah.

Utah State University’S Water Legacy, Brad Mortensen

Spring Runoff Conference

Utah State University's President, Brad Mortensen, presents at the 2026 Spring Runoff Conference.

Mould Risk Prevention In Healthcare Facilities In Hot And Humid Climates Through Acmv Air Supply Parameter Optimisation: Development And Validation Of A Multi-Objective Optimisation Framework, Jiang Kaiyun

Student Works (2020-2029)

Air conditioning mechanical ventilation (ACMV) supply parameters—such as airflow rate, temperature, and humidity—significantly influence indoor thermal and hygrometric conditions, influencing airflow patterns and mould proliferation. In healthcare facilities, mould poses significant health risks, particularly for immunocompromised patients, contributing to respiratory issues, allergic reactions, and infections. While ACMV systems are central to infection control and indoor air quality, conventional designs often fall short in hot and humid climates. Existing practices typically prioritise high air change rates (ACH) without sufficient dehumidification, underestimate humidity control, and assume spatial homogeneity, overlooking microclimates conducive to localised mould growth. To address these limitations, this research develops …

Drone Based Operational Cloud Seeding, Jared Smith

Spring Runoff Conference

Cloud Seeding: Next Generation Operations and Validation

What is Winter Cloud Seeding? 

• The act of introducing favorable dust particles into a cloud to promote ice crystal nucleation 
• Requires naturally occurring clouds and cold temperatures 
• Aimed at enhancing winter snowpack

Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan – Longterm Actions, Jake M. Serago

Spring Runoff Conference

GSL’s water level is in long-term decline. Water users face shortages and challenges. Increased temperatures, greater precipitation extremes and population changes are stressing water supplies in the basin. 84% of Utah residents think the Government is accountable for resolving issues facing GSL.

Agricultural Water Leasing Opportunities & Updates, Hannah Freeze

Spring Runoff Conference

The framework for this leasing program is based on depletion savings from conservation practices not surplus or tailwater

Pheasant Forever Loan Program, Will Benkelman

Spring Runoff Conference

Bear River Watershed Community Conservation Program

Our Mission: Pheasants Forever (PF) and Quail Forever’s (QF) mission is to conserve pheasants, quail, and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public access, education, and conservation advocacy.

Logan River Watershed Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Zan Murray

Spring Runoff Conference

Agenda:

Program Overview: PL-566 & NEPA

Project Need and Purpose

Project Alternatives

Preferred Alternative Costs and Benefits

NEPA Timeline/Current Schedule

Questions

Cache Water District Conservation Program, Autumn Matthews

Spring Runoff Conference

Conservation and Education Programs.

Conservation Goals:

Increase community awareness through outreach, workshops, and community programs that support water conservation.

Expand and improve programs that encourage water savings and more efficient water use across the community.

Help residents save money by promoting water efficiency and reducing unnecessary water use.

Water Supply Update, Jordan Clayton

Spring Runoff Conference

Snowpack and Water Supply Conditions.

>95% of the water we use in Northern Utah comes from snow. Therefore, it’s critically important to quantify how much water is stored in our snowpack.

Legislative Summary Panel, Brian Steed, Scott Sandall, Jill Koford, Joel Ferry

Spring Runoff Conference

Legislative updates provided at the Spring Runoff Conference 2026.

Water In 2026, Spencer Cox

Spring Runoff Conference

Presentation by Utah Governor Cox.

Pel Stories, Tim Miller, Cameron Schuh, Sandra Flum, Blake Dollier

Purdue Road School

PEL Stories: Bridging Planning and Environmental Review: This presentation will highlight stories from planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) projects, demonstrating how early planning can streamline environmental review and improve project outcomes.

IndyPEL: Advancing Planning through Environmental Linkages: This session explores the IndyPEL project, highlighting how Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) studies are shaping transportation decisions in Indiana. Attendees will learn about stakeholder engagement, data-driven planning, and lessons learned.

Experimental Study Of Dimpled Serpentine Reactors For Hydrogen Production Via Methanol Steam Reforming, Mohamed I. Zeid, Mahmoud A. Shouman, Osama Abdelrehim, Ahmed M. Hamed

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Hydrogen is widely regarded as a clean energy carrier, with methanol steam reforming (MSR) emerging as a promising route for portable and on-board applications due to its favorable operating conditions and high hydrogen yield. Reactor geometry plays a decisive role in hydrogen productivity, pressure drop, and energy efficiency, yet the balance among these factors remains insufficiently addressed. In this study, three serpentine aluminum microreactors: a plain serpentine reactor (PSR), a rhombusdimple reactor (RDR), and a hemispherical-dimple reactor (HDR) were fabricated and coated with a copper (II) oxide, zinc oxide, aluminum oxide (CuO/ZnO/Al₂O₃) catalyst to experimentally investigate the effect of dimple …

What Is Passive And Active Release Retrofitting Rainwater Harvesting Systems?, Sarah E. Waickowski, Amy E. Scaroni, Beatriss H. Calhoun

Forestry and Natural Resources

Rainwater harvesting is the collection and temporary storage of rainwater for non-potable applications and stormwater management. Rainwater harvesting systems can be retrofitted with passive or active release to improve how well the systems manage stormwater runoff. This publication contains information that may be useful to municipalities, stormwater professionals, rainwater harvesting system owners and/or managers, homeowner associations, and stormwater educators, among others, on what is passive and active release, including their benefits and where to find more information.

Cultivation Of Arthrospira Platensis (Spirulina) In Food-Based Industrial Wastewater For High-Yield Phycocyanin Extraction, Pavithira Sathinathan

Student Works (2020-2029)

Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina) is a filamentous cyanobacterium valued for its nutritional profile, particularly the pigment–protein phycocyanin, with potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Despite its industrial significance, large-scale commercialization remains constrained by high cultivation costs and inefficient extraction methods. This study investigated the use of food-based industrial wastewater as an alternative nutrient medium for Spirulina cultivation, aiming to reduce production costs, enhance phycocyanin yield, and support sustainable wastewater remediation. Three types of food-based wastewater with different nutrient composition (WW1, WW2, WW3) was diluted with Kosaric medium (1:1) and used for Spirulina cultivation. The highest biomass concentration was achieved in WW2 (1.93 …

Mechanistic Framework Of Wood Decomposition In Post-Storm Vegetative Debris Piles Using Continuous Quality Theory, Thomas T. Lee

Master's Theses

Storm events generate significant quantities of vegetative debris composed of wood, branches, twigs, and other organic materials. Efficient post-storm resource recovery and carbon accounting depend on reliable predictions of decomposition within these large, heterogeneous debris piles. While small-scale wood decay is well studied, decomposition dynamics within multi-layer debris piles remain poorly characterized, limiting municipalities' ability to estimate material longevity and resource recovery potential.

To address this gap, this study develops the WOOD_DK (Wood Organic Oxidation and DegraDation Kinetics) model, a preliminary, exploratory one-dimensional multilayer decomposition framework simulating coupled temperature, moisture, oxygen, and carbon dynamics in MATLAB. Microbial decomposition follows Continuous …

Evaluation Of Existing Wwtp Using Gps-X Modelling And Simulation Software, Mohamed Hussein Hegazy, Mohamed Ibrahim Sobhy, Mohamed Nouh Meshref, Marwan Ahmed Elghonimy

Civil Engineering

Research on ways to make WasteWater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) work better is still limited. In this study, GPS-X simulation was used to predict how a WWTP behaves under different operating conditions and to suggest ideas for future improvement. GPS-X version 8.5 was applied for dynamic modelling and simulation to check the performance of the Arab Abo Saed Wastewater Treatment Plant in Helwan, Egypt. Two operating cases were studied: one with the highest water flow and the lowest pollutant levels, and another with the lowest water flow and the highest pollutant levels. Real data from two years (2022–2023) was used for …

Dataset For Equity And Justice In Water Pricing And The Effects On Water Distribution System, Brian Barkdoll

Michigan Tech Research Data

“Equity and Justice in Water Pricing and the Effects on Water Distribution System Management” Equity and justice regarding access to potable drinking water are paramount. Municipal Water Distribution Systems supply potable water to users and are essential to public health. They comprise a complicated set of source(s), pump(s), tank(s), and pipes. The price of water to users can affect the amount of usage. To find the optimal price of water to maximize utility revenue and allow changes to the system components for capital and maintenance expenditures, network modeling using the network solver fixed was performed for 15 real MDWSs.  A …

Sea Level Trends Near Critical Levees In The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Reyna Sanchez Gomez

Master's Theses

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) levee system faces threats from rising sea levels, land subsidence, and deteriorating levees, all of which pose risks to California’s primary surface water supply. The purpose of this thesis is to assess relative sea level rise (RSLR) and estimate the spatially varying factors that influence water levels in the Delta. This thesis extends the work of Baranes et al. (2023) to the period 1975-2022 by appending recently acquired water-level records (1975-1982) to modern datasets (1982-2022) from 10 water-level stations. These water level datasets were digitized, quality-assured, and referenced to a common geodetic datum, as described …

Green Roofs For Grey Water Treatment – Comparative Study Of Economic And Environmental Impacts, Shaden S. Attia

Theses and Dissertations

Cities are under more pressure than ever to use sustainable methods for managing water and other resources because of urbanization, climate change, and a lack of water. Standard greywater treatment systems (SGTSs) work well, but they use a lot of resources and don't provide a lot of ecosystem services. Greywater-treating green roofs (GTGRs) have emerged as a promising Nature-Based Solution (NBS), combining wastewater recycling with benefits like regulating temperature, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and reducing the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Even with this potential, there is still not enough real-world research on how GTGRs affect both the economy …

Proposed Modifications To The Egyptian Concrete Code Based On A Comprehensive Sustainability Assessment Of Portland Cement Alternatives For Climate Change Mitigation, Yasmin Elhakim

Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is a major challenge facing planet earth today. This phenomenon is foreseen to continue to represent a major concern for decades to come. The construction industry is one of the most polluting sectors worldwide and is considered one of the top greenhouse gas emitters. Egypt, in particular, is one of the most vulnerable countries to the adverse effects of climate change. The construction sector plays a major role in Egypt’s economy, contributing significantly to the national GDP, yet it also represents one of the country’s largest greenhouse gas emitters. However, the Egyptian Concrete Code does not enforce the …

Comparative Evaluation Of Conventional And Sustainable Concrete Protective Coatings: Performance, Economic, And Environmental, Andro Ebrahim

Theses and Dissertations

Concrete structures are highly susceptible to deterioration from environmental, chemical, and mechanical factors, making protective coatings essential for ensuring durability and reducing maintenance demands. This study aims to compare and evaluate conventional and innovative coating systems for concrete protection across three dimensions—technical performance, environmental sustainability, and life cycle cost efficiency—and to assess whether coatings often regarded or marketed as sustainable genuinely achieve sustainability across these three pillars. Four representative coatings were selected for assessment: epoxy solvent-based, epoxy solvent-free, acrylic water-based, and cementitious. Technical performance was examined through laboratory testing, expert interviews, and multiple real project cases, providing a comprehensive understanding …

Hold Paramount The Health, Safety, And Welfare Of The Public And The Planet, Daniel B. Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Efficiency Evaluation Of Different Methods For Nitrogen Removal In Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants: An Integrative Review, Cristiane G. Ferrarezzi, Juliana Canto Duarte

The School of Sustainability Engineering and Environmental Engineering (SEE) Graduate Student Publications

Domestic wastewaters present high nitrogen levels due to the urea and ammonia, which are excreted into urine. Municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) normally face some challenges in keeping their treated wastewater at a low total nitrogen concentration, since the majority of their wastewater is domestic. Low nitrogen levels in the treated wastewater are important to avoid increasing eutrophication of the receptor body, which receives the treated wastewater. This work presents an integrative review considering studies related to denitrification in domestic WWTPs published from January 1st, 2018, to April 30th, 2023. This review aims to identify the most effective methods for …

Utilization Of Plastic Waste In The Concrete Industry, Nancy Abdelmoneim Sakr

Theses and Dissertations

Plastic recycling has emerged as a crucial strategy that aligns with environmental, social and economic sustainability indicators. Currently, substantial volumes of plastic waste are either deposited in landfills or incinerated, neglecting the potential to harness its embodied energy and the energy consumed for producing virgin materials. A key advantage of plastic lies in its promising mechanical properties. Concrete mix design is fundamental to a wide range of construction applications, including brick walls, reinforced concrete slabs and concrete pavements. Despite the adoption of recycled plastic in construction materials in various countries, its widespread implementation remains limited. This is primarily due to …

Multifunctional Green Wall Systems For Greywater Treatment And Hygrothermal Regulation In Egypt, Laila Ossama Mohamed Elhusseiny Abdelsalam

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing environmental concerns regarding climate change and the intensifying challenge of water scarcity in Egypt necessitate the development of innovative, sustainable, and resource-efficient strategies for wastewater reuse. In the built environment, greywater constitutes a significant, relatively low-contaminant wastewater stream that, if treated to comply with Egyptian Codes and relevant international standards, can be safely reused for non-potable applications such as irrigation, landscaping, and building services. This research investigates the efficacy of an integrated green wall panel system, installed on building façades, for decentralized greywater treatment under Egypt’s climatic and environmental conditions, while simultaneously enhancing hygrothermal performance to reduce building energy …

Fly Ash Proppant Developed For Hydraulic Fracturing, Raz Rzgar Haydar

Theses and Dissertations

Proppants are critical components in hydraulic fracturing, used to maintain fracture conductivity and enhance reservoir stimulation. In high-pressure and harsh reservoir environments, the use of high-strength proppants is essential to ensure well performance. Conventional proppants, being sand, ceramic, and sintered bauxite can be expensive, and their use often requires costly fracture fluids. This study investigates the possibility of utalizing fly ash geopolymers as a sustainable alternative that is also cost-effective for proppants manufacturing. Fly ash, a by-product from the combustion of coal and other materials, was explored as a base material for proppants, utilizing an alkaline solution as an activator …