ENGINEERING TRIPOS PART IIB 2012/2013

Module 4D15 – Sustainable Water Engineering

AIMS

This course aims to combine a knowledge of aspects of the engineering design of water and wastewater systems with an awareness of the challenges required to implement more sustainable solutions for the development and operation of such systems in the future. The module will provide an understanding of the unsustainable aspects of current water engineering practice, how international policy frameworks can act as both drivers and barriers to sustainable solutions, and how global problems such as water supply and sanitation in developing countries can be effectively tackled. In addition the course will provide the engineering tools necessary to carry out basic design and effective management of water infrastructure systems such as treatment plants, water distribution networks, and sewerage systems. The challenges of managing a scarce resource, such as water, on regional scale in the twenty-first century will also be addressed.

LECTURE SYLLABUS

1. Requirements for the sustainability of water systems (2L)
   
   • Features of conventional water supply and wastewater disposal systems and their unsustainable characteristics (e.g. water transport of waste, end of pipe solutions etc)
   • Criteria for sustainable water management
   • Implications of the European Water Framework Directive and its shortcomings
   • Water resource issues
     
     
2. Water quality issues and effluent disposal in natural waters (2L)
   
   • Water quality characteristics of potable drinking water and wastewater effluents, standards and consents
   • Water quality parameters, kinetics of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD equation)
   • DO sag curves, simple Streeter Phelps model of DO balance in streams, mass balance calculations and basic river models
     
     
3. Distribution systems and basic pumping requirements (2L)
   
   • Main elements of a distribution systems, balancing storage requirements, service reservoirs.
   • Hardy Cross analysis of water distribution networks
   • Types of pumps and pumping characteristics; pumping arrangements;
   • Simple pipelines and pump selection, duty points
   • Geometrically similar pumps and specific speed
   
   
   
4. Design of drainage systems and Sustainable Urban Drainage (SUDs) (2L)
   
   • Urban drainage systems
   • Modified rational hand calculation
   • Simple flood routing calculation (solution of the storage equation)
   • Sustainable Drainage Systems (above ground and below ground systems, flow controls)
   • Passive treatment systems and Best Management Practices
   
   
   
5. Fundamentals of treatment process design (5L)
   
   • Design principles for:
     i Physical treatment systems (settlement, filtration) ii Chemical treatments systems (coagulation, disinfection) iii Biological treatments systems (biological kinetics, activated sludge systems incl MBR's)
   
   
   
6. Systems and Operational issues (1L)
   
   • Integrated water management;
   • Sewerage Rehabilitation and Urban Pollution Management
   • Real Time Control
   • Indicators of sustainable performance; systems approach for sustainability assessment of water infrastructure
   
   
   
7. Water supply and sanitation in developing countries (2L)
   
   • Water related diseases, transmission vectors, field testing and monitoring, village level maintenance
   • Option selection, spring capping, simple tube wells, handpumps, rainwater harvesting
   • On-site sanitation, latrines, septic tanks, aqua privies, oxidation pond treatments systems, storm drainage
   • Water scarcity
   • Lack of accessibility to clean drinking water and sanitation
   • Water quality deterioration (from pollution)
   • Fragmentation of water management
   • Decline of financial resources allocation
   • Lack of awareness by decision makers and the public (water is taken for granted)
   • Endangering world peace and security

ASSESSMENT: 100% coursework (+self assessment problem sets)

OBJECTIVES

On completion of the course the students should be able to:

• Understand the limitations of conventional /traditional water supply and wastewater engineering systems in a sustainability context
• Appreciate the key features of managing the water cycle in a sustainable manner
• Apply engineering analysis to the design of water systems such as pipelines, pumps, and treatment systems
• Select appropriate forms of water supply and sanitation for use in developing countries
• Understand the impacts of effluent discharges to natural waters and calculate the overall changes in river water quality
• Be aware of the asset management of water infrastructure and how this is influenced by serviceability and levels of service criteria
• Recognise global issues in relation to the equitable management, distribution and disposal of water under growing environmental, social and political constraints.
• Select appropriate forms of water supply and sanitation for use in developing countries.

REFERENCES

Please see the Booklist for Group D Courses for references for this module.

Last updated: June 2012