World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2017: International Perspectives, History and Heritage, Emerging Technologies, and Student Papers

Traditionally, hydrologists have understood that predicting the future relies on looking to the past. The design of stormwater infrastructure is based on design storms that are quantified by an exceedance probability, also referred to as return frequencies, from 2-year to 1000-year. The determination of return frequency relies on historical storm data that is often of less length than the design storm frequency. Aided by increasingly advanced rain gage technology, the application of storm intensity and frequency in stormwater infrastructure design became commonplace. Just as hydrologists asked 100 years ago, the important question to consider is whether reliance on past information to predict the future is dependent on a probable false assumption that the future will follow the trends of past. This work will examine the evolution of applying intensity and return frequency of storm events to stormwater design in the United States. Through the analysis of historical documents, the application of design storms will provide a framework for modern stormwater design. The credibility of these design storms is based on the assumption of past records being comprehensive and accurate. As storms are trending to more extremes, past records may not be able to provide an accurate representation of design needs. This raises the need for non-stationarity focused application of rainfall data to stormwater design.

Because of the efficient treatment processes of wetlands, engineered treatment wetlands are increasingly being used to treat stormwater and wastewater, and especially combined sewer overflows (CSO). Constructed treatment wetlands are low-cost, require minimal maintenance, can be implemented in a decentralized fashion, and contribute to ecosystem preservation. All of these reasons have brought treatment wetlands to the forefront for consideration by communities working to reduce CSOs and improve water quality, especially in small cities with limited resources. Goals of this study were to compare the removal of stormwater pollutants including total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) through subsurface flow (SSF) and free-water surface (FWS) wetland configurations. Additionally, each wetland system was composed of multiple basins optimized to remove certain stormwater contaminants. Stormwater, pond and synthetic waters were used to test the efficiency of contaminant removal. Over the course of two years, undergraduate students built wetlands and performed experiments to investigate contaminate removal efficiency. Overall, we found that both wetlands were effective in removing TSS, BOD and nitrate. BOD removal (up to 47%) occurred in the basins with highest organic content, and TSS (up to 82%), nitrate (58-88%) and nitrite (up to 50%) removal occurred in the basins with the highest sand content. The FWS configuration was advantageous for nitrate and nitrite removal, but was not significantly more effective than the SSF. We did not observe significant phosphate removal. Follow up studies will consider additional wetland configurations and operational methods.

The Yangshan Sea area which locates in the Qiqu Archipelago is a typical offshore area with muti-island and muti-channel. In this paper, taking Yangshan Sea-area of the Qiqu Archipelago as an example, a 3D numerical model of tidal currents and sediments is established to study the change of the current and sediment field. The validity of the model is verified by the observation data including the tidal flow and suspended sediment concentration in the vicinity of the harbor. The verification of calculation shows the calculated values are in good agreement with the measured data. The field of tidal currents, suspended sediment concentration and the seabed deformation can be successfully simulated. Finally, one layout is simulated to study the changes of the current and suspended sediment field. And the seabed evolution is predicted with the model.

A large-scale geothermal heat pump system was installed at Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2013. This research characterizes the long term performance of the system in terms of the thermal response of the well field and the surrounding area to the operation of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system. Temperature data from a production well located in the center of the well field, a monitoring well located approximately 20 feet from the well field, as well as energy exchange data from the physical facilities are collected to allow comparison of the ground temperature of the well field to the undisturbed (background) ground nearby. Data thus far shows minimal increase in the ground temperature as the system cycles through heating and cooling. This study focuses on the pulses of heat energy propagating from the well field towards the monitoring well, lag time, and ultimately the effects on the overall surrounding ground temperature over time. A time series analysis of the temperature and energy data from the wells is used to characterize the time lapse associated with the migration of heat energy from the production field to the surrounding subsurface during both heating and cooling cycles.

Levee failure mechanisms have been studied and mathematically described by several authors. However, as some variables may follow stochastically distributed values, the statistical analysis may prove to be difficult and resource consuming. In this paper, Monte Carlo simulations were used to generate fragility curves for two failure mechanisms (overtopping and piping) which represent the behavior of a given levee when facing certain hydrological conditions. This surfaces might be used afterwards in a more complete flood risk analysis. Furthermore, a simple sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine the impact that some geometric variables had on the failure probability surfaces. The results of this analysis suggest that the levee’s failure probability due to overtopping is more sensitive to the levee’s taluses than to the levee’s crest height and width, while the failure probability due to piping is more dependent on the sand layer’s thickness than on the seepage length.

Majority of the flood inundation maps in the United States are created using 1D steady-state hydraulic models that are unable to simulate the surface water-groundwater interactions within the floodplain that can play a major role in determining the water depth and extent of the flooding. Saturated conditions in subsurface and floodplain can lead to more severe inundation from low intensity but continuous flood events. In addition, these models are typically calibrated for design flow conditions (e.g., 100-year flow) by changing the roughness parameter. As a result, the calibrated roughness parameter value may or may not represent the actual roughness conditions within the floodplain during more extreme events. To understand the effect of subsurface and floodplain storage, this study combines hydraulic, hydrologic and groundwater modeling approaches for creating flood inundation maps. The methodology involves creating a large-scale 2D integrated surface-groundwater model for the Upper Wabash River Basin using ICPR and comparing the effect of subsurface storage and antecedent groundwater conditions on the overall floodplain dynamics by obtaining stage-duration and flow-duration relationships for multiple locations within the floodplain. The results for a 50-year return period storm event show that the integrated model more accurately captures the streamflow and flood depths and the traditional hydraulic model over-predicts the streamflow and flood depths as it does not account for subsurface storage. Moreover, the mesh resolution of the integrated model determines the accuracy in prediction of streamflow and stage at the outlet. In addition, the integration of sub-surface processes improves the accuracy of hydraulic models even without calibration which suggests that an integrated modeling approach reduces the uncertainty in flood prediction.

Many communities have increasingly used recycled wastewaters for irrigation in urban landscapes due to drought and expanding development in southern California. This contributes to dry weather runoff in local streams. Our study in Malibu Creek Watershed looks at the possible presence of recycled wastewater runoff and associated solutes at a control tributary by analyzing urban runoff, surface water, groundwater, and hyporheic zone water. Samples were analyzed for stable isotopes of nitrate, oxygen, and hydrogen; nutrients; general minerals; and trace elements. The investigation applies parameter mixing analyses with multiple tracers to supplement the understanding of how nutrient and trace element geochemical processes operate in the urban tributary. Analysis of isotopic data suggests perennial input of urban runoff and mixing with groundwater baseflow in the tributary creek. The study demonstrates distinct redox variability between concrete-lined and unlined parts of the tributary channel. The findings of the study demonstrate diminished capacity of lined channels to remove undesirable solutes from runoff of recycled wastewater.

The Mekong River is the dominant geo-hydrological structure in mainland Southeast Asia, originating in China and flowing through or bordering Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. With increasing economic development and raising water demand the possibility of water conflict could increase in transboundary river basins. This is the case in the Lancing-Mekong River Basin in recent years, especially during the dry season. More and more scholars are paying attention to build stable, equitable, and environmentally sustainable water allocation method that supports the socio-economic development in transboundary river basins. In this research the authors use the bankruptcy and game theory to construct a new cooperation bankruptcy bargaining game model to allocate water resources. The results of this study could provide ways which could help water allocation and avoid water conflicts in transboundary river basins.

Despite sonar transducers provide low-cost and easy-to-use methods for real-time distance/depth measurements, its reliability in use for flood-induced bridge scour monitoring has not been secured due to intrinsic noises of the sonar sensors in turbid and turbulent water conditions. Three-step signal processing algorithm is proposed and experimentally verified to improve both static and dynamic sonar measurements in such turbid and turbulent conditions in this study. Feasibility of multi-scale use of different frequency sonar sensors has also been investigated.

With the transition of water distribution systems (WDSs) to smarter ones, intelligent water networks’ elements, such as programmable logic controls (PLCs), sensors, valves and supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADAs) have played a more significant role. Like other computer-based technologies, these smart elements will make WDSs more vulnerable to malicious intrusions due to cyber-physical attacks. Regarding the vulnerability of more intelligent WDSs, it is necessary to devise and apply anomaly detection algorithms being able to detect intrusions to water networks with the fewest false alarms. For the battle of the attack detection algorithms (BATADAL), to detect the manipulated data, a spectral domain method as a pre-processing technique is implemented to extract the important characteristics of the observed time series data and make them independent of time. Then, a supervised machine learning technique is used to classify the data and obtain the intrusion detection.

One important challenge for sandhill crane conservation is the collection of regular, accurate counts of birds roosting in flooded areas at night. Estimates of roost site numbers are an important way to track population size over time and detect any changes in site selection that may be a function of management or changes in site conditions. Traditional methods for estimating roosting crane numbers are morning and evening counts of cranes as they arrive at or depart their roosting sites. The accuracy of these counts however is often hampered by poor visibility in foggy and/or low light conditions, variations between observers, difficulties in accurately estimating the number of birds when many are flying to or away from the site, and difficulties in pinpointing specific locations where birds are roosting. Use of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) equipped with infrared cameras provide a promising alternative for developing more accurate estimates of roosting population numbers efficiently and more frequently, as well as a method of mapping specific roosting locations relative to habitat features. sUAS could also assist in surveying new areas for roosting cranes, as even though these birds are often traditional, they are known to colonize new areas if habitat conditions are suitable. This paper presents a case study on how to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for night flight missions, how to decide the mission parameters and timing, as well as initial post-processing workflows. From 11 night missions performed, we also will share in this paper our findings and lessons learned.

A small municipality in cold region with relatively low consumption results in a longer residence time of treated water in a storage tank. Field measurements of chlorine residual over a summer identified low chlorine residual while in a winter period the water was beginning to freeze. A few remedial geometrical alteration options were proposed, including a plug-flow configuration in the tank. However, the effectiveness of each option cannot be verified easily because there are many confounding factors. CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software ANSYS CFX is utilized to model conditions of flow, temperature, and chlorine residual in the tank under three geometries. For the no-alteration option and stepped spillway configuration, the model showed that there were pockets of stagnant water with low chlorine residual during the summer. Flow channels were created to achieve a plug-flow option and the residual was found consistent. The latter geometric option is considered the best for freeze avoidance and maintaining optimum chlorine concentration. One of the drawbacks of the CFD modeling was the excessive duration of computational time running on regular desktop computers.

Regional scale management of coastal aquifers for control of saltwater intrusion is a challenging problem, requiring solution of optimization and simulation models. Simulation of density dependent nonlinear flow and transport processes in a coastal aquifer requires the solution of coupled flow and transport equations. Prescription of optimal spatial and temporal management strategy for coastal aquifers is possible by utilizing a linked simulation-optimization approach. However, such linked models require the iterative and numerical simulation of the flow and transport processes numerous number of times within an optimization algorithm. In order to ensure computational feasibility and efficiency, trained and tested surrogate models with acceptable accuracy and efficiency can be used as approximate simulators within an optimization algorithm. In this study, an efficient surrogate model based on ensemble of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is developed and evaluated as an approximate simulator of the physical processes of a multi-layered coastal aquifer. The management of coastal aquifers is also multiple-objective in nature. Therefore, the developed surrogate model is linked to a controlled elitist multi-objective genetic algorithm (CEMGA). Ensembles of the surrogate models (En-ANFIS) are utilized in order to incorporate uncertainties in prediction using surrogate models. The proposed simulation-optimization framework is implemented in a parallel computing platform to achieve further computational efficiency. The performance of the multi-objective management model is evaluated for an illustrative study area. The evaluation results indicate that ANFIS based ensemble-modelling approach together with CEMGA is able to evolve reliable strategies for this multiple objective management of coastal aquifers.

The overall objective of this study was to estimate the impact of runoff from snowmelt on Samoush River discharge. Samoush River is located in Galan Province in northern Iran. The size of the watershed is about 100 km² and it receives about 150 centimeter of snow annually. The findings from the study will be used to predict maximum probable flood and 1% chance flood (base flood or 100-year flood) to plan for flood mitigation in downstream towns and villages. A flood forecasting and flood warning system is needed for the area to protect the residential areas adjacent to the river and streams within the watershed of Samoush River. The preliminary findings from the study shows that the use of satellite or similar MODIS (moderate-resolution imaging spector-radiometer) images, can be very useful for spatial and temporal monitoring of snow cover and snow surface temperature in mountainous areas. The use of the research products from this study along with weather forecasts that provide inputs into hydrological modeling is very important in the development of a flood warning system in this region. Hydrological modeling of rainfall-runoff in this basin using the SRM (snowmelt runoff modelling) modeling package and satellite data delineating snow cover and temperature time series suggests that snowmelt provides a large proportion of runoff and discharge in the Samoush River. For example, in the water year 2002-2003 the share of runoff from rainfall and snow melt were almost equal. In rare events sudden temperature rise can cause catastrophic flooding due to the quick snow melt during non-rainy weather.

Dam-break flows can erode, transport and deposit sediment particles and create morphological changes such as significant alternations to river channel, banks, and floodplains, high scour around hydraulic structures. The morphological changes of rivers may affect the hydrodynamic behavior of the flood. Three-dimensional (3D) modeling of this complex hydrodynamic behavior can provide more realistic results. In this research Mike 3 Flow Model FM have been used to simulate dam-break flows with sediment transport over movable beds. The model is finally tested using a benchmark experiments carried out in a sudden-expanded flume conducted at the hydraulic unit of the Mechanical and Civil Engineering Laboratory (UCL), Belgium, to investigate the partial dam-break flow over movable beds. The model results of water level and bed changes are in reasonably good agreement with the measured data. Comparison between experimental and numerical results revealed that the Mike 3 Flow Model FM able to predict dam-break flows and erosion and sedimentation process at the downstream of the dam. Also, the present research showed that the parameters such as flow depth, flood domain, spread time of flood wave and time series of velocity correctly simulated by mentioned model. The comparisons reveal that the present 3D model improves the accuracy of calculated morphological changes at the initial stages of dam-break flow, near the wave front, and significant erosion downstream of the partial opening and deposition the side walls. The significant erosion occurs in front of the partial opening as a result of high bed shear stress.

This paper presents a new methodology for the real-time operation of water distribution systems under critical conditions of limited electrical energy due to emergencies such as extreme drought conditions, electric grid failure, and other severe conditions related to natural conditions. The basic objective of optimizing the operations of a water distribution system under limited availability of energy is to attempt to satisfy the required levels of demand at various locations while also meeting pressure requirements of the system and maintaining an optimal pumping schedule. The approach adopted here is to interface an optimization procedure (genetic algorithm) with a simulator (EPANET) in the framework of an optimal control problem to determine the real-time optimal operation of a water distribution system under limited electrical input under emergency conditions. The genetic algorithm searches over pump operation in combination with maximizing the demands that can be satisfied with limited energy input. The interfacing of the simulator and the genetic algorithm has been accomplished within the framework of MATLAB.

The multi-objective operation of reservoirs is impacted by several uncertainties, thus there are many difficulties to determine the optimal operation scheme under a given acceptable risk level. In this paper, improvements are made to optimize the traditional vector space model, and then the multi-dimensional vector space decision model is proposed to enhance the significant difference of evaluation results. To accomplish this, firstly, structuring the proposed schemes by non-inferior solutions of the multi-objective operation risk analysis model; secondly, obtaining the mapping distance between the vector of the proposed schemes and that of the ideal one. Next, we develop an optimal vector space decision model for multi-objective operation risk analysis of reservoirs. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the model are verified by results of an example. The methodology in this paper proves simple and clear, with a particularly noteworthy advantage in terms of the distinctiveness among computed results.

Catalytic ozonation is a promising advanced oxidation technique for the removal of contaminants from water and wastewater. Graphene oxide (GO) is an oxidized derivative of graphene which contains epoxide, hydroxyl, and carboxyl groups with high surface area, and is being recently used for effective adsorption of pollutants in aquatic environments. In our previous work, we modified GO with magnesium oxide (MgO) and demonstrated the high-rate adsorption of methylene blue (MB) by the synthesized nanocomposite (NC). In this study, our synthesized NC is applied as a catalyst for catalytic ozonation of phenol in a laboratory scale batch reactor. The results showed that the catalytic ozonation significantly improved the mineralization of phenol compared to that of ozonation without the catalyst. The impact of experimental variables on oxidation of phenol, particularly GO/MgO NC dosage and reaction time is investigated. A possible mechanism for the catalytic ozonation of phenol is also proposed. Our results show promising application of the proposed technology for the removal of various organic contaminants from wastewater.

In this study, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is performed to predict the release of PAHs from the asphalt concrete (AC) pavements due to moisture and temperature. Asphalt binder molecular component asphaltene phenol is simulated with naphthalene and fluoranthene PAHs under different moisture contents ranging from 1% to 5% and temperature of -18 °C to 38 °C. Releasing of PAHs from the asphaltene phenol is comprehended from the total energy loss at different moisture content and temperature. The total energy loss is higher at 5% moister content in all the simulation cases, as the moisture content increases the energy loss increases. At 5% moisture and at -18°C temperature, naphthalene showed approximately 90% energy loss, whereas fluoranthene showed 88% total energy loss. The result indicates that PAH with lower molecular weight has higher potential of releasing from the asphalt pavement under climatic conditions.

This study investigates the performance of the co-digestion (grease interceptor waste, cheese whey, and pulped food waste) system with primary sludge for an upgrade plan of a NY wastewater treatment plant. Two lab scale digesters (6 L volume, 4 L head space, solid retention time of 30 days and average solid concentration of 21,000 mg/L) are being run to benchmark and simulate the treatment plant’s existing and upgrade conditions. Co-digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) has reduced the biogas yield from 1.5 m³ · kg-1 VS destroyed to 1.11 m3 · kg-1 VS destroyed and reduced volatile solid (VS) destruction from 42% to 39%. But the co-digestion of cheese whey with primary sludge has increased biogas yield from 1.42 m³ · kg-1 VS destroyed to 1.79 m3 · kg-1 VS destroyed and enhanced digester performance increasing VS destruction from 42% to 53%. Biochemical methane production (BMP) assays have indicated that cheese whey has a volumetric methane potential of 51.8 ml CH₄ per ml of substrate, compared to primary sludge’s 18.6 ml CH₄/ml substrate. The specific methane yield of cheese whey, primary sludge, and WAS were determined to be 518 ml CH₄ · kg-1VS added, 559 ml CH₄ · kg-1VS added, 182 ml CH₄ · kg-1VS added respectively. The cheese whey was also able to offset the negative impacts of co-digesting primary sludge with WAS, for a mixture of cheese whey, primary sludge, and WAS the specific methane yield became 507 ml CH₄ · kg-1VS added, and a volumetric methane potential of 25.3 ml CH₄/ml substrate. Cheese whey can significantly increase biogas yield with enhanced VS destruction.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is a novel technology that removes ions from water using electrical field and electro-adsorption. CDI offers to be an energy efficient and less chemical residue producing alternative to contemporary deionization technologies such as reverse osmosis or multistage flash in case of low saline water. Carbon based porous electrodes have been a popular choice as electrode in CDI due to their high surface area and inertness in low applied voltages. Recent researchers have focused on improving the adsorption capacity of carbon based electrodes through various surface treatment processes. The focus of recent work is to improve key parameters such as the electrical double layer effect, porosity, and wettability of electrodes for increased adsorption capacity. Here in this work, electrodes made of carbon aerogel and commercially available carbon blocks were used and their respective adsorption performances in CDI applications were compared to study the effect of surface treatment with acetone and nitric acid separately. The cumulative effect of carbon surface treatment with both acetone and nitric acid was also studied.

Biofuel from Corn as a feedstock is used in the U.S. for over a decade. Although the production and use of biofuel has seen an increase, it is still debatable in food versus fuel criteria. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) assess the potential of producing higher yield of the seeds due to which higher quantity of biodiesel is produced, and (2) compare and assess the generated pollutant. A potential legume tree species, Pongamia pinnata is known for the production of biofuel. Non-edible oil is largely extracted from seeds. Pongamia seed oil as a bio-fuel has physical properties very similar to conventional diesel. It is, however a clean fuel (eco-friendly) than conventional diesel. Thus, the oil extracted from the seeds can be used in power generators as a substitute for diesel and thereby help in the production of green power and encourage a carbon neutral environment. The following results were arrived at, (1) the potential for biofuel obtained from Pongamia Oil to be used in industrial grade generators as a backup for power generation, (2) Expanding the Pongamia biodiesel system to include biogas production from seed cake exploits the energy available in the system, and (3) Higher yield of Pongamia seeds are obtained by using the sapling provided by VayuGrid who own proprietary rights.

With effects of climate change, California’s climate is predicted to be increasingly dry with periodic heavy rainfall. Proper planning, resiliency, and sustainable design are necessary to maintain a positive and productive campus environment that reinforces Cal Poly’s unique “Learn by Doing” philosophy. The University has already begun the shift towards a more sustainable model as it grows and renews its campus core. The Creekside Revival project was driven by the University’s goals of sustainability and resiliency with special attention to stormwater management, green infrastructure, education, and recreation opportunities for the community. The project revives the site by restoring the area closer to its natural state, and also brings it a lively, social atmosphere with the addition of restaurants, recreational space, study areas, and a transit center. An interdisciplinary team of landscape architecture, civil, and environmental engineering students collaborated to calculate runoff, design LIDs, and used their creativity to deliver this innovative, effective, and feasible design.

The City of Berkeley, California, recently completed the rehabilitation of a section of Allston Way in the downtown core. In keeping with the progressive image of the City and to assist in reducing stormwater runoff runoff and improving stormwater runoff quality, the rehabilitation included the installation of permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP). The City was interested in evaluating the effectiveness of permeable pavements for stormwater management. A suitability matrix including 10 evaluation criteria was used to assess the suitability installing PICP for 9 candidate projects. Allston Way was selected with the highest ranking of the candidates. The existing pavement, which had reached the end of its service life, was excavated to the subgrade level and a permeable subbase and base followed by permeable interlocking concrete pavers was installed. This paper provides and outline of the PICP candidate selection process, pavement design, life-cycle cost comparison with conventional alterative pavements and lessons learned from the construction of the roadway. In addition, maintenance evaluation guidelines are presented along with procedures for utility cuts and their restoration.

This paper outlines technical advances in permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) design being introduced in the newly created American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) standard. PICPs include high strength, impermeable concrete units for the surface that meet ASTM or CSA standards. When installed, the joints between units are filled with permeable aggregate to allow for surface water infiltration. The units are placed over an open-graded aggregate bedding course, aggregate base and subbase for water storage and structural support. The design of permeable pavements differ from other traditional pavement systems in that both structural and hydrologic considerations impact the system depth, one of three different infiltration approaches can be used based on site and subgrade conditions, and unique elements are included over sloped subgrades. New to the ASCE standard is structural design for supporting traffic through the use of a mechanistic-empirical model that was developed through full-scale accelerated testing research completed at the University of California Davis Pavement Research Center. The impact of pavement loading is modelled using the pavement layer and subgrade stiffness under dry and wet conditions to determine when a user specified rut depth results from traffic loading. The paper discusses the dichotomy between not compacting the soil subgrade for infiltration, and compacting for enhanced structural support in saturated conditions. Guide construction specifications, construction and maintenance guidelines are provided via checklists. A key tool for assessing surface infiltration and subsequent vacuum cleaning is adoption of an ASTM surface infiltration test for PICP.

This paper summarizes research conducted to revise existing pavement thickness design tables for permeable interlocking concrete pavement (PICP) published by the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI) in 2011. The study included a literature review, field deflection testing of existing projects and test sections, estimation of the effective stiffness of each layer in PICP structures, mechanistic analysis and structural design of a test track incorporating three different subbase thicknesses (low, medium, and higher risk), tests on the track with a heavy vehicle simulator (HVS) to collect performance data to validate the design approach using accelerated loading, refinement and calibration of the design procedure using the test track data, development of a spreadsheet based design tool, and development of revised design tables using the design tool. Rut development rate as a function of the shear stress to shear strength ratios at the top of the subbase and the top of the subgrade was used as the basis for the design approach. The revised design tables are based on subgrade soil properties, subbase aggregate properties, the number of 80 kN standard axle loads, and the number of days with standing water in the subbase. The minimum design thicknesses required to prevent subgrade rutting in the revised tables do not differ significantly from those in the 2011 ICPI publication, and are mostly less conservative.

This paper presents an account of the Idle navigation in northern England, now an obscure waterway but one which was fundamental to the success of the first steps of the industrial revolution which were being taken in north Derbyshire and south Yorkshire during the late 17^th and early 18^th century. It was also involved in an important part of American history, the exodus of the Mayflower Pilgrims and formation of the Plymouth Colony, and has an important place in the heritage of civil engineering, having been widely modified and controlled by pioneering drainage works initiated by Vermuyden in the 1620s. Competition from the Chesterfield Canal was partly responsible for its decline as a commercial waterway, with the canal benefitting from the labour force displaced from the Idle and many of the markets that it had established. Today navigation activity on the waterway is very scant, the legal rights to navigation have been under threat and there are physical, financial and bureaucratic barriers to vessels entering the waterway from the River Trent. A combination of a tidal sluice across the confluence with the Trent and a large pumping station barrage just upstream is the main issue. There is, however, some hope that proposed changes to jurisdiction over navigation on the Idle may result in improvements to access and, in the long term, tentative proposals to return the Idle to gravity drainage may remove one of the physical and financial barriers to access.

The 242-mile Colorado River Aqueduct (CRA) was born out of plummeting groundwater levels and an overdraft that was approaching 200,000 acre-feet/year. Planning for an aqueduct from the river involved the top engineers of the day. Survey crews mapped 24,000 square miles of mostly desert territory, creating a list of 65 possible routes. One of the nation’s largest public works projects, the CRA spurred development of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which to this day is the largest regional water agency in the country. The project employed 35,000 men, who labored 24/7 in grueling Mojave Desert heat, erecting four dams and five pumping plants, blasting 90-plus miles of tunnels and constructing 150 miles of canals, siphons, conduit and pipelines. Daunting challenges included the 13-mile San Jacinto Tunnel, which some considered impossible. Planned to accommodate several decades of growth, the project was completed within its $220 million budget, and included the region’s first large-scale water treatment plant and a two-county distribution system Deliveries began in June 1941, and helped support the World War II defense industry. It was the 1930s equivalent of a moon shot.

Much has been written about the leaders of the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) for the period of construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, but often little is known of the many that toiled behind the scenes to support the leaders. Constructing the Central Pacific Railroad over the Sierra Nevada was the mightiest construction project in the world at that time. Some of the civil engineers, such as Theodore Judah, the first Chief Engineer of the CPRR, are well known to readers of history. But the civil engineers that actually surveyed the route, laid the grades, designed the bridges and tunnels, and were the resident engineers for construction, are little known. Many of these young engineers started their careers on the Transcontinental Railroad and went on to make names for themselves on subsequent projects. Some disappeared from history. The 150^th Anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at the Gold Spike Ceremony in Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869, will be in two years in 2019, and ASCE has started planning activities to celebrate the event. Recognition of many of the civil engineers that have been forgotten by history will be part of the event. This paper presents some of those civil engineers with their backgrounds.

Ira O. Baker, University of Illinois civil engineering professor, coordinated the 1893 World’s Engineering Congress (July 31-August 5, 1893) at the Chicago World’s Fair (Columbian Exposition). Highlights of the proceedings include unique engineering education papers and the Hydraulic Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Professor Dwight Porter. On behalf of Division A on Civil Engineering, the ASCE President William Metcalf participated. There were six sessions held with 63 papers presented with 50 papers printed (about 1200 pages). For Civil Engineering-A, there were 318 registrants with average attendance of 125. U.S. water projects presented included deep water from Lake Ontario along the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic, new sanitary canal and river reversal from Chicago to the Illinois River to the Mississippi River, and the construction of the Nicaragua (Panama) Canal. In 1993, Terry S. Reynolds and Bruce E. Seely of Michigan Technological University presented a Journal of Engineering Education paper on: “Striving for Balance: A Hundred Years of the ASEE.” This included the search for improving classroom instruction and national spokesman for engineering education, including the engineering education deans and administrators. This presentation will feature developments in civil engineering education at the 1893 World’s Engineering Congress. Learning objectives: Identify the history of engineering education that began in 1893. Learn of the civil engineering leaders and projects featured at the 1893 Chicago Engineering Congress. Identify the progress in engineering education in the American Society for Engineering Education.

The Incamisana is a water temple at Ollantaytambo in Peru that is a masterpiece of Inca civil engineering and construction. The water temple’s architecture and hydraulic works define Incamisana as a high-status sanctuary for worship of water. Reverse engineering field research and studies of the Incamisana and its mountain watershed were undertaken by Wright Water Engineers, Wright Paleohydrological Institute and archaeologists Arminda Gibaja Oviedo and Dr. Gordon McEwan, supported by a team from the University of Virginia led by Dr. Richard Miksad. Flooding in 1679 preserved the lower portion of the water temple under a deposit of sediment. The excavated temple has fourteen ceremonial fountains with three additional ones that were under construction at the time of abandonment. The water temple’s mountain water supply collection system, canals, fountains, and conduit/distribution system were painstakingly engineered and represent good planning. Intricate and carefully executed cliff carvings that parallel the water temple add an important mystical dimension to this spectacular Inca temple for the worship of water. Inca roads tied Ollantaytambo and the water temple to the greater Inca empire.

Harvey Orem Banks, Honorary Member ASCE and AWWA, Diplomate EE, received his BSCE (magna cum laude) from Syracuse University in 1930, an MS in hydraulic and sanitary engineering from Stanford in 1935, and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from University of California-Berkeley in 1964. Harvey worked for the City of Palo Alto and joined the Soil Conservation Service in 1935. Banks joined the California Division of Water Resources in 1938, but left in 1942-1945 to serve the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: 382 Combat Engineers on Guadacanal as a major. From 1945-1950 Harvey worked for Harold Conkling Consulting Engineers. In 1950, Banks re-joined the state of California, moving to principal hydraulic engineer, and then state engineer in 1955-1956. With the new California Department of Water Resources, Harvey Banks was the first director, working on the California State Water Project to transport stored water from northern CA to central and southern California. In 1961, Banks joined Leeds, Hill, Jewett as President and Board Chairman until 1969. In 1977, Harvey merged his consulting firm with Camp Dresser McKee, serving as president of the Water Resources Division. Banks later worked on a long-range Texas water plan and on a High Plains Aquifer Study. Harvey served with the World Bank, U.N., U.S.A.I.D., and published for ASCE, AWWA, WPCF, ICE in U.K., and the California Law Review. In 1973, Banks was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and received the ASCE Julian Hinds and Royce J. Tipton Awards.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was dedicated 14 September 2016 at the Rainhill Library as an International Historic Civil and Mechanical Engineering Landmark by ASCE, ASME, ICE, and IMechE. Highlights of the railway plaque dedication and unique railway innovations will be featured. The plaque states: “Opened on 16 September 1830, this railway proved to be one of the most significant developments in transportation history. It was the first public railway for the scheduled transportation of passengers and freight between remote cities. A team led by George Stephenson (1781-1848) designed the 35-mile, double-tracked line. Overcoming numerous engineering challenges, including Olive Mount, the Sankey Valley and Chat Moss, the railway established the historic reputations of many engineers assigned to its various sections. The first ever locomotive trials at Rainhill during 6-14 October 1829 had five entries. Rocket, designed and built by Robert Stephenson (1803-1859) and Henry Booth, outperformed the others and proved that locomotive propulsion was practical. Still operating on its original alignment with many original structures, this railway established the basic format for almost all subsequent railways and rolling stock world-wide.” The largest water crossing required the design and construction of the nine-arch Sankey Viaduct. Near Manchester, the River Irwell Bridge was completed in August of 1830. A canal crossing required the Bridgewater Canal Bridge. Much peat moss bog at Chat Moss required special timber footings and embankment fill and drainage.

Ray K. Linsley was an internationally known hydrologist and water resources engineer who essentially redefined the practice of modern hydrology. Ray was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering in 1976 in recognition of his worldwide leadership in the field of engineering hydrology. He was instrumental in the formation of the American Institute of Hydrology and was designated as the Institute’s Honorary President. Linsley retired in 1975 from Stanford University after a distinguished academic career that spanned 25 years and resulted in his elevation to Head of Stanford’s Civil Engineering Department. In spite of ‘retirement’, he continued active professional practice that covered more than five decades, until his death in 1990. Ray Linsley was a true giant of the profession, and can be considered one of the fathers of modern hydrology. The citation upon his election to the National Academy of Engineering read, for “leadership in hydrology and water resources planning through distinguished teaching, research, professional practice and service to the government.”

The St. Francis Dam was built by the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Water Works and Supply (BWWS) in 1925-26 as a curved concrete gravity dam, approximately 200 feet high in San Francisquito Canyon, about 35 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. The reservoir provided an additional 38,000 acre-feet of storage from the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The dam failed catastrophically on March 13, 1928, killing at least 432 people, making it the most deadly American structural failure of the 20th Century. BWWS Chief Engineer and General Manager William Mulholland accepted complete blame for the failure, but who actually designed the dam has been clouded in mystery for almost 90 years. Recent research suggests that no site-specific rational design methodology was actually performed, only visual comparisons with some published cross sections of then-existing dams. More than a dozen separate investigations of the failure followed, all of which failed to ascertain the dam’s actual maximum cross section or the fact that there were no stability calculations undertaken as part of the design. Recent evaluations have demonstrated that the St. Francis Dam exhibited extremely low safety factors in at least five different failure modes, including internal instability, overturning, arching, keyblock uplift, and reactivation of a megalandslide on the dam’s left abutment.

William “Bill” Mulholland (1855-1935) a self-taught civil engineer, who at the zenith of his career was the highest paid public official in California and the most respected man in Los Angeles in 1926. His storied career came to an abrupt end with the catastrophic failure of the St. Francis Dam in March 1928. A native of Belfast, Mulholland took to the seas at age 15, and in 1878 took a job as a ditch tender for the Los Angeles Water Company. He rose through the ranks to supervise the drilling of wells and constructing a system of distribution. When the water company was absorbed by the City in 1902, Mulholland hired as the general manager of a metered municipal water system. He possessed a willingness to work in the field under difficult conditions and was a natural leader and problem solver, who brought all of his projects in on time and on budget. For Bill Mulholland and the hundreds of civil engineers whom he influenced, their challenge was that of harnessing nature to build a better world, providing the water that was essential to the growth of southern California. His crowning achievement was the First Los Angeles Aqueduct, constructed in 1906-13. With a gravity fall of 3,260 feet and a length of 233 miles, no one imagined that its delivery capacity would be found insufficient less than a decade after its completion.

Michael Maurice O’Shaughnessy (May 28, 1864–October 12, 1934) was an Irish civil engineer who worked on two railroads near San Francisco, laying out the towns of Mill Valley and Sausalito. O’Shaughnessy started a San Francisco office for an International Exposition, designed the Copper Mountain Company railroad, and worked for Spring Valley Water (San Mateo) and water projects in Hawaii in 1889, including four aqueducts. Michael then worked on Morena Dam outside San Diego and on the Merced River Dam as well as a water supply for Port Costa. O’Shaughnessy became city engineer for the city of San Francisco, supervised the construction of the Twin Peaks Reservoir, Twin Peaks and Stockton Tunnels, the Municipal Railway System-completing the San Francisco streetcar system, street planning, a high-pressure fire system and new sewers. Additionally, the prominent U.S. hydraulic engineer O’Shaughnessy started the Hetch Hetchy Dam (renamed O’Shaughnessy Dam on July 7, 1923), 150 miles of tunnels, pumping stations, hydroelectricity, a 68-mile-long railroad, several smaller dams, and 156 miles of aqueduct and pipelines to San Francisco. Water diverted from O’Shaughnessy Dam flows by gravity into the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, which supplies 85 percent of the municipal water for 2.5 million people in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Currently, a soybean processing plant located in western Maryland has high concentrations of pollutants in its effluent wastewater. As a result, the facility managers have implemented a sophisticated treatment system consisting of an anaerobic lagoon, aeration basin, and two facultative lagoons. Still, effluent concentrations are too high in the first lagoon. For example, the treated wastewater has a total kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) concentration of 593 mg/L, chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of 3656 mg/L, and a pH of 8.62. A costly second proprietary treatment utilized between lagoon 1 and lagoon 2 decreases the concentration of TKN to 26.7 mg/L and the COD to 594 mg/L, and reduces the pH to 7.32. Despite the better treatment results, there is still a need for lower cost treatment strategies that can remove more of the recalcitrant contaminants from the wastewater. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of white rot fungi, grown on two types of support materials in a solid-state biocell reactor, to reduce high concentrations of TKN and COD in a food processing wastewater. In order to address the purpose of this study, two grow support media were used: cornstalks, which are nutrient rich, and an inert support made of fibrous plastic. For each media, 6 reactors were used, 3 of which contained killed fungus and support materials. Once good growth was present, wastewater was pumped through all reactors and samples of each reactor, as well as the influent, were collected on days 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56. For each sample, pH, COD, and TKN were measured, plotted, and analyzed. The pH steadily increased between days 0 and 28. The greatest increase occurred between days 28 and 35, where pH increased by about 0.4 for all samples. After this increase, the pH remained relatively steady for the treatments and influent. In general, T1 and T3 (both with the inert support) had larger pH values than the influent. The pH of T4 was generally close to that of the influent, and the pH of T2 generally remained below that of the influent. The COD of the influent increased by 1738.5 mg O₂/L over the 56 day testing period. The influent experienced the greatest increase in COD between days 21 and 28, where it increased by 1686 mg O₂/L. In general, T2 and T4 (lignocellulosic supports) had COD values larger than that of the influent. T1 and T3 generally had COD values smaller than that of the influent. The TKN of all samples, including the influent, was generally between 100 and 200 mg/L. Generally, the TKN values for T2 and T4 were found to be greater than that of the influent. The TKN values for T1 and T3 were found to be less than that of the influent. Overall, the inert support material did not increase the concentrations of TKN or COD in the effluent while increases were seen when the fungus was grown on the cornstalks. More work is needed to evaluate the influence of the inert support on the pH of the effluent and to develop better methods for inoculating the fungus on the inert support material.

Small hydropower plants supply reliable renewable energy to the grid, though few new plants have been developed in the Unites States over the past few decades due to complex environmental challenges and poor project economics. This paper describes the current landscape of small hydropower development, and introduces a new approach to facility design that co-optimizes the extraction of hydroelectric power from a stream with other important environmental functions such as fish, sediment, and recreational passage. The approach considers hydropower facilities as an integrated system of standardized interlocking modules, designed to sustain stream functions, generate power, and interface with the streambed. It is hypothesized that this modular eco-design approach, when guided by input from the broader small hydropower stakeholder community, can lead to cost savings across the facility, reduced licensing and approval timelines, and ultimately, to enhanced resiliency through improved environmental performance over the lifetime of the project.

As population and infrastructure continue to increase, our society has become more vulnerable to extreme events. Flood is an example of a hydro-meteorological disaster that has a strong societal impact. Tropical cyclones are recognized for their ability to generate intense precipitation that may in turn create disastrous floods. In the context of climate change, such storm events are expected to intensify. Numerical weather models such as the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, forced by a climate projection from a global climate model, can be used to investigate the storms of the future. Numerous studies have shown that numerical models perform relatively well in the forecasting mode where nudging or other data assimilation techniques are used to improve the model’s performances. Since no observation is available for the future, it is also important to investigate the performances of numerical weather models to simulate storm systems in the simulation mode. In this case, the model is only subject to the influence of its initial and boundary conditions, and no observation is used to improve the simulations. In this study, we used the WRF model to reconstruct in the simulation mode the precipitation fields associated with intense historical tropical cyclones which affected the Eastern United States. Simulation results were compared with observation data from the Stage IV precipitation dataset. We show that, under an appropriate choice of the model’s options such as the combination of its parameterization schemes, the model can reproduce successfully both the location and intensity of the precipitation fields associated with tropical cyclones.

Although there has been considerable development over last century in wastewater treatment technologies, an underlying interest in finding better methods of treating wastewater has persisted. Over this period, the wastewater treatment has expanded from a conventional activated sludge (BOD and TSS removal) to biological nutrient removal. While new technologies and their expected performance continue to evolve, the overall goals have remained remarkably similar over the years-high efficiency, robust and simple, ease of operation and maintenance, compact, and low cost of ownership. This paper provides an overview of these newer technologies. The detailed results of several process selection studies that evaluated these innovative technologies at water resource recovery facility (WRRF) are presented. Finally, conclusions are drawn that attempt to answer the question-is the time now for utilities to invest in new treatment technologies without risk of failure?

With the development of China’s newly power market reform, the operation mode of cascade hydropower plants has fundamentally changed a lot. The uncertainties of competitors’ bidding behaviors and market demand affect the operation of cascade hydropower plants, and thus make the optimal problem more complicated. In this paper, a new model for optimal operation of cascade hydropower plants in deregulated electricity market is proposed. The model applies the maximum generation profit as object function, and also takes other bidder’s competitive behaviors, electricity load demand and market price into consideration. The proposed model is applied to the operations of cascaded hydropower plants on Lancang River, and the effects of competitors’ different bidding behaviors on optimization results are also discussed. Compared with the traditional generation maximization models, the proposed model can enhance the total generation profit under the given market trading rules.

The Paso del Norte (PdN) region is one of the most environmental damaged, prolific in irrigation, hydrological developed area in the Rio Grande/Bravo Basin (RGB). With an average rainfall of about 150mm of rain and increasing evaporation rates, crops such as maize, alfalfa, pecans, chili, and cotton are growing in this semi-arid region. Climate change is expected to affect the quality of aquatic environments while accentuating sustained drought and water scarcity. Laws and regulations governing water in the PdN region need to be adapted to this reality. Water security in the PdN region is a binational challenge. Institutions, ‘the rules of the game’, have to be well thought-out, clearly targeted and made context specific. How do institutions governing water resources absorb changes, cope with major climatic challenges, and adapt to new conditions and imperatives? Stakeholders from the PdN region provide insights to foster water security and enable regional flexibility on the existing ensemble of policy processes. Building institutional resilience is paramount in responding to new imperatives in the PdN.

Southwest China has experienced a rapid development of hydropower in recent years. In contrast, the power demand growth is very slow in the region. The increasing imbalance between power supply and demand have led to great challenges on the hydropower absorption and operation of provincial power grids with rich hydropower. In this paper, a practical method for long-term scheduling of provincial power grids with rich hydropower is proposed. An optimization model with maximizing the absorption of hydropower is formulated. A coordination strategy, which is capable of minimizing the thermal power generation according to the energy-saving scheduling principle, is employed to increase the absorption of hydropower. The proposed method was implemented on the generation scheduling of Yunnan Power Grid (YNPG), with more than 60GW hydropower capacity and 160 large and middle-sized hydropower plants. The case study presents different simulation results by considering scenarios of inflow and demand. It is demonstrated that our method can obviously increase hydropower absorption. It is effective and practical.

A new method is developed to identify the operation rules of multiple-reservoir system by controlling critical water levels. Several critical water levels at the begging and endding of the flood season are first introduced and taken as optimization variables. The historical inflows each year are considered in the optimization to find a satisfactory operation decesion as the initial solution of operating rule. Two objectives of maximizing the annual power generation and minimizing the spilled water are adopted to further optimize the solution with the predicted runoff. Finally, the empirical decision helps to determine the rational operation result. The proposed method has been applied to the cascaded hydropower plants on the Lancang River. The application results show that our method can obtain feasible operation rules, which is more useful in the real-world engineering compared to the conventional operation rule.

Head-sensitive prohibited operating zones are a critical challenge for short-term scheduling of cascaded hydropower plants for peak shaving. These prohibited operating zones add discrete characters to the nonlinear hydropower scheduling problem, making it tough to handle. This paper establishes a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for short-term hydro scheduling with head-sensitive prohibited operating zones. The min-max objective function, plant performance curves and head-sensitive prohibited operating zones are mainly focused on. The min-max objective function is linearized via introducing linear combinations of constraints. The plant performance curves are linearized by a piecewise linear approximation. The avoidance of prohibited operating zones is incorporated into the linearization of plant performance curves so that head effect is captured. The case study of a two cascaded hydropower system is solved by LINGO. Numerical results show that the proposed MILP model is efficient and suitable for short-term hydropower optimal scheduling with prohibited operating zones for peak shaving.

The relation of nutrients from agricultural activities in the Zarivar Lake catchment and hypoxia potential was examined using a novel application of a matrix analysis due to summer water column sampling in two routes, 6 stations and 4 various depths. It is surrounded by local agricultural activities and one seasonal river is terminated to it. Due to recent years the aquatic life of Zarivar Lake was under serious threat. Water quality study is one of the substantial measures that could be carried out since water quantity has been subjected to drought and low precipitation. Field study was planned in structured regular sampling stations in two straight routes and 24 samples in aggregation. Hypoxia potential investigation in closed shallow water body via current standards was done. Results of analysis demonstrate the potential of hypoxia in closed shallow water body. Significant effects of geological characteristics in hypoxia potential in figure out due to matrix analysis. Comparison of the results with the long-term data on water quality led the conclusion toward a suggestion on the effects of water catchments’ activities during land use and land cover (LU/LC) changes over the years. Sources of nutrients associated biological parameters and macro indicators like submerged plants continue to verify and strengthen the relationship between the nitrogen loads of the LU/LC changes. The additional findings support the new hypoxia potential indicator in Zarivar Lake.

When natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding or even wars occur, victims of these natural catastrophes or man-made events are usually displaced from their homes to temporary environments such as refugee camps (RCs) and internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. For these victims of disasters to be comfortable and live healthy in their temporary homes, necessities such as good water supplies, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) must be accessible within the camps. In addition, shelter and food supply and non-food supplies are required after a disaster occurrence. Following the provision of shelter, food and non-food supplies, water supply and sanitation facilities such as toilets and latrines, it is very important for the camps or temporary settlements to have effective surface water drainage infrastructure to mitigate environmental health risks and flooding. An effective surface water drainage system can help keep these camps free of surface water flooding, contamination of drinking water supplies by cross-mixing with wastewater, mosquito infestations, stagnant water depressions and growth of aquatic weeds. This paper provides a simplified guidance and methodology in designing, constructing and implementing techniques for best management practice addressing surface water drainage for such scenarios. The paper reviews current drainage infrastructure, difficulties and past mistakes from such systems, retrofitting techniques and novel tools in improving the effectiveness of existing drainage infrastructures in refugee camps, IDP camps and other temporary settlements.

Nan River Basin contributes about 25 to 40 percent of annual flows in the Lower Chao Phraya River Basin where main agricultural, manufacturing, service, and domestic water use sectors located. Water allocation during dry season depends mainly on the amount of water storage at the end of rainy season in the four main reservoirs in the upstream of the Chao Phraya River. However, impacts across sectors are also important in developing strategies to mitigate drought. Understanding cross-sectoral interactions from both water resources and economic point of view provide better insight in decision making. This study proposes a framework of cross-sectoral analysis of water allocation during dry season between three sectors (agriculture, manufacturing, and service and domestic) in the Nan River Basin with the consideration of impacts to the Lower Chao Phraya River Basin. An assessment model in this study is based on the water budget and the Input-Output model. Preliminary results of economic analysis of cross-sectoral impacts of water allocation in the Nan River Basin show the importance of considering interactions between sectors and non-hydrologic factors in developing strategies to mitigate droughts.

Intercultural communication competence indicates the extent to which individuals understand other cultures and are able to interact effectively and appropriately with people from other backgrounds. With many international engineering initiatives happening, it is essential that students develop such skills. How are engineering students’ intercultural communication skills affected by their participation in engineering courses that feature study abroad components? This paper addresses this question as it relates to a specific course sequence, Introduction to International Engineering and Design, which focuses on water usage, water culture, and water disinfection, and, more specifically, on the use of ceramic pot filters in rural Guatemalan communities. The discussion focuses on comparing pre- and post-trip quantitative and qualitative data collected from students, including 1) student participants’ responses to questionnaires, 2) their responses to oral interviews regarding beliefs and attitudes, and 3) author Merfeld-Langston’s personal observations during a 2016 trip to Guatemala.

The Philippines has ventures for climate adaptation but none have yet explored the effects of climate change on water resources for agriculture, a backbone of national security. By determining the effects of climate change in agricultural water resources management, the latter will be improved efficiently. This study correlated climate variability and change and the agricultural water resources management of Pantabangan Dam for Nueva Ecija. Time series regression analysis was used to determine the relationship of historical and predicted values—considering the four IPCC AR4 scenarios—air pressure and temperature variables (mean, maximum, and minimum) to rainfall, rainfall to inflow, inflow to elevation, and elevation to outflow for irrigation. Two sample T-test was applied to compare the operation rule curve (ORC) and elevation of the dam. Results showed a significant relationship between climate variability and change and the agricultural water resources management, and that the future monthly elevation of the dam will no longer be sufficient based on the ORC. The researchers recommended the upgrading of the capacity of the dam and the development of other water resources management programs to help agriculture withstand and adapt to climate change.

This study aims to quantify the rainfall-runoff transformation process of tropical wet and dry Baitarani Watershed at Anandapur using different evapotranspiration (ET) models along with geomorphological instantaneous unit hydrograph (GIUH) based Nash model in the context of climate change. Herein, four ET models were used to calculate the ET and the resultant runoff hydrographs were compared with the observed hydrograph. The FAO-24 radiation model as the ET estimation model along with GIUH-based Nash model performs well as compared to the other ET estimation models. Hence this model was further applied to evaluate the impact of climate change by the end of the 21^st century using the climatic scenarios projected by Met Office Hadley Centre using CMIP3 model under A1B emission scenario. Two independent and one combined climatic scenarios were considered to analyse the effect of ET. The study reveals that increase in ET in the nearby future could be a cause for water stress in the study area especially in summer and winter which will be needed for prime uses.

This paper describes the need for the expansion, the approach taken to conserve water, and the high reliability requirements. Drivers for the expansion were capacity and size restrictions through the original Panama Canal locks. Major challenges of this expansion include water availability, which is in part addressed by the addition of water saving basins, and reliability given that only one additional set of locks has been constructed. The paper will present relevant aspects of the design of the Third Set of Locks, and the results from commissioning, testing and initial operation.

Huge number of irrigation projects are planned and executed throughout the globe for boosting agricultural production. However, in many of the irrigation projects the problem of efficient water management is becoming more complex with every passing year. The main reason for this may be the changing trends of water availability and demand, which is mainly dependent on precipitation. Though the irrigation projects are designed considering long-term historical climatic conditions, however, the accelerated climatic shift and change has put forward situations which were unimaginable in the past. Keeping this as background, in the present study, rainfall trend analysis has been done over the command area of Eastern Ganga Canal (EGC) command for both pre project implementation phase (1901–1970) and post project implementation phase (1971–2012). Daily rainfall data of 102 years has been analysed using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall and Sen’s methods to highlight the trends in annual, seasonal rainfall and number of rainy days. Analysis result showed increasing trend of 0.93 mm/year and 2.03 mm/year in annual rainfall and monsoon rainfall respectively, in the pre-project implementation phase, while decreasing trend of 0.27 mm/year and 1.11 mm/year in annual rainfall and monsoonal rainfall, respectively, in post-implementation phase has been observed. Further, occupancy of dry years was analysed using five year moving average analysis. The results indicated increase in probability of occurrence of dry years in pre to post project implementation phase from 7.1% to 14.3%. These results will help project managers in development of alternative management strategy.

This research aims to deliver a better understanding of the key features of resilient transboundary water management institutions. It unbundles the concept of institutional resilience into three inter-related components: stability, robustness and resilience. Stability refers to the ability of transboundary water management institutions to maintain stable performance under normal conditions. The term robustness is used to describe the capacity of institutional arrangements to maintain its desired level of performance against temporary external shocks. Finally, resilience describes the ability of institutional framework to withstand irreversible negative disruption by moving from one stable equilibrium state to another stable state equilibrium to absorb disturbances. The study demonstrates that resilient transboundary water management institutions must have the capacity to be stable under normal condition, robust against reversible negative shocks, and resilient to irreversible negative shifts.

The Mekong River is the dominant geo-hydrological structure in mainland Southeast Asia, originating in China and flowing through or bordering Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. With increasing economic development and raising water demand the possibility of water conflict could increase in transboundary river basins. This is the case in the Lancing-Mekong River Basin in recent years, especially during the dry season. More and more scholars are paying attention to build stable, equitable, and environmentally sustainable water allocation method that supports the socio-economic development in transboundary river basins. In this research the authors use the bankruptcy and game theory to construct a new cooperation bankruptcy bargaining game model to allocate water resources. The results of this study could provide ways which could help water allocation and avoid water conflicts in transboundary river basins.

In recent years, the water resources shortage has been highly valued by the international community. Water pollution is one of the main causes of water shortage. In order to achieve the optimal governance effect, water pollution needs stakeholders’ cooperation, so the stable trans-boundary water pollution control is the key to effectively alleviate the problem of water resources. In this research the authors use the KMRW reputation model of incomplete information repeated game to analyze the stability of cooperation. The results of this study suggest that in order to alleviate cooperation opportunism arising from the asymmetric information among parties involved in trans-boundary water pollution governance the active party should input proper signal display.

The UHVDC hydropower from southwest China and cascaded hydropower plants in received power grids constitute a new hydropower optimization of complex hydropower system crossing multiple provincial power grids. The typical Xiluodu-Zhejiang UHVDC engineering in China is taken as the background. An optimization method for hydropower system operations crossing provincial power grids is developed. The objective of maximizing minimum generation is considered in the model. The differences of river hydrology and storage volumes are used to determine the reasonable work position and running order of hydropower plants. The progressive optimality algorithm and dynamic programming successive approximation are integrated into a solution framework to optimize the power generation of hydropower plants. An interconnected hydropower system with UHVDC including Xiluodu Hydropower Plant and cascaded hydropower plants in the receiving power grid is presented. The simulation results show that our method can improve the overall firm generation. It is demonstrated that the coordination between hydropower plants located in different rivers and provinces is very important and necessary for efficiently transmitting large-scale hydropower in China.

In order to improve the practicability and operability of the flood control dispatching scheme, a flood control optimal dispatching method based on the sluice gate start-stop strategy is proposed. The method is divided into two stages. In the first stage, we get the flood discharge process under the rule of utmost flood peak reduction, and then get the constraint condition of the gate operation. In the second stage, we find the final sluice gate start-stop strategy under the principle of the number of adjustment of the gate is the least; besides, we make full use of the knowledge of artificial experience. The application example shows that the method is simple but effective, and can realize the real flood control optimal dispatching through providing the gate start-stop strategy directly for the dispatcher.

China has multiple giant inter basin hydropower systems with the rapid development of hydropower systems in the past two decades. The challenges to the operation management of the large scale hydropower systems are tremendous. Flexible strategy searching algorithms are proposed to address the optimization problems of inter basin hydropower systems. Two calculation modes of deepth and scope priority, and the unidimensional or multidimensional flexible strategies are proposed to decrease dimensionality and increase solution quality for problems with different styles and scales. The algorithms absorbed the ideas from multiple classical optimal algorithms such as progressive optimality algorithm, discrete differential dynamic programming and dynamic programming successive approximation. The inter basin hydropower reservoir systems of China Southern Power Grid are used to test these algorithms. The results of case study show that they can find good solution efficiently for inter basin hydropower long term operation problems and gain insight into compensatory operations, with better hydropower system resources allocation and comprehensive benefits.

In 2012, USAID determined that Panama had reached a point where it could manage its continued development without significant U.S. assistance. The World Bank also noted Panama’s progress in the last decade by reporting a remarkable decrease in poverty and increase in access to improved water and sanitation. Despite improvements at the national level, pockets of extreme poverty persist in rural areas, especially in the comarcas, the indigenous provinces of Panama. The first two authors served with the U.S. Peace Corps as water and sanitation volunteers in two such remote communities on the Comarca Ngäbe Buglé. Both observed how the presence of water and sanitation infrastructure could be counted as “coverage” by the national government and bilateral aid agencies. However, without regular water quality testing, system maintenance, or the presence of a regulating body, calculations of “coverage” fail to capture the reality facing Panama’s rural poor. Field research focused on how the connectivity between urban and rural spaces affects water and sanitation system functionality, as well as the relationship between micro-watershed management and water quality.

Nan River Basin contributes about 25 to 40 percent of annual flows in the Lower Chao Phraya River Basin, Thailand. Land use and climate change result in change in meteorological and hydrological conditions in Nan River Basin. In addition, water demand in the basin has been increasing from the economic development. Understanding cross-sectoral interactions from both water resources and economic points of view provides better insight in planning and management. This study proposes an integrated framework of hydrological and economic analysis to assess impacts of water deficits under changing climate and regional development. The objectives of the study are to analyze water supply under climate change scenarios, estimate water demand under economic development scenarios, and assess cross-sectoral impacts of water deficits. A rainfall-runoff model, integrated flood analysis system (IFAS), was calibrated, verified, and used to simulate runoff. Regional input-output model was developed for Nan River Basin to assess economic impacts of water deficits. Analysis of water deficits under climate change scenarios and economic development scenarios was carried out during the period of 2040-2059. Runoff simulations under climate change scenarios using two GCMs, IPSL-CM5A-MR and MIROC5 under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 showed increasing trend. Water demand projections of all sectors also showed increasing trend especially in agricultural sector. The uncertainty of water supply under the climate change scenarios is found to be relatively small compare to the uncertainty of water demand under the economic development scenarios. Assessment of indirect economic loss from cross-sectoral analysis is found to be two to three times higher than the direct loss. The results demonstrate the need to consider the indirect economic loss across sectors in water allocation planning and water deficit mitigation policy.