World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2019: Emerging and Innovative Technologies and International Perspectives

In response to two consent decrees with the Ohio EPA, the city of Columbus created the Blueprint Columbus Program in 2015. The Blueprint Columbus approach targets to reduce water-in-basement (WIB), sanitary sewer overflows (SSO), and combined sewer overflows (CSO) by implementing lateral lining, downspout redirection, sump pump installation, and green infrastructure (GI) projects. Columbus is currently constructing a GI asset consisting of pervious pavers, regional rain gardens, bio basins, and bumpouts in the urban neighborhood of Clintonville. Monthly maintenance inspections are performed on each GI during the 2-year establishment period to identify areas with repetitive maintenance concerns. To streamline the inspections and quickly disseminate monitoring data, Arcadis developed a mobile survey workflow using available software applications to complete inspections in the field and track GI assets. This paper will provide an overview of the software applications, survey usability, and process for generating GI reports and summary tables.

The rapid urbanization and population explosion have become major issues all around the world. Several satellite towns are developed to accommodate the ever-increasing population of metropolitan cities around the world. Gurugram, a prominent satellite city in the national capital region (NCR) of India is one such city which has faced the problems of urbanization. Urbanization, besides having adverse impacts on hydro-climatic conditions, has led to a rapid increase in the impervious area. This seals the upper soil layers and thus generates excessive surface runoff causing urban floods. The problem of flooding has impacted the public health and the society as well as resulted in economic loss. Keeping this in mind, the present study makes an attempt to identify the hotspots in the city of Gurugram from the urban flooding point of view. The hotspots are identified through the rainfall-runoff modelling using the storm water management model (SWMM) developed by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In order to initiate actions for its management, the prioritization of the potential hotspots is suggested through the multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) technique of choosing by disadvantage (CBD). Further, it has been noticed that the urban drainage problem gets aggravated due to silting and choking of the Najafgarh and Badshahpur drains which ultimately joins the river Yamuna in northern part of Delhi.

Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services contribute to the life expectancy rate, education rate, income level, and hence improve the human development index (HDI). Countries like Sierra Leone in the western part of Africa are facing the problem of low HDI. Kailahun, one of the districts in the eastern part of Sierra Leone, has faced the widespread destruction during and after the eleven years of civil war and thereafter the natural disasters. In order to improve the public health, the government is struggling to implement an effective WASH strategy. This study highlights the existing WASH conditions in the Kailahun District of Sierra Leone. An attempt has been made to assess its sustainability as well as the customer’ s satisfaction with the WASH-related services. Wash sustainability index (WASH_SI) is assessed using the financial, institutional, management, and technological indicators. These indicators influence the social, economy, and environment of the district, which are the basis of sustainable development. The customer’ s satisfaction is assessed through a modified SERVQUAL model in terms of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, tangibles, and empathy. A Google-based questionnaire has been carried out to collect information about the existing WASH conditions in the district. The questionnaire consists of 31 questions related to WASH sustainability and 22 questions related to customer’ s satisfaction. The HDI is assessed based on life expectancy, education rate, and the income level of the people in the districts. It is found to be 0.419, which is termed as low. The probable reasons for such a low HDI in Kailahun District are due to the widespread destruction during and after the eleven years of civil war that have led to massive poverty among the people, widespread malnutrition, high infant and child mortality rates, low life expectancy, deficient infrastructure, poor educational system, and insufficient availability of basic medical facilities. In order to improve this HDI, it is suggested that the government should adopt certain measures to increase the gross national income per head, improve the health infrastructure and the educational standard of the people in the districts.

Compound weirs are combinations of weirs of different geometries and crest elevations. In addition to measuring discharge over wide range of flows, compound weirs are useful in controlling the discharge and water level in irrigation canals, rivers, and lakes. Compound weirs are also incorporated in the design of outlets from stormwater and sedimentation ponds and underground reservoirs. Transitions between the components of compound weirs are producing unsteadiness and instabilities. The analysis of experimental data is revealing noticeable fluctuations in values of the discharge coefficient associated with transitional instabilities. These undesirable effects can be eliminated by simply redesigning compound weirs as continuous polynomial weirs. Polynomial weirs have smooth geometries defined by polynomial equations of any order. Furthermore, the geometric versality of polynomial weirs can help address effects of climate change by allowing wider ranges of head-discharge curves to be incorporated in the design of new and retrofitted hydraulic structures. The hydraulic properties of polynomial weirs are reviewed, and methods of redesigning compound weirs as polynomial weirs are discussed.

The global demand for rare earth elements (REE) has increased significantly in the past 20 years due to their extensive use in electronics and other applications. Although many recent studies related to quantifying rare earth elements in coal and coal combustion byproducts have been published, methods of extracting rare earth elements are still not economically feasible. The objective of our study is to investigate the potential extraction of the REEs from coal ash and from wastewater sludge collected from a power plant near Detroit, MI. The collected ash and sludge will undergo a hydrothermal extraction process developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory to extract REEs from the sludge or coal ash, resulting in a liquid enriched in dissolved REEs. Batch experiments were conducted using an organosilica adsorbent (Osorb) and a ligand [P-di(2-ethylhexyl) methanediphosphonic acid (DIPEX)] to extract neodymium from a synthetic hydrothermal extraction solution. DIPEX-associated Osorb media was produced by first dissolving DIPEX into a solvent (e.g., methanol). Different amounts of DIPEX-methanol solution were then added to 0.2 g of Osorb to determine the maximum sorption capacity. The methanol was evaporated and, after a rinse step, the DIPEX-Osorb sorbent was used in sorption experiments. A 300 ppm neodymium (Nd) synthetic ash/sludge leachate was tested with the various DIPEX-Osorb media. Results show that DIPEX-Osorb ratios of 4.3, 1.1, 0.5, and 0.05 mL/g sorbed 60, 51, 25, and 7 mg Nd per g media, respectively. Since the 4.3 mL DIPEX/g Osorb media sorbed 100% of the Nd in the solution, a higher capacity is expected and these experiments are ongoing. Breakthrough curve for of the sorption of Nd to Osorb was conducted and showed a higher sorption ratio when the Nd concentration increased. We are also investigating the reusability of the DIPEX-Osorb media by measuring how many cycles the media can be regenerated by extracting the Nd with nitric acid and reusing the sorbent for another cycle.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are known to be one of the major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere. In order to alleviate these emissions, an innovative biogeochemical cover system is proposed to mitigate both methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, which are the predominant gases in landfill gas (LFG) emissions. This paper investigates four materials: soil, non-activated biochar, methanotrophic activated biochar, and basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slag for their CH₄ and CO₂ uptake capacity. First, the physical and chemical properties of the four materials were tested. Thereafter, several series of batch tests were conducted to determine CH₄ and CO₂ uptake by each material. The results demonstrate that the soil has the potential to oxidize CH₄ into CO₂ due to presence of CH₄ oxidizing (methanotrophic) bacteria, while the BOF steel slag has potential to sequester CO₂. The methanotrophic activated biochar showed enhanced biological activity due to high methanotrophic population, mitigating CH₄ efficiently. However, the non-activated biochar had little to no effect on the uptake of either CH₄ or CO₂. Finally, the combination of these cover materials at different proportions in different configurations is being investigated to optimize the biogeochemical cover system to mitigate both CH₄ and CO₂ emissions.

Design and modeling were performed for a prototype floating membrane reservoir system for closed-loop pumped storage hydropower (PSH) application. Typically, new construction of PSH requires high up-front development costs and long investment return periods. The proposed floating membrane reservoir system innovative technology would eliminate the need for highly disruptive and costly reservoir construction. Such modular systems may ultimately provide reliable, flexible power generation and can be replicated multiple times to increase energy storage capacity. This paper documents the modeling response analysis completed to refine and validate the design prior to the testing of the prototype. Computational fluid dynamics modeling efforts were completed to assess hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces acting on the reservoir for several deployment and alignment arrangements. The system stability was evaluated using material stress and frequency response analysis. The conclusions, based on hydrodynamic and structural response modeling, support a decision to move forward with construction, deployment, and testing of the innovative prototype floating reservoir system.

With the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management is pioneering the nation’ s first publicly-offered environmental impact bond (EIB) to fund green infrastructure in the Proctor Creek watershed. An EIB is an innovative financing mechanism that is unique in that it is linked to an environmental performance metric that determines the amount that investors are repaid by the bond issuers. The structural elements of an EIB include the identification of an outcome metric to determine success—in Atlanta’ s case the volume of stormwater captured by the GI practices—and the selection of two key bond terms: (1) performance threshold, e.g., volume of runoff captured at which a performance payment is made, and (2) performance payment amount. To set threshold point and performance payment, a volume-based probability model was developed in the design phase to determine the likelihood of successfully meeting the composite volume goal of the several GI projects.

Soil moisture is one of the most important components of ecological and hydrological models at different scales. This variable plays a key role in the exchange of water, energy, and carbon between land and atmosphere, and can be evaluated in order to examine the long-term impacts of climate change. Also, soil moisture is one of the factors affecting the formation of floods and is used to predict and monitor droughts. Soil moisture conservation is vital for increasing irrigation efficiency and protecting the vegetation. In spite of the great importance and high value of soil moisture data, it is not widely available because its field sampling is relatively expensive and it does not have a custodian in many developing countries that water and soil management are handled by different agencies. Field measurements have been subjected to many constraints. These limitations result in inaccessibility of data with acceptable accuracy and appropriate spatial distribution. The necessity of paying more attention to utilizing available technologies and tools to offset the traditional methods of collecting soil moisture data, is more pressing with increasing concerns about climate change. The objective of this study is to use a range of available tools from citizen science to satellite technology to generate soil moisture data with acceptable accuracy. Data provided by the first method has high spatial distribution and temporal variability, but it is suffering from subjectivity. Satellite data has high accessibility at no cost to the users, but its spatial resolution is not high and has to be downscaled. In this study, initial steps are taken to show how to deal with subjectivity errors, use of ground-based, and satellite data to provide soil moisture information for engineering applications.

This work describes utilizing low cost solutions for environmental and water resources monitoring. These solutions were made possible by the vast and recent development of printed circuit boards (PCBs) with microcontrollers, and the accompanying integrated development environment (IDE) programming platforms. Systems were developed for three applications: the first was a water evaporation monitoring system that was intended to measure the amount of reduction in evaporation when using floating solar panels to cover a water body. The second application was a power outcome monitoring system of the solar panels, those floating and comparable ground-mounted ones, while the third system was developed for stream stage monitoring and was intended to continuously monitor flood water. The three systems were successfully developed and implemented and essential data was recorded and analyzed. The cost of each of the systems was 5%–10% of the cost of comparable commercial systems. The efforts were successful only by collaboration of people in different disciplines: civil and environmental engineers, microelectronic specialists, and communication engineers.

Being one of the largest crop producers district in Punjab, Rahim Yar Khan, is currently going through a severe water crisis. The increased abstraction of the groundwater reserves for agriculture and anthropogenic use has resulted in the reserves turning saline along with decrease in the depth of water table. Therefore, this study focuses on identifying the long-term variations in the groundwater storage and examines the impact of precipitation and the crop production on the groundwater reserves in the Rahim Yar Khan District. The groundwater information is derived from gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) mission and global land data assimilation system (GLDAS). Four major crops including cotton, sugarcane, rice, and wheat are analyzed on the basis of their annual production and water demand. Precipitation data is obtained from PERISANN CDR and the agricultural information includes crop water requirement, which is computed using CROPWAT. The yield data is obtained from Bureau of Statistics, Punjab. The results revealed that the groundwater storage in the district is depleting at a rate of 0.51 mm per month leading to a total volumetric loss of 1.38 km³ in 13 years. The analysis also revealed that that the groundwater storage responds positively to precipitation at a lag of 3 months. Lastly, sugarcane and rice crop cultivation had a significant impact on the groundwater withdrawal rates in Rahim Yar Khan. The results from the study can provide useful information about the groundwater change in relation to crop water demand and precipitation.

Globally, a dramatic demographic shift towards urbanization is occurring. Between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of people living in urban areas is projected to rise from 46.6% to 69.6%. Urbanization poses problems through effects such as environmental pollution, accidents, heat island effects, and climate change. With the rapid urban growth and development, the quality of green space available has been degrading. Furthermore, many land characteristics have been altered such that the whole water cycle has been significantly changed. Some of the considerable adverse effects of these changes include the increase in runoff which leads to flooding and poor quality of receiving waters. To improve storm water management, green infrastructures (GI) have become a promising solution by restoring the natural environments in big cities, creating a better living environment for the city’ s residents. In this paper, a wireless sensor network (WSN) was designed for the monitoring of green infrastructure in smart cities. A data acquisition system based on a new wireless network protocol—DASH7 for green infrastructure is evaluated, developed, and implemented. The DASH7 based WSN system is introduced as a better potential candidate in the case for midrange WSN/IoT green development use. The DASH7 WSN, integrated with a variety of sensors, including soil moisture, temperature, light, humidity, and pressure was designed and tested where sensor data was transmitted and displayed on a cloud server.

Transboundary water rights are usually revered in the international political arena as it often results in a myriad of conflicts. The Mekong, an international river, flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Each of these basin countries has its own opinion, philosophy, and interests resulting in complex hydropolitics in the region. This has resulted in intense and acute water allocation, uses, and quality as well as social and environmental conflicts. In order to settle these conflicts amicably and to cooperate and exchange the information among constituent countries, three regional organizations, namely, Mekong River Commission (MRC), Greater Mekong Sub-region Program (GMS), and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are established. The purpose of these organizations is to meet the drinking water, food, energy, and other requirements as well as to support other economic activities in the basin on a sustainable basis. The changing flow pattern in the Mekong River has resulted in reshaping the societies and has added further pressure on natural resources on a regional basis. For example, the development and consequences of hydropower in the upper Mekong Basin have led to conflicts among Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam for agriculture, drinking water, and environmental flows. This has resulted in the civil unrest and violence in the region. Keeping these in mind, the present study highlights the complexities of water governance in the Mekong River Basin. It outlines the geography and the regional, political, economic, and environmental settings of the basin. It further explores the issues of sustainable development and briefly describes the opportunities to better utilize the available resources with an underlying philosophy of mutual co-operation, goodwill, and friendship.

Floods are natural events that cause various social and economic impacts. These events are originated from intense rainfall that exceeds soil infiltration capacity leading to major water runoff that surpasses the capacity of drainage systems. At highly urbanized basins, like the ones in São Paulo, the problem becomes even more complex since it involves land use issues and increased vulnerability to flooding due to population densities located in flood prone areas. Based on this scenario, the São Paulo City Hall (PMSP) has invested alongside the Emergency Management Center (CGE) in a real-time flood management system for monitoring, forecasting, and warning in order to promote stormwater management. As a product of catchment evaluation, efficiency, and effectiveness of preventive and corrective actions can tested and results can be used as a tool for planning and operating urban catchments quantitative and qualitatively. This paper describes how this tool is being used to plan São Paulo’ s catchments, and the results that can be achieved.

The adaptation of integrated flood risk management (IFRM) approach in the Philippines is a challenging task due to heavy reliance of traditional structural measures in the past. And so, there are critical issues or “barriers” that hamper the adaptation of IFRM. This study presents for the first time a framework in identifying the barriers on IFRM in a case-specific approach focusing on a megacity of a developing country such as Metro Manila, Philippines. Moreover, this framework presents a systematic approach in analyzing the barriers on IFRM by interpretive structural modelling. This study was able to identify a total of 12 barriers that encompasses governance, social, and technological resources aspects in Metro Manila, Philippines. The results show that barriers on the governance aspect are the most influential barriers while barriers on the social aspect have the least influence to other barriers.

In 2015, over 43 percent of the Rwandan population lacked access to basic drinking water sources, and in the rural area more than half of the population still relies on limited, unimproved, and surface water sources. This study analyses a project conducted over the last five years in the rural area of Cyanika Sector in the Northern Province of Rwanda, thanks to the collaboration between the Cyanika Community Vision Board, Engineers Without Borders–USA, and Village Makeover. Five community rainwater catchment systems have been implemented in five villages, providing access to drinking water for 4,667 community members. This provides families with time to improve their quality of life by increasing agricultural and other income-generating activities, since they no longer need to spend several hours day collecting surface water from distant sources. In order to increase the sustainability of the project, a five-year commitment plan for monitoring and evaluation was put in place for each village. In addition, the projects are likely to be sustained in the future because people have significant benefits, and are managing the systems through the collection of minimal water usage fees and the establishment of a growing fund for maintenance operations. This partnership between local and international organizations is a successful example of how to make a positive impact on people’ s lives while giving engineering undergraduate students the opportunity to get experience as global engineers.

To build resilience of domestic potable water reliability to supply interruptions, the Barbados Water Authority created the personal tank program (PTP) in 2016. The PTP offers a tank solution to customers either 1. free, or 2. as a 5-year interest free hire purchase agreement. The system comprises a 400 gallon tank, 0.6 HP pump, concrete base, and plumbing fittings. By July 2018, the PTP installed 50 free and 215 purchased systems. 18 of the free systems remain inoperational due to the inability of program participants to afford the unexpected/non-advertised plumbing and electrical works. To avoid pump electricity costs (USD 35/month), program participants store standing water in the tank (potentially stagnant) and take water directly from the utility supply. At least 30 purchased systems store water in this non-flow through design mode. This paper presents an overview and recommended improvements to the PTP adoption framework, tank system design, and operation.

This paper provides the general policies, operational procedures, and publication accomplishments by the ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) Standards Development Council since October 1, 1999. The ASCE/EWRI World Water and Environmental Resources Congresses started in 2001 in Orlando, FL. The publication of individual articles in ASCE journals continued the established process of ASCE publication committees during the 19^th Century. The development of committee reports started whenever appropriate ASCE committees wished to develop pre-standards in about 1950 or so. The ASCE/EWRI Manuals of Professional Practice probably started with Hydrology Manual #28. The development of ANSI/ASCE/EWRI Standard #2 dealing with the “Clean Water Standard” began with the use of EPA funding after 1972. The ASCE/EWRI committee procedures and activities are described according to the information contained in appropriate editions of the EWRI Operations Handbook, appropriate ASCE/EWRI Congress announcements, and the ASCE Rules for Standard Committees. Other processes are described in the ASCE Books guideline for authors. The environmental and water resources publications range from either slightly reviewed (i.e. Congress proceedings) to carefully reviewed consensus documents (i.e. ANSI/ASCE/EWRI standards) and they may cover design, operation, installation, and/or maintenance practices for utilization or adoption by the ASCE/EWRI membership or other professionals, or even appropriate governmental organizations throughout the world. As indicated by powerpoint presentations given by leaders of the ASCE or EWRI standards development process; the publications provided are articles by individuals summarized in the proceedings of congresses, the committee reports by numerous task committees or technical committees of the institute, the manuals of professional practice developed by EWRI technical groups and reviewed by blue-ribbon panels, and the highest level of technical guideline standard or standards of practice, which in some cases have also become American National Standards.