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Onsite and Decentralized Wastewater Engineering: Course Development and Delivery Experiences to Fill a Perceived Void in Higher Education.

See more from this Division: Oral sessions
See more from this Session: TRACK 3--Education and Outreach
Monday, April 7, 2014: 4:30 PM
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Robert L Siegrist, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO
Water and wastewater infrastructure in the U.S. evolved during the 20th Century based on major investments at the Federal and state level. At the end of the 20th Century, approximately 80% of the U.S. population was served by centralized infrastructure with 20% served by onsite and decentralized systems. Near the end of the 20th Century and into the 21st, a series of activities and events in the U.S. helped catalyze a new paradigm involving onsite and decentralized approaches, technologies, and systems for wastewater treatment and water reclamation and reuse. As the U.S. entered the 21st Century, there was growing interest in how onsite and decentralized systems could help provide more sustainable infrastructure by: 1) reducing the use of drinking water to flush toilets and transport waste to remote wastewater treatment plants, 2) preventing pollutant discharges from large centralized systems including sanitary sewer overflows, combined sewer overflows; and leaking sewers, 3) recharging water near the point of water extraction and avoiding water export and depletion of local water resources, 4) enabling recovery and reuse of water, organic matter, and nutrients (N, P, K); 5) lowering consumption of energy and chemicals, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and 6) providing infrastructure that is more robust and resilient to natural disasters and climate change.

Based on major research and development efforts over the past two decades, modern onsite and decentralized systems have evolved to include a growing array of approaches, devices and technologies. Ultra efficient fixtures and source separation plumbing can enhance water infrastructure by minimizing water and energy demands and enabling reuse. Treatment can be achieved using anaerobic and aerobic bioreactors, porous media biofilters, sorbent filters, membrane separation units, constructed wetlands, soil treatment and landscape dispersal units, and other technologies. Reuse of reclaimed water can occur through garden and landscape irrigation, toilet flushing, and other applications. Sensors and monitoring devices can be used to verify and enhance performance and enable remote process control and system management to monitor and automatically correct any system malfunction. Systems can mimic natural processes to achieve performance objectives while minimizing water, energy and chemical use, and enabling beneficial reuse.  Onsite systems can applied at the building-scale while decentralized systems can be used at the development-scale.

Applications of onsite and decentralized systems span rural, peri-urban, and urban areas in industrialized nations like the U.S. However, beyond applications in the U.S. and other industrialized nations, onsite and decentralized systems are critical to providing safe drinking water and adequate sanitation in developing countries. In developing countries worldwide, concerns about sustainability of large water and wastewater infrastructure are not yet paramount. Rather, concerns are focused on how best to provide to simple solutions for safe drinking water and effective sanitation - solutions that are effective, affordable and socially acceptable. Providing safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations. Yet, despite the challenges of sustaining large infrastructure and the potential benefits of onsite and decentralized approaches, the ‘gold standard’ for water and sanitation in developing countries is often still viewed to be provision of abundant clean water distributed to users not only for drinking but also for use in water flush toilets and other fixtures and appliances. Wastewaters are generated and conveyed away for treatment in remote mechanical plants and disposal.

While major advances have occurred in science and technology of onsite and decentralized infrastructure, the principles and practices of modern onsite and decentralized systems have not been broadly incorporated into curriculum within higher education. Many if not most courses related to water supply and wastewater management that are included as requirements or electives within undergraduate and graduate programs at universities throughout the U.S. continue to focus on engineering of larger centralized infrastructure. This is unfortunate in that it reinforces the design and implementation of the same large centralized infrastructure of the 20th Century, which is being challenged today as unsustainable. Educating the next generation of undergraduate and graduate students who will become design professionals and decision makers of the future is critical to help foster necessary and appropriate changes in infrastructure. To help fill a perceived void in higher education, a semester-long course for seniors and graduate students has been developed at the Colorado School of Mines and is now routinely delivered as an elective for students pursuing degrees in environmental engineering. “ESGN460 - Onsite Water Reclamation and Reuse” is a 15-week long course focused on the selection, design, and implementation of onsite and decentralized infrastructure. Topics covered include: water use and wastewater generation, water use efficiency and source separation, alternative collection systems, engineered and natural treatment units, effluent dispersal and reuse options, resource efficient systems, and system performance assurance and management. The course has been delivered every spring semester since 2006 and enrollments have steadily grown and the course is now capped at 30 students. A set of more than 800 slides has been prepared along with a set of notes and these have been continuously updated based on course delivery experiences. These course materials along with other reference materials are compiled on a CD, which is distributed to all students enrolled in ESGN460 at the beginning of the semester. Learning is assessed through design problems, examinations, and a class project.

This presentation will describe the logic behind the development of ESGN460 and describe the context and motivation based on perspectives gained by the author during the past 40 years. These perspectives are based on the author’s experiences beginning with those during his graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin within the Small Scale Waste Management Project in the 1970s and 80s. During the next two decades, experiences were gained and observations were made in the U.S. and abroad. After arriving at CSM in 1995, the Small Flows Program was initiated and more than a decade of research and educational activities have focused on advancing the science and technology of onsite and decentralized systems. During this period, the idea of and need for development of a course such as ESGN460 emerged. This presentation will describe the course content and format for delivery, what reference materials are used to support student learning, and what lessons have been learned during eight deliveries of the course. The presentation will also highlight thoughts and options for dissemination of course materials and how best to ensure delivery will be sustained at CSM and made possible elsewhere.

See more from this Division: Oral sessions
See more from this Session: TRACK 3--Education and Outreach