civil engineers: environmental engineering erik r. coats, pe, ph.d. ce 115 november 10, 2005

Civil Engineers:Environmental Engineering

Erik R. Coats, PE, Ph.D.

CE 115

November 10, 2005

What do we do?• Solve problems

– Design infrastructure and systems to remedy “pollution” that is either human-caused or naturally occurring such that exposure does not cause harm

• More specifically:– Potable Water Treatment– Wastewater Treatment– Landfill Design– Hazardous Waste Treatment– Surface Water and Ground Water Quality

Water Treatment• Produce safe drinking water

• Surface water and ground water

• EPA establishes minimum standards>129 contaminants regulated• Inorganics

• Arsenic at 0.01 mg/L

• Microbial• E. coli• Cryptosporidium: Milwaukee (1993) 400,000 sick;

100 deaths

• Synthetic organics• Man-made contaminants: we then need to remove

Wilsonville Water Treatment Plant

• Drinking Willamette River water– Industrial, agricultural, and municipal

discharges– Fish deformities– Carcinogens– Teratogens: birth defects

• Solution: advanced physical & chemical treatment technology

Treatment Process

River Intake

Sedimentation

Ozonation

Granular Activated Carbon

Filtration

Water Supply Planning

Why Treat Wastewater?• Organics – deplete oxygen

• Nutrients – toxic; deplete oxygen

• Pathogens – human contact

• Temperature?

Wastewater Treatment• Reclaim water for non-potable and potable

uses– Discharge to surface water– Irrigation– Industrial re-use– Wetlands reclamation

• Reclaim solids– Fertilizer– Plastic?

• http://www.wef.org/apps/gowithflow/theflow.htm

Rock Creek, OR WWTP

Moscow, Idaho WWTP

Influent Wastewater

More Influent

Biological Treatment

Disinfection

Biosolids Processing

Final Effluent!

Colfax, WA WWTP

Colfax, WA WWTP

Plastic from Wastewater?

Landfills – do we deal with trash?

No - we design the infrastructure

• Waste cells

• Leachate collection

• Storm water management

• Gas collection

How much solid waste?

Typical Landfill

Landfill Liner

Landfill Closure

Composting

Landfill Leachate – control?

Landfill Bioreactor

• Recycle leachate – enhance biological activity

• Increases waste decomposition rate

• Increase landfill capacity

• Recover gas (methane) for power generation

Where do we work?

• Consulting

• Industry

• Regulatory

• Environmental groups

• Academics

Science background?

• Biology

• Microbiology

• Chemistry

• Biochemistry

• Physics

Thank you!

Questions?