Preface
What is this book about? This new textbook has a broad focus and is therefore entitled 'Sustainable Water Systems' to attract a wide audience of academics and practitioners. The book covers broad water and environmental engineering system aspects relevant to water resources management as well as the treatment of storm water and wastewater, providing a descriptive overview of complex 'black box' systems and general design issues involved. Fundamental science and engineering principles are explained to address the student and professional markets. Standard and novel design recommendations account for the interests of professional engineers and environmental scientists. The latest research findings in water treatment systems are discussed to attract academics and senior consultants who could recommend the textbook to final year and postgraduate students as well as graduate engineers, respectively.
The book deals comprehensively with the design, operation, maintenance as well as water quality monitoring and modelling of traditional and novel wetland systems. It also provides an analysis of asset performance, the modelling of treatment processes and the performance of existing infrastructure in both developed and developing countries, as well as the sustainability and economic issues involved.
The explained underlying scientific principles will also be of interest to all concerned with the built environment, including town planners, developers, engineering technicians, agricultural engineers and public health workers. The book has been written for a wide readership, but sufficient hot research topics have been addressed to guarantee a long shelf life of the book. Therefore, case study topics are diverse and research projects are multidisciplinary, holistic, experimental and modelling-oriented.
What is the target audience? The textbook is essential for undergraduate and postgraduate students, lecturers, and researchers in the civil and environmental engineering, environmental science, agriculture and ecological fields of sustainable water management. It is a standard reference for the design, operation and management of wetlands by engineers and scientists working for the water industry, local authorities, non-governmental organizations and governmental bodies. Moreover, consulting engineers will be able to apply practical design recommendations and refer to a large variety of practical international case studies, including large-scale field studies.
What are the key selling features? This new textbook has a broad focus on all applied aspects of both sustainability and system research. The sustainable treatment and management of all water and wastewater types is covered. Applied research case studies independent from countries and climatic regions illustrate the application on innovative technologies and methodologies. Both urban and rural case studies with applied and academic aspects are addressed.
How is this book structured and what questions does it answer? The textbook is split into seven inter-related chapters and corresponding sub-chapters to increase its readability. Each chapter answers topical 'How can .?' overarching questions as outlined below:
How can natural wetland systems be effectively used to treat different types of waters?
Chapter 1.1 outlines a peatland management strategy to utilise the high nutrient retention potential of degenerated peatlands. The effect of raised water levels and extensive land use management on hydraulic properties, water quality and vegetation characteristics of heavily vegetated and groundwater-fed open ditches was investigated at a river valley. Within-ditch vegetation and other hydraulic obstructions increase the hydraulic residence time and lead to an improvement in the water quality along the open ditch.
Chapter 1.2 is concerned with the treatment of log yard runoff, which is required to avoid contamination of receiving watercourses. The research aim was to assess if infiltration of log yard runoff through planted soil systems is successful and if different plant species affect the treatment performance. The infiltration treatment was effective in reducing total organic carbon and total phosphorus concentrations in the runoff.
Chapter 1.3 aims to review studies about impacts of anthropogenic land use changes on levels of nutrient concentrations in surface waterbodies. Anthropogenic land use such as agricultural and urban areas usually enhances nutrient concentrations much more than natural lands such as forest and barren.
Chapter 1.4 assesses the effect of climate change on carbon dioxide exchange of temperate peatlands. Climate chamber simulations were conducted using experimental peatland mesocosms exposed to current and future representative concentration pathway (RCP) climate scenarios (RCP 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5). Water level management is necessary for RCP 8.5, beneficial for RCP 4.5 and unimportant for RCP 2.6 and the current climate.
How can sustainable drainage systems and techniques be effectively used in urban water management and treatment?
Chapter 2.1 aims to assess the influence of a full silt trap at the end of a stormwater drainage pipe on the water quality of stormwater discharged into an urban watercourse. Suspended solids for treated stormwater were often too high, but pollutants accumulated in the silt trap.
Chapter 2.2 investigates the treatment efficiency of passive vertical-flow wetland filters containing Phragmites australis and/or Typha latifolia and granular media of different adsorption capacities. There appears to be no additional benefit in using macrophytes and expensive adsorption media in constructed wetlands to enhance metal reduction during the set-up period of five months.
Phosphorus retention by experimental unplanted vertical-flow constructed wetlands depends on substrates, influent quality and hydraulic residence time according to Chapter 2.3. Phosphorus adsorption capacities of shale, ironstone and hornblende were best explained by Langmuir adsorption isotherms. In comparison, Freundlich adsorption isotherms fitted gravel well.
Chapter 2.4 aims to assess the treatment efficiencies for gully pot effluent of experimental vertical-flow constructed wetland filters containing macrophytes and granular media of different adsorption capacities in cold climate. For those filters receiving metals, an obvious breakthrough of nickel was recorded after road gritting (containing salt).
Pond structures as cost-effective source-control drainage techniques can be applied to reduce the downstream risk of flooding according to Chapter 2.5. A case study was assessed based upon a combined attenuation wetland and dry pond construction for roof-water runoff.
Chapter 2.6 assesses the concept of a combined traditional permeable pavement with a ground source heat pump. The great system stability of the innovation and minor water quality data variability between individual experimental pavement systems provide good evidence for the controlled engineered application.
Chapter 2.7 aims to assess the efficiency of a batch flow combined titanium dioxide and ultraviolet light photocatalytic reactor. The purpose was to remove waterborne microbial contaminants from the effluent of permeable pavement systems.
Finally, Chapter 2.8 aims to protect below-ground channels and people, prevent flooding, improve water quality and save personnel costs through screen automation and monitoring optimization. Results show that repairing or enlarging screens optimizes their functionality and reduces the risk of flooding. A particular focus is on increasing the screen dimension from one- and two-dimensional to three-dimensional screens.
How can the sustainable flood retention basin and integrated constructed wetland concepts be successfully applied to support the build environment?
Chapter 3.1 analyses sustainable flood retention basins (SFRB) as adaptive structures contributing to water resources management and flood risk control. A dataset of 371 potential SFRB (including many operating reservoirs) characterized by 40 variables have been surveyed across central Scotland. Geostatistical techniques are applied on the dataset. Spatial analysis showed that ordinary kriging, which is a spatial interpolation method, could be successfully applied to estimate numerical values for all key flood control variables everywhere in the study area. Moreover, the probability that certain threshold values relevant to flood control managers were exceeded can also be calculated by using disjunctive kriging. The findings provide an effective screening tool in assessing flood control using SFRB.
Furthermore, Chapter 3.2 highlights that constructed wetland sediments are frequently contaminated with nitrogen and phosphorus, and that there is a potential that these accumulated constituents could be remobilized to reach surface or ground waters. Five configured identical mesocosms, each filled with sub-soil collected from the most contaminated first cells of two 10-year-old fully operational integrated constructed wetland (ICW), were used to examine nutrient removal within sediment layers. The results indicated that accumulated nutrients remobilised into the inflow (ambient) surface water and that the sediment capacity for nutrient retention decreased as the wetlands aged.
Finally, Chapter 3.3 assesses the extent of groundwater quality deterioration due to the establishment...
