The links below provide an outline of the material for this lesson. Be sure to carefully read through the entire lesson before returning to Canvas to submit your assignments.
In Lesson 8, there is one primary Learning Objectives and one Assignment (8.1) beyond the required readings. You will continue to review aspects of water infrastructure, with a focus on wastewater treatment. With the second Learning Objective, you will choose a scientific or technical paper or report and conduct a peer-review critique. As mentioned in Lesson 7, Quiz 3 will evaluate your understanding of the water infrastructure systems covered, as well as the use and demand of water by sometimes competing human needs.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
This lesson is one week in length. Please refer to the Course Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates. To finish this lesson, you must complete the activities listed below.
Requirements | Assignment Details | Access/Directions |
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To Watch |
Watch/Read through the Lecture 8.1 - Wastewater PowerPoint File. |
Registered students can access the Microsoft PowerPoint files under Lesson 8 in Canvas. |
To Read |
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To Do |
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If you have any questions, please post them to our Questions? discussion forum located under Orientation and Resources in Canvas. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.
Can we afford clean water? Can we afford rivers and lakes and streams and oceans, which continue to make life possible on this planet? Can we afford life itself? … These questions answer themselves.
Senator Edmund Muskie (1972)
as quoted by James R. Karr and Ellen W. Chu
The three seemingly unrelated topics addressed in Lesson 8 do have some connections. The one that comes to mind is the historic perspective. Humans have always used natural waters to help dispose of their wastes. The phrase – the solution to pollution is dilution – comes to mind. We’ve used energy, initially fire, to cook food and sterilize water to make it potable. And, bodies of water have always provided us ways to transport people and things from place to place, or from source to market. But setting history aside momentarily, let’s consider current and future aspects of the three topics. The informational materials provided focus on competing demands and searching for efficiencies as we consider the future of freshwater demands and uses.
In Lesson 7, you learned about treating water sufficiently to make it potable. In Lesson 8, another set of treatment options for wastewater are available to decontaminate water once it has been used. Again, numerous options are available, some standard, some specialized, depending on the type and degree of contamination. You should be able to recognize and describe briefly the more common methods for treating wastewater. The readings from the text and the Lecture 8 - Wastewater Lecture (PPTX) will cover those processes. Additioanlly, you will understand key methods for water demand and water management.
Holden (2020) –Horan, Chapter 8 – Potable water and wastewater treatment (p.290-322)
Holden (2020) – McDonald & Mitchell, Chapter 9 - Water Demand planning and Management (p.323-350)
There are sources beyond the text to provide you with current perspectives on how the production of energy is intensely dependent upon water – primarily freshwater withdrawals. I have listed two of those sources on this page. The objective here is not to become energy experts, but to become aware of the often conflicting demands we place on limited supplies of freshwater. First, quickly review the Microsoft PowerPoint (converted to a PDF file) prepared by Diana Glassman (2011) as a summary of her report for the World Policy Institute on the water-energy nexus. It provides good visuals on the demands that energy production places on water resources. Next, peruse the U.S. Department of Energy report (2014, Executive Summary). I call your attention to Figure 2 (p.3), which plots freshwater withdrawals over time for energy versus other major uses (irrigation and livestock, public and domestic supplies, industrial uses). Also, examine the complex, two-page Figure 6 (p.6-7) that portrays energy flows through various systems. Finally, Figure 9 (p.10) is an impressive attempt to integrate water-energy-land dynamics – certainly “food” for thought.
As I have mentioned before, humans have used natural waterways to transport themselves and their goods since our beginnings. Watercraft like non-motorized rafts, canoes, and primitive sailing vessels were used long before roads and railroads were built. In modern times, barges ply rivers with heavy loads, and supertankers haul phenomenal tonnage across the oceans from harbor to harbor.
The objective for this section is simply to become aware of the extensive infrastructure and engineering expertise needed to maintain waterways for commercial and industrial transport. All I ask of you for this section is to explore the website of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, one of the oldest governmental agencies in the U.S., and be familiar with their navigation mission. That is the only quiz question I will ask you on this topic.
Once freshwater is used for a particular purpose, it often needs to be considered as wastewater and treated to water quality standards. Thus, for this lesson, you have become familiar with multiple treatment strategies to "clean" contaminated waters. Water uses often involve tradeoffs and competition. You should be able to explain the basics of these treatment approaches.
Don't forget to complete Quiz 3. The quiz will cover material from lessons 7 and 8, so you should take the quiz after completing all of the activities for Lesson 8. Registered students can access Quiz 3 under Lesson 8 in Canvas. (See the Calendar in Canvas for specific due dates.)
You have reached the end of Lesson 8! Double check the to-do list on the Lesson 8 Overview [3] page to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there before you begin Lesson 9.