Show/hide contentOpenClose All
Curricular information is subject to change
On completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Critically assess current research in the area of water quality monitoring: extract, through literature and data search, information pertinent to a given water quality issue.
2. Describe important parameters of water quality, distinguish between drinking, surface and wastewater standards with reference to relevant Irish and EU legislation.
3. Describe and compare main methods for measuring water pollutants; analyse and interpret water quality data.
4. Explain and differentiate between the unit operations of water and wastewater treatment facilities; select appropriate unit processes to achieve specific treatment requirements.
5. Model simplified systems to using mass balances to understand and predict contaminant transport in water treatment plants and in the landscape.
The module content is as follows:
1. Introduction
Convert concentrations of individual species into common constituent units
Differentiate between different water sources and the relative advantages & disadvantages of each.
Distinguish between point and diffuse sources of pollution
2. Water quality parameters and literature review
Understand the main parameters used to evaluate water quality
Understand key stages of carrying out a literature review
How to use a database (OneSearch)
How to use reference management software (Mendeley)
3. EU legislation and water treatment
Outline EU legislation for water quality
Understand differences in quality standards for drinking, bathing, wastewater and water for re-use
Understand physical-chemical processes involved in water treatment
Carry out calculations to estimate treatment parameters
4. Data analysis on water quality parameters (based on open-source data provided by EPA): workshop
5. Physical and biological processes
Use the law of conservation of mass to write a mass balance that includes rate of chemical production or disappearance.
Differentiate batch reactors, completed mixed flow reactors, and plug-flow reactors.
Relate a reactor’s retention time to reactor volume and flow.
Use 1-3 to model the movement of pollutants through the environment
Understand microbial growth and death curves
6. Wastewater treatment part 1
Design a grit chamber
Design a primary settling tank
7. Wastewater treatment part 2
Integrate mass balances with biological growth kinetics to develop design equations for secondary treatment
Determine levels of treated wastewater that can safely be put in a river
8. Hydrology
Estimate surface runoff from changing land use
Understand physical mechanisms of infiltration
Estimate infiltration using a variety of models
| Student Effort Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 20 |
| Tutorial | 6 |
| Specified Learning Activities | 26 |
| Autonomous Student Learning | 50 |
| Total | 102 |
It would be advantageous if students have studied engineering or science subjects and have a proficiency in mathematics.
| Description | Timing | Component Scale | % of Final Grade | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exam (In-person): 1 hour closed-book end-of-trimester exam (last Monday of trimester) | n/a | Graded | Yes | 60 |
|
| Assignment(Including Essay): Data analysis and report on comparative assessment of water quality parameters based on EPA's open-source data from water quality monitoring stations across Ireland | n/a | Graded | Yes | 20 |
|
| Group Work Assignment: Literature review on water quality parameters: sources, measurements, and consequences | n/a | Graded | Yes | 20 |
| Resit In | Terminal Exam |
|---|---|
| Spring | Yes - 1 Hour |
• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
Feedback provided mid semester