Browsing by Subject "Water quality management"
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Item Development and utilization of procedures to monitor E. coli in constructed wetlands(Texas Tech University, 1998-12) Hill, Barry TrentWastewater treatment is a concern that becomes increasingly important each passing year with increases in the size and level of industrialization of the world's population. Scientists have realized the same microbiological processes involved in the industrialized process of wastewater treatment occur naturally in wetlands. Constructed wetlands offer enormous potential as an alternative method for treating wastewater. This wastewater poses a potentially serious health threat because of pathogenic microorganisms commonly found in such water. For scientist and engineers to learn to utilize constructed wetlands to their full potential, effective methods to monitor the water for the potential presence of pathogenic microbiological organisms are needed. Traditional methods for this purpose have shortcomings that inhibit the monitoring process. The development of effective new procedures for this purpose would be a benefit to public health. This research develops a technique to track levels of E. coli through a constructed wetland. Various media were screened to find which was most effective, and proper culture conditions had to be determined. These finding made it possible to use an automated approach to monitor E. coli levels in a constructed wetland. Levels of E. coli were monitored because this organism is best suited to indicate the potential presence of pathogens. In addition, E. coli is an emerging pathogen that is an important concern to public health.Item Recreational reuse potential of percolated municipal wastewater(Texas Tech University, 1975-12) Headstream, MarciaImpending water shortages through the southwestern United States have provided the impetus for the conception and implementation of various water reuse plans. A leader in this area is Lubbock, Texas. The city has been using its treated municipal effluent for irrigation purposes for over 35 years and is now in the process of making a second reuse of the wastewater. A series of recreational lakes being built in Yellowhouse Canyon, north and east of the city, will be fed with reclaimed percolated effluent. Recognizing the potential problems inherent in recreational reuse projects, the City of Lubbock enlisted the help of the Texas Tech University Water Resources Center in an advisory capacity. With the aid of an Office of. Water Research and Technology, Department of the Interior grant, a model of the Canyon Lakes Project consisting of nine common-wall concrete tanks was built on the University's farm land. The make-up water for the ponds was recovered percolated effluent of comparable quality to that which will be used in the actual project. The model system provided an excellent opportunity for ascertaining the suitability of reclaimed percolated municipal wastewater for recreational purposes, as well as an opportunity for more clearly defining the role of phosphorus in an aquatic environment. Researchers conducted studies relative to water quality, algal growth and control, suitability of the water for fish life and recreational contact, critical phosphorus levels, and the factors affecting the availability of phosphorus for algal growth. The results obtained from the study not only will be of value to the City of Lubbock in helping them to maintain an aesthetically pleasing system of lakes but also will be applicable to the successful operation of other warm water impoundments in the southern United States.Item The effect of irrigation demand forecasting on the optimal operation of the Elephant Butte-Caballo Reservoir System(Texas Tech University, 1973-12) Carter, Curtis KendallNot availableItem Wastewater expenditure effects on in-stream bacteria pollution in the Rio Grande / Río Bravo post-NAFTA : evidence from panel data estimations(2014-08) Torres, Adam Jared; Stolp, Chandler; Olmstead, Sheila M.The United States and Mexico share responsibility in preserving the quality of their international river system, the Rio Grande / Río Bravo, and several international treaties govern the quantity of water each country must give and take. Because no treaty establishes joint standards for the quality of the river, the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) was created in 1993 as a declaration of principles and objectives concerning the conservation and the protection of the environment as well as a guide of concrete measures to further cooperate on these matters. One particular goal of the NAAEC was to improve water quality in the US-Mexico Border Region, ensuring a clean, safe, and reliable water supply for the area. Although the US and Mexican federal governments have made substantial technical and financial commitments through binational agencies like the North American Development Bank (NADB) and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC), few empirical studies have assessed the impact of binational expenditures on wastewater infrastructure in this region. This report uses longitudinal panel data regression models to estimate the impact of capital expenditures on water quality made by binational, federal, and state water quality management institutions from 1995 to 2012. This analysis considers expenditures made on both sides of the Rio Grande watershed that constitutes the international border, beginning with El Paso, Texas and ending in the Gulf of Mexico.