Water Resources and Pollution Control - 2019 entry

With the global population expanding rapidly, wastewater management and the provision of clean drinking water to people across the world will become an increasingly challenging and important pursuit in the coming decades.


This module will acquaint you with current practices in water quality management, including the operational principles of water and wastewater treatment plants.  You will learn about the water cycle, methods of treating polluted water so it can be reused, water behavior and flows, water-borne diseases and methods of disinfection, and ways of building sustainable systems.  Water quality is strictly regulated by most countries, and so it is imperative that engineers around the world continually improve methods of ensuring a safe supply.

This module covers a wide range of topics, but its principle aims include introducing you to the water cycle, flow and quality on natural systems. It is also designed to show you how proper engineering design can protect the hydraulic system, and how engineers can help to overcome the growing problem of water scarcity by designing sustainable drainage systems.

This is a constituent module of one or more degree programmes which are accredited by a professional engineering institution under licence from the Engineering Council. The learning outcomes for this module have been mapped to the output standards required for an accredited programme, as listed in the current version of the Engineering Council’s ‘Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes’ document (AHEP-V3).

This module contributes to learning outcomes: SM1m-SM6m, EA1m-EA6m, D2m-D6m, ET4m, ET5m, EP3m, EP4m, EP9m, G1m-G4m

A full list of the referenced outcomes is provided online: http://intranet.exeter.ac.uk/emps/subjects/engineering/accreditation/

The AHEP document can be viewed in full on the Engineering Council’s website, at http://www.engc.org.uk/

On successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge: SM1m-SM6m, EA1m-EA6m, D2m-D6m, EP3m

1. Demonstrate a critical awareness of current water management problems.

2. Understand traditional/local approaches of less conventional water management techniques and the ability to evaluate them critically and to apply them effectively.

3. Understand natural water cycle, flow and quality variability and how to analyse the hydrological cycle then judge how much water could be abstracted from a water source. Additionally, comprehend the operational principles of drinking water and wastewater treatment plants, dynamics of treatment processes and design guidance.

4. Able to apply computational techniques for quantifying overland flows and to assess their limitations.

5. Use fundamental knowledge on treatment processes to develop preliminary designs of resource efficient treatment solutions.

6. Apply engineering techniques taking account of a range of commercial and industrial constraints.

Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge: SM2m, SM3m, D2m, D3m, ET4m, ET5m, EP4m, EP9m

7. Apply complex equations to do hydraulic calculations.

8. Understand linkages between urban water flows, socio-economic interactions and health implications, and the ability to evaluate them critically and to apply them effectively, including in engineering projects.

9. Understand design processes (for various stages of treatment including primary and secondary biological treatment) and methodologies then be able to apply and adapt them in unfamiliar situations.

10. Able to generate an innovative preliminary design for urban water systems to fulfil new needs.

11. Show awareness that engineers need to take account of the commercial and social contexts in which they operate.

12. Understand management and business practices, their limitations, and how these may be applied in the context of water management.

13. Demonstrate awareness of relevant regulatory requirements (e.g. water quality standards and guidelines, EU water framework directive) governing engineering (water management/treatment).

14. Understand current practices and their limitations, showing appreciation of likely new developments for resource efficient water management.

Personal and Key Transferable / Employment Skills and Knowledge: G1m-G4m

15. Apply skills in problem solving, communication, information retrieval, working with others, and the effective use of general IT facilities.

16. Plan self-learning and improve performance, as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD.

17. Monitor and adjust a personal programme of work on an on-going basis.

18. Prove independence and self-direction in problem solving and decision making.

19. Exercise initiative and personal responsibility in professional practice.

20. Illustrate effective communication skills using a variety of commonly available media and techniques

- water uses: domestic, agricultural, industrial;

- reasons for use;

- patterns of use;

- quality requirements;

- water resources:- global, continental and local balances;

- rainfall variations, temporal, spatial, duration and intensity;

- frequency analysis;

- hydrological system:- rainfall, evapo-transpiration, run-off, base-flow, streamflow, water quality:- dissolved and suspended substances, conservative and non-conservative components, BOD, COD, TOC; 

- constraints on water quality in nautural systems and public water supply;

- water quality modelling:- BOD decay, re-aeration, Streeter-Phelps, other water quality models;

- water related diseases:- relationship to water cycle;

- viruses, bacteria, fungi, helminths etc; 

- modes of disease transmission;

- water treatment and disinfection:- suspended solids removal, coagulation, filtration, disinfection, pH adjustment; 

- sustainable urban drainage – basic processes and configurations.

If a module is normally assessed entirely by coursework, all referred/deferred assessments will normally be by assignment.

If a module is normally assessed by examination or examination plus coursework, referred and deferred assessment will normally be by examination. For referrals, only the examination will count, a mark of 40% being awarded if the examination is passed. For deferrals, candidates will be awarded the higher of the deferred examination mark or the deferred examination mark combined with the original coursework mark.

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk

Reading list for this module:

Mays, L. Water Resources Engineering, 2nd ed, Wiley 2011. ISBN: 978-0470460641

Gray N F Water Technology, Arnold 1999. ISBN: 000-0-340-67645-0

Tebbutt, T.H.Y Principles of Water Quality Control, Butterworth Heinemann 1998. ISBN: 000-0-750-63658-0

Linsley, R.K., Franzini, J.B, Freyberg, D.L. and Tchobanoglous, G Water Resources Engineering, McGrawHill 1992. ISBN: 0-071-12689-9

Mihelcic, J R, Zimmerman, J B. Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals, sustainability, design. John Wiley and Sons 2009. ISBN: 978-0470165058

Reading list for this module: