2022 WaTER Conference Program

WaTER Center Directors

Jim F. Chamberlain, Ph.D., P.E., BCEE Staff Engineer

Yang Hong, Ph.D.

CEES Professor and Director of Hydrology and Water Security

Robert C. Knox , Ph.D., P.E. CEES Professor

Randall L. Kolar, Ph.D., P.E. CEES Director and Professor

Robert W. Nairn, Ph.D., BCES

CEES Professor and CREW Director

Jason R. Vogel, Ph.D., P.E.

CEES Professor and Oklahoma Water Survey Director

WaTER Center Staff

Amanda Nairn

WaTER Center Conference Chair

Donna Wylie WaTER Center Staff Assistant

Conference Sponsors

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND ENVI RONMEN TAL SCIENCE ENGINEERING OF THE PRESIDENT and Perry C. Chair

Co-creating a wastewater epidemiology-based risk communication frameworkT.SMITH (University of Louisville, School of Medicine)

Challenges and Opportunities for Implementing Wastewater-Based Epidemiology with Tribal CommunitiesDRIVER (ArizonaState University)

Wastewater Monitoring as a Surveillance and Outbreak Detection Tool for Foodborne Pathogens in OklahomaKUHN (University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center)

Multi-pathogen sanitation system surveillance in low and middle income countries: A systematic review and metaanalysisB. SMITH (University of Louisville School of Medicine)

Preparing for hydrologic extremes through anticipatory actions BLOCK (University of Wisconsin)

Evaluation of merging method for CHIRP satellite rainfall estimate over Wabi Shebelle River Basin, Ethiopia TADESSE (African Center for Water Excellence Management)

Cross examines the precipitation products by the rain gauge, remote sensing, and WRF simulations over a South American region across the Andes - CHEN (University of Oklahoma)

Transforming Water and Wastewater Services

Methodology Savannah RegionAPAMBIRE (DesertBERGMANN

A lead (Pb) Madagascar: Technology Converge an Informal Hand Pump MarketBUERCK (University of South Florida)

Engineering With Nature for Comprehensive ResilienceBRIDGES (US Army Corp of Engineers)

Surveying Microbes from a Mine Drainage Treatment Bioreactor with Cultivation and Genetic TechniquesOLSON (University of Oklahoma)

Passive Treatment of Artesian Net Acid Mine Drainage in the Western Interior Coal FieldBEHUM (Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement)

Tracking Operation & Maintenance of Piped Water Systemsthrough Custom Water ConsolesDEAL AND SESAY (Water4)

Effectiveness of Uv-Disinfection Against Cercaria At Selected Wavelength Using Uv-Leds For Schistosomiasis ControlDESALEGN (Addis Ababa University)

Using leaky tins to improve community health in rural TanzaniaMACOLOO (World Neighbors)

Using GIS to Identify Suitable Areas for Sustainable Drainage Systems for Floodplain and Stream Channel Mitigation in Stillwater, OK - SEAGO (University of Oklahoma)

Development and evaluation of a hybrid constructed wetland for greywater treatment and reuse in rural areaMAIGA (University of Joseph KI-ZERBO)

Conceptual passive treatment system to remediate mine drainage in a hydrologically and topographically challenging locationSHEPHERD (University of Oklahoma)

Teaching Water Sustainability: Pedagogical Strategies for Higher Education - CHAMBERLAIN (University of Oklahoma)

Deliberative Public Engagement to Address Water Resource Issues: Cases From the Southern and Southwestern United States - RICHARDS (University of Arkansas Little Rock)

Providing Information that Matters: An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Different Areas of Educational Content on Recycled Water Knowledge and Acceptance - TANNER (University of Oklahoma)

Services

Abrupt Drought Pluvial Transitions: Patterns, Trends and Causes - ZONG-LIANG YANG (University of Texas)

Inter-seasonal relationships of land surface variables across Europe - MESHESKE (University of Oklahoma)

Flash droughts in a Changing Climate across the central United States - CHRISTIAN (University of Oklahoma)

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022 - Banquet Schedule

END 6:30 CST 6:45 CST 7:00 CST 7:35 CST 7:50 CST 8:00 CST 8:10 CST 8:55 CST 9:00 CST

Viewing of the First Americans Museum

Welcome

Robert Nairn, Ph.D. and Dean John Klier, Ph.D.

InterTribal Pow Wow Dancers

Dinner

STARTEVENT 5:30 CST 6:35 CST 6:45 CST 7:00 CST 7:35 CST 7:50 CST 8:00 CST 8:10 CST 8:55 CST

Recognition of David Sabatini, founder of the OU WaTER Center and OU International Water Prize, Jim F. Chamberlain, Ph.D.

Water Prize Process Randall L. Kolar, Ph.D.

Introduction of International WaTER Prize Winner Associate Vice President of Tribal Relations, Tana Fitzpatrick, J.D.

WaTER Prize Plenary Lecture Dawn Martin-Hill, Ph.D.

Closing Comments Robert C. Knox, Ph.D.

2022 University of Oklahoma International WaTER Conference

START 8:30 CST 9:15 CST 9:22 CST 9:29 CST 9:36 CST 9:43 CST 9:50 CST 9:57 CST 10:04 CST 10:11 CST 10:15 CST 10:40 CST 11:05 CST 11:25 CST 11:30 CST 11:37 CST 11:44 CST 11:51 CST 11:58 CST 12:05 CST 12:12 CST 12:19 CST 1:00 CST

END 9:15 CST 9:22 CST 9:29 CST 9:36 CST 9:43 CST 9:50 CST 9:57 CST 10:04 CST 10:11 CST 10:15 CST 10:35 CST 11:00 CST 11:25 CST 11:30 CST 11:37 CST 11:44 CST 11:51 CST 11:58 CST 12:05 CST 12:12 CST 12:19 CST 12:25 CST 1:30 CST

Enhancing resilience of communities TINDIMUGAYA (Ministry

1-Examining The Connection Between Water Security, Mental 2-Sustainable Reuse of Mine Drainage 3-Exploring cost, environmental impacts, and 4-Monitoring Drought through the Lens 5-Trust factor as a 6-Identifying disparities in interventions

7-Addition of Sorptive Amendments to Address Leachability 8-A Comparative Analysis of Ecosystem

Assessing the impacts of climate projections and variability on the Upper Washita River alluvial aquifer, streams (base flows), and Foss Reservoir, western OklahomaLABRIOLA (U.S, GeologicalSurvey)

The US is projected to become more prone to flash floods in a high-end emissions scenario - LI (University of Oklahoma)

Quantification of the Impacts of Non-Stationary Climate on Water Resources and Mitigation Strategies: Case-StudiesSARKAR (Halff and Associates)

EVENT KEYNOTE 5 SESSION 4 SESSION 5 SESSION 6 S5a-Climate Change and Hydrology Extremes-Pierre Kirstetter

9-Understanding Long-Term Effects of Dam Removal 10-Removal of Constituents of Emerging Concern 11-Management of Seawater Intrusion in 12-Classification of Iron Oxyhydroxides 13-Distributed hydrologic modeling of extreme 14-Removal of Nutrients and Phenolic Compounds from 15-Investigate the response of food-energy-water systems to climatic

communities to climate change through a catchment based integrated management approach in Uganda(Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda)-Climate Change and Hydrology Extremes

POSTER SESSION-Robert C. Knox

Mental Wellness, and Resilience Among Indigenous Populations: A Scoping Review - ALLISON AU-YEUNG (Mc Master University)

Drainage Residuals for Phosphorus Management - DAYTON M. DORMAN (University of Oklahoma) and efficacy of point-ofuse water disinfection technologies - BRIGHT CARL ELIJAH (Georgia Southern University)

Lens of Landsat: Drying of Rivers During the California Droughts - SHANG GAO (University of Oklahoma) a predictor of acceptance of recycled water - GWEN HOANG (University of Oklahoma) interventions to increase public acceptance of recycled water - DANA MAHMOUD (University of Oklahoma) of Trace Metals from Hard Rock Mine Drainage Passive Treatment Residual Solids - JUSTINE I. MCCANN (University of Oklahoma) Ecosystem Service Valuation Tools For the Economic Analysis of Nature - ALISSA MEEK (University of Oklahoma)

TRANSITION TIME

S5b-Water Challenges for Underserved PopulationsJim F. Chamberlain

Sun Water - Rural African Solar-Powered Water Distribution. Three-Village Case Study: Challenges and Solutions from CameroonDEAL AND LENDZEMO (Global Hope Network International)

Application of Hybrid Solar Powered Electrocoagulation and Electrooxidation System for Textile Wastewater TreatmentASFAHA (Addis Ababa University)

Explainable AI to understand drivers behind water-conserving behaviors - BEDLE (University of Oklahoma)

TRANSITION TIME

POSTER SESSION-Robert C. Knox

S5c-WASH-Philip Deal

The West Africa Well Owner Network (WAWON) - An Environmental Education Program for Private Well Owners in Wet Africa - MANSARAY (Oklahoma State University)

Water Resources Management in the South-West Region of Bangladesh and the Trans-boundary Cooperation in the Ganges Basin - HOQUE (Bangladesh University)

CANCELLED

The domestic application of international development project best practices and principlesSTROSNIDER (University of South Carolina)

Removal on Riparian Ecosystems: A Preliminary Engineering With Nature Study - CHEYENNE MORGAN (University of Oklahoma) from Secondarily Treated Wastewater Effluent using Wetland Mesocosms - OLIVIA OVERTON (University of Oklahoma) a Coastal Aquifer: An analytical Solution for a Radial Well - BAHAA-ELDIN EA ELWALI (University of Malaya) Oxyhydroxides and Reuse for Stormwater Treatment - SAMANTHA TAYLOR (University of Oklahoma) extreme flooding under climate change in the Mvskoke (Muskogee) Nation - THERESA TSOODLE (University of Oklahoma) from Coffee Processing Industrial Effluent Using Constructed Wetland - THEONESTE TWAGIRUMUHIRE (Addis Ababa University) climatic extremes in Northeast and Midwest of US from the perspective of water resources - JIAQI ZHANG (University of Oklahoma)

RESERVED TIME

LUNCH BREAK

...CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE...

2022 University of Oklahoma International WaTER Conference

START 1:15 CST 2:00 CST 2:05 CST 2:30 CST 2:55 CST 3:15 CST 3:20 CST 3:45 CST 4:05 CST

END 2:00 CST 2:05 CST 2:25 CST 2:50 CST 3:15 CST 3:20 CST 3:40 CST 4:05 CST 4:25 CST 4:25 CST

EVENT KEYNOTE 6 SESSION 7 SESSION 8

Warrior Science, Kayanní:yo (A Good Path) of Water

S7a-Advances in Drought Monitoring, Modeling, and PredictionJeff Basara

Anthropogenic Drought: Definition and Modeling FrameworksAGHAKOUCHAK (University of California Irvine)

Performance Assessment of Interpolation Techniques for Optimal Areal Rainfall-Temperature Estimation. The Case of Two Contrasting River Catchments - BATI (Addis Ababa University)

Evaluation of factors affecting the quality of citizen science rainfall data in Akaki catchment - TEDLA (Addis Ababa University)

S8a-Engineering With NatureRobert Nairn

Nutrient mass balance for an integrated resource recovery system in Costa Rica - ALDAACH (West Virginia University)

Ecosystem Metabolism as a Tool to Evaluate Conservation Easement Success in the Horse Creek Watershed of the Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, Oklahoma - WILCOX (University of Oklahoma)

Water Security for Haudenosaunee - MARTIN-HILL (McMaster University)-Water Challenges for Underserved Populations

RESERVED TIME

S7b-Water Challenges for Underserved PopulationsJim F. Chamberlain

An innovative spring capture method for improved water qualityTEN PAS and WILDSCHUT (Calvin University)

Enhanced ciprofloxacin removal from aqueous solution using a chemically modified biochar derived from bamboo sawdust: Adsorption process optimization with response surface methodology - WAKEJO (Addis Ababa University)

Assisting Small, Disadvantaged Community Water Systems in Texas- Filling the Gap with TAWWA VolunteersWALDEN (Texas Section AWWA)

TRANSITION TIME

S8b-Aging Water and Wastewater Infrastructure SystemsKendra Dresback

Solar based water purification system for household wastewater treatment - AWASTHI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute)

Retrofitting conventional treatment plants due to changing source water quality in India - LABHASETWAR (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute)

FINAL NETWORKING

ADJOURN CONFERENCE

S7c-Aging Water and Wastewater Infrastructure SystemsRobert Nairn

Integrated surface-subsurface modeling of a low-head dam to enhance aquifer recharge - EUSTACE (Iowa State University)

Performance of Modified Trickling Filter in Removing Conventional and Emerging Pollutants from Urban Sewage: On-Site Evaluation in New Delhi, IndiaSHUKLA (University of Oklahoma)

Improved Model for water Infrastructure DeliveryNKWONTA (Mangosuthu University of Technology)

Prize Winner

Dawn Martin-Hill

The effects of colonization often outlast one group’s colonial rule. Provision of infrastructure and essential services can be highly uneven, favoring the wealthy and members of the preferred colonial (settler) class. One urban indig enous reserve in Canada – surrounded by modern cities such as Toronto – has little or no access to clean running water. As recently as February 2021, yet another boil water advisory was issued for this reserve, unthinkable in such a highly prosperous nation.

Haudenosaunee (hoe-dee-no-SHOW-nee) is a tribal name which means “people who build a house.” Locat ed along the banks of the Grand River, Six Nations is demographically the largest First Nations reserve in Can ada and is the only reserve in North America where all six Haudenosaunee nations live together. The reservation has about 13,000 residents living on an 18,800-hectare territory near Brantford, Ontario.

Dawn Martin-Hill is an Indigenous (Haudenosaunee) woman from Six Nations of the Grand River. She is also a cultural anthropologist and associate professor at Mc Master University and, importantly, a mother who has raised her girls in a home with no running water. She says: “Our entire way of life is governed by water – it is spiritual, it is cultural, it is our identity. When you take that away from us, you are literally taking away our culture.” Such a connection between ecosystems and human cul ture is lacking in Western colonial ways of thinking.

Researchers have found high levels of mercury in the drinking water of the Six Nations and only 12% of the

population has access to a nearby state-of-the-art water treatment plant which services nearby settler populations (Phare 2021). Thus far there has been no wastewater treatment plant built at all. Especially during the recent pandemic, clean water is needed to maintain hygiene. To meet basic needs, indigenous communities use cistern water (often contaminated), while communities across the road are provided with safe tap water.

Dr. Martin-Hill has played a big part in the “Co-Creation of Knowledge”, the integration of western science and in digenous knowledge as a core component of the Global Water Futures (GWF) research program. Co-creation of indigenous water quality tools have been designed “with the community and for the community”. She continues: “I hope that our research can show people how two ways of knowing can come together to solve problems.” Her research examines the sources of water contamination on both Six Nations and the Lubicon Cree in Alberta. The three-year project will study the health impacts of water quality on people and animals that live in both commu nities. Her work is in water as relation, not utility alone.

Dawn is committed to understanding how water quality and security are linked to Indigenous community culture, livelihood, and health, all important in pursuit of future water security.

Dawn Martin-Hill is the recipient of the 2022 OU International Water Prize

Keynote Speakers

Aondover Tarhule

Dr. Aondover Tarhule is the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and for Illinois State University. Pri or to this recent appointment, Dr. Tarhule served as Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School at Bingham ton University, part of the state universities of New York. While at Binghamton, he has facilitated the creation of new degree programs, developed new international partnerships, and implemented several major innovations to data and workflow software.

A physical geographer, Tarhule’s work on climate im pacts on water scarcity and security has been featured in National Geographic and Nature. His scholarly research has appeared in prestigious international journals and book chapters. His efforts as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI have resulted in more than $5 million in grants from such agencies as the National Science Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development, the National Institute of Health, and the United States Geo logical Survey.

Tarhule served on the committees of prominent national and international organizations, including as a consul

tant for the World Bank for the Niger Basin Development Authority, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research College of Mentors; and on the Board on Oceans, Atmosphere, and Climate for the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities. He was also an edi torial board member for the Scientific World Journal and the African Geographical Journal.

Tarhule has served as the Executive Associate Dean of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, Norman. He also served as department chair, transforming the geography department into the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustain ability. His efforts as chair included establishing three new degrees, quadrupling enrollments, and growing fulltime faculty by 80 percent.

Tarhule earned a doctorate in geography from McMas ter University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He earned a master’s degree in environmental resources planning and a bachelor’s degree in geography from the Universi ty of Jos, Plateau State, in Nigeria.

Keynote Speakers

Ana P. Barros

Ana Paula Barros is an African-born American civil and environmental engineer currently serving as the Donald Biggar Willett Chair of Engineering and Department Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Uni versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

She is an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an Elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. In 2019 she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for “con tributions to understanding and prediction of precipitation dynamics and flood hazards in mountainous terrains”.

Prior to joining the University of Illinois, Professor Barros was the James L. Meriam Professor of Civil and Environ mental Engineering at Duke University.

Professor Ana Barros was born in Africa, grew up in An gola and Portugal, and has lived almost all of her adult life in the United States. She attended the Faculty of Engi neering of the University of O’Porto where she obtained a summa cum laude Diploma in Civil Engineering with majors in Structures and Hydraulics in 1985, and a M.Sc. degree in Ocean Engineering in 1988 with a thesis focus ing on numerical modeling of sediment transport in estu aries and coastal regions. In 1990, Dr. Barros completed and M.Sc. degree in Environmental Science Engineering at the OHSU/OGI School of Science and Engineering.

She earned a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle in 1993.

Dr. Barros was on the engineering faculty at the Univer sity of Porto, Penn State University, and Harvard Univer sity before joining Duke University in 2004. Her primary research interests are in Hydrology, Hydrometeorology and Environmental Physics with a focus on water-cycle processes in the coupled land-atmosphere-biosphere sys tem particularly in regions of complex terrain, the study of multi-scale interface phenomena in complex environments across the Earth Sciences, remote sensing of the environ ment (precipitation, clouds, soil moisture, and vegetation), climate predictability, extreme events and risk assess ment of natural hazards. Prof. Barros is especially proud of having involved dozens of students in undergraduate research, a great majority of which continued their stud ies to earn graduate degrees in science and engineering. Over recent years her work has focused on precipitation processes including microphysics and dynamics or oro graphic precipitation, and land-atmosphere interactions in mountainous regions from the Himalayas to the An des and the Southern Appalachians including Land-Use Land-Cover Change impacts on regional climate. Her research relies on intensive field and laboratory exper iments, large–scale computational modeling, nonlinear data analysis and environmental informatics.

Keynote Speakers

Merrell-Ann Phare

Merrell-Ann Phare is a lawyer, writer, strategist, negotiator and relationship-builder who has worked extensively in and with indigenous organizations on environmental, land, water, rights and governance issues. She, along with ten First Nation Chiefs, was the founding Executive Director of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Re sources (CIER), a national First Nation charitable envi ronmental organization.

As Chief Negotiator for the Government of the Northwest Territories, Ms. Phare lead the negotiation of transbound ary water agreements in the Mackenzie River Basin and the creation of Thaidene Nene, a national and territorial park in the east arm of Great Slave Lake, the deepest lake in North America at 614 meters in depth.

She is the author of the book “Denying the Source: the Crisis of First Nations Water Rights” and co-author of “Ethical Water”. She is a member of Smart Prosperity, the Forum for Leadership on Water and is a recipient of the Clean 50 Award. She is legal counsel and advisor to a number of First Nation governments and regularly speaks on governance, water, and rights issues. Merrell-Ann is also the co-host of Porcupine, a podcast on reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians.

Ms. Phare holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (Envi ronmental) Bachelor of Laws, Master of Law (Aboriginal Water Rights and International Trade Law) from the Uni versity of Manitoba a Master of Fine Arts (Creative Writ ing) from University of British Columbia.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Upmanu Lall

Dr. Upmanu Lall is the Director of the Columbia Water Center and the Alan and Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering, and the Chair of the Dept. of Earth & En vironmental Engineering at Columbia University. He has broad interests in hydrology, climate dynamics, water resource systems analysis, risk management and sustain ability. He is motivated by challenging questions at the intersection of these fields, especially where they have relevance to societal outcomes or to the advancement of science towards innovative application.

Upmanu’s current research covers 3 major initiatives that are developed through the Columbia Water Center. The Global Water Sustainability Initiative addresses glob al water scarcity and risk. The Global Flood Initiative is motivated by the need to predict, mitigate and manage

floods at a global scale recognizing their climate drivers, and supply chain impacts. America’s Water seeks to de velop sustainable water management and infrastructure design paradigms for the 21st century recognizing the linkages between urban functioning, food, water, energy and climate. These programmatic initiatives are backed by research on systems level modeling of hydrology, cli mate, agronomy and economics.

Dr. Lall has pioneered the application of techniques from (a) nonlinear dynamical systems, (b) nonparamet ric methods of function estimation and their application to spatio-temporal dynamical systems, (c) Hierarchical Bayesian models, (d) systems optimization and simula tion and (e) the study of multi-scale climate variability and change as an integral component of hydrologic systems.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Callist Tindimugaya

Dr. Callist Tindimugaya is a Water Resources Specialist that has been working with the Ministry of Water and En vironment in Uganda for over 30 years. Currently, he is the Head of the Department for Water Resources Plan ning and Regulation with overall responsibility for ensur ing sustainable and equitable utilization and protection of water resources of Uganda. Callist has represented Uganda for over 15 years in international and trans boundary water resources programs and initiatives such as the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), Inter Government Au thority on Development (IGAD), and UNESCO’s Inter national Hydrological Program. He is also the Regional Coordinator of the Nile Basin Capacity Building network, established for building capacity in Integrated Water Re sources Management.

Callist received his doctoral degree from University Col lege London, where he studied the movement and stor age of groundwater in Ugandan aquifers. His research assessed two productive aquifers using environmental tracers and aquifer responses to hydraulic stress. Deple tion of groundwater storage over the last 8 years as a result of abstraction is indicated by water-level declines of 2.5 meters per year. A better understanding of the re lationship between the geomorphology and hydrogeol ogy of deeply weathered environments can help set real istic targets for water security in groundwater-dependent communities.

Status of water stress in Africa: insights from satellite gravity missions, in-situ, teleconnections, reanalysis, and modeling

Emad Hassan Center for Space Research, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA and Aondover Tarhule

Department of Geology, Geography, and the Environment Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois Tarhule@ilstu.edu

Hydroclimatic variability and human-induced activities have trigged significant shifts in water availability across the globe, including Africa. This research evaluates the water stress status in Africa’s water systems via hydrological records from satellite gravity missions (e.g., GRACE, and GRACE-FO), insitu observations, model reanalysis (e.g., ER5, NOAA CPC, and NCEP), and land surface model observations (e.g., WaterGAP, MERRA-2, CLM2.2, and NOAH 2.2). Evaluating the water stress status in Africa is critical because of Africa’s rapid population increases, urbanization, agricultural expansion, and vulnerability to climatic change. We illustrated the hydrological water stress and the related climatic extremes in Africa over the past century. We explored the relationships between various storage and flux components to climatic

teleconnections and atmospheric river (AR) indicators. We analyzed the magnitude, severity, intensity, timing, duration, and recurrence frequencies of various hydroclimatic extremes in the region. The results showed that (1) Between 2002 to 2021, several hydrologic systems have witnessed a substantial transition to wetter regimes. (2) A reanalysis records of the 100+ yearlong hydroclimatic series identified significant trends and multiple positive and negative runs of varying durations in the Nile, Niger, Chad, Volta, and Congo River. In contrast, the river systems in southern Africa i.e., Zambezi, Okavango, Limpopo, and Orange River Basins showed no trends and significantly less tendency to runs. Thestudy discusses the policy implications of these hydroclimatic patterns for water resources planning and management in the various regions.

Abstracts

The Current and Future State of Wastewater Monitoring

Megan Diamond The Rockefeller Foundation mdiamond@rockfound.org and Aparna Keshaviah Mathematica

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted weaknesses in public health infastructure and the need for new approaches to detect and contain pathogenic threats. Wastewater monitoring has proven to be an essential tool in the fight against COVID-19, building off decades of success in identifying poliovirus outbreaks. As we enter the next phase of the pandemic, there is increasing interest in expanding programs to look for multiple pathogns and concerning variants. But before the full

potential of wastewater monitoring is met, multiple hurdles must be overcome. Chiefly among those is how to integrate the data with other sources so it can be leveraged for public health action by decision makers in diverse contexts. In this talk, I will discuss findings from two wastewater readiness surveys, highlight trends in the field, and comment on what can be done to create scalable and sustainable wastewater monitoring programs around the world.

Abstracts

Wastewater-based Epidemiology for Tracking Attainment of UN Sustainable Development Goals

Sangeet Adhikari

School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA sadhik14@asu.edu and

Rolf U. Halden

School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment (Arizona State University), Biodesign Center for En vironmental Engineering (Arizona State University), OneWaterOneHealth (Nonprofit Project of the Arizona State University Foundation), Global Futures Laboratory (Arizona State University)

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) emerged as a powerful, actionable health management tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hypothesizing future uses, we explored its potential for real-time, tracking of progress in attaining United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally as a non-expensive and non-invasive method using existing infrastructure. We inventoried (i) literature- documented sewerage infrastructure, (ii) demographics of populations served, and (iii) WBE markers informative of 9 SDGs. Among the 17 different sustainable development goals listed by the UN 2030 agenda, more than half of these may be monitored

by using WBE monitoring at centralized treatment infrastructure as tabulated in this study. Driven mainly by COVID-19, WBE currently is practiced in at least 55 countries, reaching about 300 million people. Expansion of WBE to 109,000 + treatment plants inventoried in 129 countries would increase global coverage 9-fold to 34.7% or 2.7 billion, leaving out 5 billion people not served by centralized sewerage systems. This is the first study to explore the feasibility and potential barriers to the use of WBE for tracking the attainment of SDGs globally with at least 9 out of 17 SDGs.

Abstracts

Co-creating a wastewater epidemiology-based risk communication framework

Ted Smith Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, School of Medicine, University of Louisville ted.smith@louisville.edu and

Lauren B. Anderson

Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, School of Medicine, University of Louisville

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 has helped track community disease trends. Our presentation reviews the process used in Louisville, Kentucky, to develop a wastewater epidemiology-based risk communication framework to guide public health interventions during 2021 and 2022 through a “Playbook” developed for the Wastewater in Action Group supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. The Playbook is a record of the adaptive problem solving used to arrive at a risk communication framework that layered sewer monitoring data with traditional clinical data used by public health departments (clinical cases, vaccination rates, and key demographics). Additionally, it describes the necessary partnerships to complete this type of work and reviews the experiences from Louisville Metro-Jefferson County Government, University of Louisville, and the Metropolitan Sewer District during this period. Weekly wastewater samples were collected across a range of streetline locations and pump stations representing different neighborhood scales of the city, and treatment plants. These samples were collected by the sewer utility and analyzed at the academic laboratory. This data was distributed to the health department weekly via the risk communication framework which identified hotspots of COVID-19 infection and geographic targets for messaging interventions. Through framework co-creation, project activities iteratively centered around aligning wastewater data and clinical data, adjusting the risk framework according to health

department feedback, and coordinating interventions. The project presented several lessons learned which are described in the Playbook. For instance, wastewater surveillance data can specifically help public health departments to alert communities to increased COVID-19 prevalence, track spread, identify hotspots, guide individual behavioral choices, target public health messaging, inform efficient allocation of public health resources, inform infection control policies (e.g., limiting size of gatherings, building openings, and school modalities), and evaluate the success of interventions. However, it is important to meet with public health officials early and often to determine how wastewater results will be operationalized and to discuss interest for developing and implementing targeted communications interventions to increase participation in available public health services such as vaccination and testing. Ultimately, the Playbook will be included in the Louisville Metro COVID-19 response website and will be shared with the Kentucky State Department of Public Health and relevant public health leaders in other areas of Kentucky and the Rockefeller Foundation cities network forum. The Playbook offers as a model for wastewater-based epidemiology collaboration between academic and municipal partners that layers research, public health monitoring, and geographically targeted response interventions and it should be shared widely to ensure other cities may adopt relevant practices.

Heather Ness School of Public Health and Information Sciences, University of Louisville

Methodology for long-term sustainability of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services in the Savannah Region of Ghana

Braimah Apambire Desert Research Institute Braimah.Apambire@dri.edu and

Palistha Shrestha, Center for International Water and Sustainability, Desert Research Institute

Victoria Cuéllar, Center for International Water and Sustainability, Desert Research Institute

Small water systems often struggle to provide sustainable services over time because of inadequate funding, lack of qualified staff, and poor governance that undermine potential public health and socioeconomic gains. The Circuit Rider (CR) methodology addresses these challenges by training technicians, Circuit Riders (CRs), that provide technical, financial, and operational assistance to small rural water systems. The CR model has already been proven to increase the sustainability of small water systems in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The Desert Research Institute (DRI)’s Center for International Water and Sustainability (CIWAS) has adapted the CR methodology training program to help government, private sector, stakeholders, and NGOs in developing countries to improve their managerial, technical, and financial capabilities. In Ghana, CIWAS, along with the East Gonja Municipal Assembly (EGMA), the North East Gonja District Assembly (NEGDA), the North Gonja District Assembly (NGDA), and the University for Development Studies (UDS) have been working to adapt the CR methodology to support and address the needs of existing water infrastructure challenges in the three Districts. The program provided capacity building trainings for local Area Mechanics (AMs), who now act as Circuit Riders (CRs), to identify and establish sustainable solutions to challenges identified by CRs and community members. Additional training workshops have also been held in the three districts for people who serve various roles in the community Water and Sanitation Management teams (WSMT). WSMTs are basic community management units that are responsible for local

Solomon Minyila, Tamale, Ghana

Fati Alhassan, Tamale, Ghana

Issahaku Abdul-Rahaman, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

WASH implementation and management. The trainings covered a wide range of WASH topics that served as a refresher course and provided a unique opportunity for communities, CRs, and local professionals to interact and share ideas on the management of WASH facilities in their respective communities. Collaboration among key stakeholders is critical to ensure long term sustainability. In addition to these training efforts, baseline survey data was collected in three Districts that included a community household survey, partner member survey, and a circuit rider survey. For this study, a random selection of 2,105 households in 34 communities (each representing 10% of the population) were surveyed. Follow up microbiological water quality testing is currently in progress in the project area. Positive coliform contamination was recorded in almost all the households (more than 94%), while E. coli contamination was recorded in 60% of the households. These problems are being addressed by repairing boreholes, and conducting hygiene and behavior change awareness training in the affected communities. Next steps in the program implementation include collaborating with stakeholders and CRs to set fair pricing for services rendered, designing business plans to improve revenue, training on bookkeeping, organizing CRs to purchase equipment in bulk to help offset high prices, and providing loans and capacity building support to women who are interested in owning and operating small businesses. This presentation will describe the data collected, solutions being implemented, and the program’s progress to support sustainable water systems in developing countries.

SaaS for Improving Water System Success and Programme Reporting

Kathryn Bergmann Well Beyond kathryn@wellbeyondwater.com and Sarah Evans Well Beyond

It takes more than good intentions and money to provide a community with a reliable source of clean water. Most rural water systems fail within the first few years because of insufficient technical planning, lack of community investment, and improper or no maintenance. We have developed a customizable and easy to use app to help train and assist community members to perform regular maintenance and diagnose issues with their water systems, as well as provide educational materials on a broad range of health and sanitation issues. In turn, this provides crucial measurement and evaluation reporting to governments and NGO’s. A median of 45% of young adults in developing countries have a smartphone, making an app an easily accessible way to disseminate information around the world. To bridge the communication gap, the Well Beyond app helps train community members to perform regular maintenance of water systems, fix common, simple problems, and track usage to measure and evaluate impact of the water project. Despite the sector’s knowledge of the importance of evaluation, less than one percent of projects receive any sort of long-term monitoring. The Well Beyond App includes reporting tools to track and record water system activity and collect regional data. We have deployed the maintenance and diagnostics tool in over 30 communities resulting in identifying issues, avoiding costly repairs, and extending the lives of water systems. With feedback from NGO’s, their local staff, and the end users, organizations are already seeing significant cost savings, improved water system performance, and greater

beneficiary/benefactor relationships. Additionally, every day that a water system is not functioning reduces the likelihood that it will ever work again in rural, developing areas. But, now, the Well Beyond app is helping beneficiaries get their water system flowing again much more quickly than traditional methods, giving them a greater chance of having a water source that will last them many years to come. By enabling communities to diagnose and service water system issues on their own, this app also reduces community dependence on external organizations, increasing overall system ownership, which enhances sustainability. Data collected from the issues reported are being aggregated and analyzed to common points of failure in systems and community management. A better understanding of the frequency and commonality of failures is necessary to determine underlying causes and how to address such issues prior to implementation of the water systems for future initiatives. A holistic approach is necessary for effective implementation of water projects, including ongoing community support to ensure that systems do not fall into disrepair. Most dollars sent to water projects are not funding lasting solutions. But, with proper technical expertise, community involvement and training, and measurement and evaluation - all within the Well Beyond app - projects can succeed and communities can thrive. Infrastructure alone is neither the complete problem, nor the entire solution. Using technology to fill this gap is an effective way to implement sustainable change in communities experiencing water scarcity.

A lead (Pb) Mitigation story from Madagascar: Technology Innovation, Public Health, & Social Marketing Converge for Impactful Behavior Change within an Informal Hand Pump Market

Adaline M Buerck University of South Florida abuerck@usf.edu and

Background: Toamasina is a coastal city of over 300,000 people where centralized piped water is not always affordable or reliable, creating a demand for supplemental decentralized self-supply water systems. A common occurrence in low-income countries. In Toamasina this supplemental system as took the form of a locally manufactured and installed shallow ground well and hand pump. Challenges for this system come from a unique market, the many water contaminants found (Pb being one concern due to its toxic nature), and the lack of understanding of the health effects of Pb on Malagasy children. Researchers have identified a simple engineered solution (i.e., retrofit the pumps with non-leaded components). However, the question remains whether the population will adopt the solution. This convergent research integrates engineering, social marketing, and public health to assess and develop a sustainable solution to reducing Pb contamination. Objective: Demonstrate how decision modification (i.e., use of non-leaded components) informed by social marketing can be integrated into small scale interventions to reduce exposure to chemical pollution, such as lead in water, thereby improving community health outcomes. Methods: Using a social marketing framework, a behavioral focus was selected (use of non-leaded components), priority audience identified (hand pump technicians), and formative research was conducted, which led to a communication/skill-based intervention targeting knowledge, attitudes, and practices of technicians, who manufacture and repair pumps. The sought-after behavior change was to replace and no longer use Pb components in

the pump. Evaluation methods included informal interviews with technicians, water quality testing, and assessing blood lead level concentrations of children prior to and following remediation (removal and subsequent replacement of non-Pb components) of pumps. Results: This research remediated over 500 pumps, tested blood lead levels in more than 300 children, and developed and implemented a social marketing campaign developed for pump technicians. In total, 21 technicians participated in some portion of remediation work. Findings indicate that removing lead from the pumps results in a statistically significant decrease in aqueous Pb levels (t(35)= 3.78, p < 0.001; 95% CI[6.75,22.42]) and blood Pb level concentrations (t(54)= 6.15, p < 0.001) of children indicating a positive impact on health from the remediation efforts. Interviews with technicians, skill checks, and observing technicians while working indicate a sustainable behavior change within the technician population to use Pb free components. Impact: A major contribution of this work includes support for utilizing convergent research methods to examine complex problems such as chemical contamination. To the authors knowledge no BLLs had previously been measured in LMICs for relations to aqueous lead exposure. Our analysis of water and blood lead levels shows the significance of aqueous lead exposure in LMICs. Furthermore, to the authors knowledge social marketing has not been used to reduce lead exposure within LMICs. This research shows sustainable uptake of engineered solutions is possible by behavior change of midstream players facilitated by social marketing. The methods used are adaptable and applicable for other geographic areas and toxins.

Mahmooda Khaliq, University of South Florida Luke John Paul Barrett, Ranontsika NGO, Madagascar

Lova Navalona Rakotoarisoa, Ranontsika NGO, Madagascar Rinah Rakotondrazaka, Ranontsika NGO, Madagascar

Engineering With Nature for Comprehensive Water Resilience

Todd S. Bridges

Senior Research Scientist, Environmental Science; National Lead for Engineering With Nature; US army Corps of Engineers Todd.S.Bridges@usace.army.mil

There is growing interest, nationally and internationally, in leveraging natural systems and processes to support infrastructure projects, and vice versa, through the use of nature-based solutions. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Engineering With Nature® (EWN®) initiative was established in 2010 with the goal expanding the capability to develop infrastructure systems through the intentional alignment of natural and engineering processes to efficiently and sustainably deliver economic, environmental and social benefits through collaboration. The central elements of EWN® are to make use of operational efficiency, natural processes, expanded (and more diverse) project benefits (i.e., economic, environmental, and social), and substantive collaboration to produce more sustainable and resilience infrastructure. Flood risk management, drought resilience, and other project purposes are being pursued through nature-based solutions. Ongoing policy development, technical advancement, and

implementation of nature-based solutions is creating positive momentum for addressing climate change and other societal challenges. Best practice examples, at a range of scales, documented within the two published volumes of Engineering With Nature®: an Atlas, highlight the principles and practices being employed to enhance infrastructure performance, value and sustainability. Overarching conclusions that can be gleaned from the growing number of projects making use of EWN® approaches include 1) interest in the approach is widespread among a diversity of organizations, 2) the four elements of EWN® are readily evident in successful efforts to integrate natural systems in water infrastructure projects, 3) the range of applications of nature-based solutions is very broad in terms of context and purpose, 4) it takes a diverse team to develop nature-based solutions, and 5) strategic communication is key to expanding the successful application of nature-based solutions.

Abstracts

Surveying Microbes from a Mine Drainage Treatment Bioreactor with Cultivation and Genetic Techniques

Leif Olson University of Oklahoma lolson@ou.edu and

Yupeng Fan, University of Oklahoma Jizhong Zhou, University of Oklahoma

Bioreactors can treat contaminated water sources like mine drainage utilizing low-cost biological materials, often byproducts of various industries. Materials like plant residues, mushroom compost and animal manure are mixed together to create bioreactor substrates that become dynamic habitats for anaerobic microorganisms when submerged in water. These systems remove soluble trace element pollutants from water, often via precipitation as sulfides. This process is mediated through the degradation of complex carbon compounds from the substrate into simpler forms of carbon which are oxidized

Kara De Leon, University of Oklahoma

Robert Nairn, University of Oklahoma

and coupled with sulfate reduction, producing the sulfide that helps remove the pollutants. This research explores the microbial communities performing these processes in a vertical flow bioreactor treating legacy lead-zinc mine drainage in the Tar Creek Superfund site in Northeast Oklahoma utilizing DNA amplicon sequencing and anaerobic cultivation techniques. Combining in situ microbial community analysis and in vitro characterization of cultured sulfate-reducing bacteria can provide complementary insights into microbial influences in these mine drainage treatment systems.

Abstracts

Passive Treatment of Artesian Net Acid Mine Drainage in the Western Interior Coal Field

Paul T. Behum, Ph. D. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement pbehum@osmre.gov

This paper will discuss artesian mine drainage occurrences within the Western Interior Coal Basin with emphasis on several case example sites. These mine discharges can be grouped into three types. The first type is discharges with low flow, low to moderate acidity, and low aluminum (Al). Many of these are artesian mine dewatering borehole discharges with a water quality like Appalachian discharges. They are more amenable to passive treatment. The Le Bosquet and Red Oak discharges in Oklahoma are a couple examples. A second type is similar in quality but with higher discharge levels. The Hartford and No. 6 Mine discharges in Arkansas and Stacy (Howe), P-4105 and Gowan Mine 40 discharges in Oklahoma are examples of second type. Most of these are either artesian borehole or shaft discharges and are relatively simple to treat passively, but more costly due to larger land space needing to accommodate higher flow rate. Elevated

aluminum levels are present in some of these discharges that limit the selection of passive treatment technology. The third type is characterized by a lower flow rate but with a highly elevated iron, acidity, and sulfate content. These difficult to treat acidic discharges typically emanate from airshafts or boreholes that lie deeper in the coal basins. Three of these, the Hartshorne (Whitlock-Jones), Jeffries Field, and Lincoln Power Mine discharges, are discussed in this paper. All the abovementioned discharges except for Stacy (Howe) and Jeffries Field discharge and the more recently discovered Lincoln Power Mine abandoned mine lands discharge have installed passive treatment systems; P-4105 was previously treated with a small chemical system but treatment has been inactive for approximately two years. Operational experiences with these mine discharges will be discussed to provide insight to additional remediation.

The Colors of Water - Observing, Modeling and Understanding Precipitation Processes Across the World’s Mountains

Ana P. Barros barros@illinois.edu

Water prediction at the temporal and spatial scales to make decisions that matter for resilience and prosperity of human and natural systems remains a quintessential civil and environmental engineering quest in the 21st century. For those of us among the early generation of scientists and engineers who benefitted from NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth vision in the last quarter of the 20th century, the advent of ever-higher performance computing and Big Data, and met with the inevitability of interdisciplinary science, it’s been the most challenging and yet optimistic of times. Over the last two decades, my research group operated monitoring

networks and conducted long-term water-cycle studies in mountainous regions high and small, including some of the most biodiverse hotspots in the world, that provide water resources to nearly two billion people and counting. In this presentation, I will focus on selected research findings from our work in the Himalayas, the Andes, and the Appalachian Mountains that reveal the complex multi-scale multi- physics interactions at the interface of Ecology, Atmospheric and Hydrologic Sciences with implications for re- thinking engineering frameworks to address global water security and climate adaptation problems.

Challenges and Opportunities for Implementing WastewaterBased Epidemiology with Tribal Communities.

Erin M. Driver

The Biodesign Institute Center for Environmental Health Engineering, Arizona State University erin.driver@asu.edu and

Carrie Joseph, School for Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University

María Menchú-Maldonado, School for Sustainable Engineer ing and the Built Environment, Arizona State University Diego Novoa, School for Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University

Devin A. Bowes, The Biodesign Institute Center for Environmen tal Health Engineering, Arizona State University Marcus Denetdale, School for Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University Travis Lane, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona Brian Bennon, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona

Rebecca Muenich, School for Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, Global Futures Laboratory, Arizona State University

The modest health data available for the 5.4 million American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) in the US are generally found in national surveys that lack data granularity, temporal resolution, and assume that the 574 distinct Tribes with 130+ different languages are systematically similar in relation to their behaviors and health outcomes. Alternative methods to obtain specific community-level health information would greatly benefit these historically marginalized groups as they actively try to close the gap in health disparities. Wastewaterbased epidemiology (WBE) provides this opportunity as a non-invasive, cost-effective, and targeted approach to assess aggregate community-level health indicators at relevant geographic and temporal scales. To begin increasing WBE Tribal capacity, participating tribes have partnered with Arizona State University to form a Tribal Coordination Center

Kerry Hamilton, The Biodesign Institute Center for Environmen tal Health Engineering, Arizona State University; School for Sus tainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University; Global Futures Laboratory, Arizona State University

Rolf U. Halden, The Biodesign Institute Center for Environmen tal Health Engineering, Arizona State University; School for Sus tainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University; OneWaterOneHealth, The Arizona State University Foundation, The Biodesign Institute, Arizona State; Global Fu tures Laboratory, Arizona State University Otakuye Conroy-Ben, School for Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University

(TCC) that focuses on building community partnerships, expanding education and analytical capabilities to execute the desired data collection, analysis, and data visualization. Important considerations include: (i) Tribal approval processes and coordination with local government and non-government agencies (water utilities, US Bureau of Indian Affairs); (ii) practices for community inclusion and participation (iii) ethical considerations and potential stigmatization; (iv) limitations and challenges to data sharing; (v) challenges associated with decentralized wastewater treatment plants and rural nature of many locations; and (vi) framework to increase and sustain tribal capacity. The opportunity exists to expand public health monitoring and increase health related knowledge by Tribal communities through the use of wastewater as a diagnostic tool.

Wastewater Monitoring as a Surveillance and Outbreak Detection Tool for Foodborne Pathogens in Oklahoma

Katrin Gaardbo Kuhn

Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center katrin-kuhn@ouhsc.edu and

Jason Vogel, School of Civil Engineering and Environ mental Science, University of Oklahoma

Kara B. De Leon, Department of Microbiology & Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma

Background: Surveillance of foodborne pathogens traditionally relies on confirmed case reports to local and state health departments. These reports represent a chain of events from infection, symptomatic illness, and sampling through diagnosis and notification, and are known to not accurately represent the true image of foodborne disease burden. In 2020, the Oklahoma Wastewater Surveillance Team set up wastewater surveillance to monitor SARS-CoV-2 community infection levels and produce early warning of local outbreaks, independently of human testing. This paper describes the expansion of the SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance to include foodborne pathogens and report preliminary results on the seasonal and geographical distribution of four foodborne pathogens, including outbreak signals. Methods: We collected wastewater samples from locations across Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Anadarko from July 2021 until June 2022. Wastewater samples were extracted, purified and analyzed for the presence and concentration of Norovirus, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter jejuni using RT-qPCR. We calculated weekly concentrations to identify seasonal variation and 60-99 percentiles of pathogen concentrations

Bradley Stevenson, Department of Microbiology & Plant Biology, University of Oklahoma

to define wastewater-based outbreak thresholds for each pathogen. Using these, we calculated the potential number of outbreaks caused by each pathogen during the study period. We also correlated the timing and location of these outbreaks with any publicly available information about foodborne outbreaks in the State of Oklahoma and the United States as a whole. Results: The concentration of the four gastrointestinal pathogens wastewater showed notable peaks throughout the study period. The activity of each pathogen was dependent on season and, for all pathogens apart from Norovirus, primarily corresponded to patterns observed from reported cases in humans. Additionally, a number of suspected wastewater-predicted outbreaks were observed of which several corresponded to known multistate outbreaks. Conclusions: These results confirm the validity and timeliness of using wastewater surveillance for monitoring local transmission and outbreak signals of foodborne pathogens. Ultimately, wastewater surveillance represents an approach which, in combination with knowledge from other disciplines, contributes an important infrastructure and significant baseline for future infectious disease preparedness.

Abstracts

Ben Smith School of Medicine, University of Louisville bdsmit14@louisville.edu and

Wastewater based epidemiology (WBE) involves sampling community stool and has been used to obtain data on illicit and therapeutic drug use in populations, antimicrobial resistance genes, and presence of pathogens to estimate disease prevalence. WBE data provides supplemental information to help officials make more informed public health decisions. It has been increasingly used throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and is suggested for expanded use to improve epidemiological monitoring and/or outbreak response in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC). The aim of our systematic review is to determine what pathogens have been detected in pooled community stool samples (inclusive of piped sewers, septic tanks, and pit latrines) in LMIC. A focus on LMIC is needed to gain insights on the existing landscape

of WBE which will consist primarily of non-sewered sanitation systems which are less abundant in higher income countries where sewered systems dominate. We searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and Susana for relevant articles based on pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria formed using PRISMA guidelines. Included articles were assessed for risk of bias using a modified assessment tool due to the lack of standard for bias assessment of environmental research. We also report current gaps in WBE knowledge and information to guide public health decision-makers and inform future focused WBE sampling programs in LMIC. Finally, we group detected pathogens based on ease of disease treatment and prevention and propose a list of priority pathogens to be monitored via WBE based on the global health burden of each.

Multi-pathogen sanitation system surveillance in low and middle income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Bethany Hodge, Global Education Office, School of Medicine, University of Louisville

Rochelle H. Holm, Christina Lee Brown Envirome Insti tute, School of Medicine, University of Louisville

Abstracts

Tracking Operation & Maintenance of Piped Water Systems through Custom mWater Consoles

Philip Deal Water4, Inc. philipdeal@water4.org and Abdulrahman Sesay Water4, Inc. Kamaram.mohamed@gmail.com

Creating an accountability system for water utility operations in sub-Saharan Africa is a challenge. Many piped water systems have zero supervision, and little assurance of reliable services. There are remote technologies available in the market for this purpose, such as pressure or level sensors, but the cost is often too expensive to justify their use at scale in rural contexts. A private water service provider in Sierra Leone has developed an intermediate solution to tracking piped water system performance and operations through the mWater platform, an open source mobile application. Though historical tools have

allowed for status updates on functionality, this customizable application sets a higher standard. The console tracks activity of individual technicians, flags violations of water quality standards, provides reminders of maintenance tasks, and tracks inventory use for repairs. This creates a system of accountability that can be monitored daily by direct supervisors and weekly by management to ensure consistent performance of their water services. This presentation will highlight key statistics from November of 2021 to present day, illustrating the value of this platform to improving water utility performance.

Effectiveness Of Uv-Disinfection Against Cercaria At Selected Wavelegnth Using Uv-Leds (For Schistosomiasis Control)

Eden Eritrea

Africa Centre of Excellence for Water Management, Addis Ababa university, Ethiopia Eden.Eritrea@aau.edu.et and

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical water-based chronic illness that kills. It is spread to people through contact with cercariae-infected water on the skin while bathing, swimming, or in any other way. In earlier research, various studies, including UV irradiation, have been conducted to eradicate the diseases-causing pathogenic parasite known as cerceriae. However no studies were carried out using the newly emerging UV-technology such as UV- LEDs. Hence the objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of UVC-LEDs (with a wavelength of 255nm, 265nm and 285nm) to disinfect Schsitosoma cercariae. Snails which are an intermediate host for Schsitosoma cercariae were collected from Hawassa (Tikur Wiha River) and also from Lake Ziway. The collected snails were prepared for shading cercariae and 100-120 cercariea were prepare in 200μL. The disinfection of cercarea was examined using UVC-LEDs at a wavelength of 255 nm, 265 nm and 285 nm respectively. Using fluence (UV-dose) of

1 mJ/ cm2, 20 mJ/ cm2 ,40 mJ/ cm2, 60 mJ/ cm2, 80 mJ/ cm2, 100 mJ/ cm2, 120 mJ/ cm2,160 mJ/ cm2, 200 mJ/ cm2 and 300 mJ/ cm2. The experiment was repeated three times in a solution containing 200μL of cercariae-infested water and 3.6 ml of bottled water. All fluence (UV-dose) showed no significance cercariae disinfection at a wavelength of 255 nm. But Wavelengths 265 nm and 285 nm showed significance cercariae disinfection. 1 log reduction was achieved at a fluence of 300 mJ/ cm2 and wavelength of 265nm and 1.5 and 2 log reduction was achieved at fluence of 200 mJ/ cm2 and 300 mJ/ cm2 at wavelength of 285nm. It took 300 mJ/ cm2 fluence (UV-dose) to achieve 2 log reduction which is high compared to fluence used in different studies to disinfect other pathogenic parasite. Therefore, in this study UVC-LEDs used is a promising technology to disinfect schsitosoma cercariae but requires further studies. Therefore, more research and different methodology is needed to enhance its use and effectiveness.

Feleke Zewge, Africa Centre of Excellence for Water Management, Addis Ababa university, Ethiopia Lucinda Hazell, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK

Michael Templeton, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK

Using leaky tins to improve community health in rural Tanzania

Chris Macoloo, Ph.D. World Neighbors cmacoloo@wn.org and Makonge Righa World Neighbors

In Tanzania, 49% of the population lives below the international poverty line. One-third of deaths in children under five are related to poor hygiene, the majority caused by diarrhea and respiratory diseases, especially pneumonia. Latrine coverage hardly surpasses 50% in some villages. Availability of adequate safe water for household use is a key challenge. The problem has been exacerbated by climate change, which has resulted in reduced rainfall and drying of rivers. Washing of hands has not been prioritized due to water scarcity. Human and animal feces are the main sources of pathogens that children are exposed to in rural Africa. COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation. Hand washing is a simple, effective, and affordable way of reducing diseases, a habit or behavior change that can easily be adopted by poor households. In Rorya and Tarime Districts of northern Tanzania, World Neighbors has been working with local community based organizations to promote the use of leaky tins (tippy taps) for hand washing. These are simple to construct using local materials. A leaky tin consists of a 2 to 5 liter jerry can filled with water and suspended from a wooden frame. A string is tied to the neck of the jerry can and to a piece of wood at ground level. Pressing with the foot on this piece of wood tips the jerry can to release a stream of water through a small hole. Soap is suspended from the wooden frame beside the jerry can. The leaky tin uses minimal

amounts of water to wash hands compared to conventional handwashing stations. A properly installed leaky tin uses 50 ml of water for handwashing compared to 500 ml using tap water. WN has trained over 3,000 households and 12 primary schools to install leaky tins. Students have been at the forefront in promoting the use of leaky tins. Eighty percent of the households have leaky tins installed by students who learned the skill through the school health clubs initiated and supported by WN. There has been a significant reduction of diarrhea cases in households, which use hand-washing facilities. The use of soap contributes to preventing not only diarrhea, but also other illnesses including pneumonia. Over 90% of rural households have their pit latrines outside their houses. This makes it more appropriate to install leaky tins next to the latrines. Students now wash their hands after using the school latrines. This behavior change in school has been replicated at home with 82% of the primary caretakers of children using leaky tins when handling children as well as preparing food for the family. School absenteeism of students has reduced by 40% because of the decline in morbidity. Younger children who are not yet enrolled in school have learned about and adopted handwashing from other family members. The use of the leaky tins has contributed to curbing the spread of COVID-19 and improvement in community public health.

Abstracts

University of Oklahoma - Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, PhD Student hseago@ou.edu

Urban drainage infrastructure requires proper management and mitigation strategies to help minimize flood risk during precipitation events. Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) are conveyance systems that collect stormwater runoff via inlets and transport it via pipes to a designated discharge point. Increased urbanization, climate variability, and land-use change contribute to greater stress and subsequent deterioration of stormwater infrastructure. In this study, a holistic storm sewer assessment and stream channel characterization was conducted in Stillwater, Oklahoma to help reevaluate infrastructure status and needs. Qualitative stormwater structure and stream channel data

was collected in the field using Geographical Information System (GIS) software on ArcGIS Collector using an EOS Positioning Systems ARROW 100. Assessment of storm sewers and stream channels helped identify flood-prone areas and stormwater infrastructure failures. These areas were identified and prioritized for implementation of Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS). Simulations using PCSWMM displayed the environmental effects and benefits of SuDS implementation. Results included locating current stormwater infrastructure problem areas, identifying suitable areas for SuDS, and creating flood relief to the floodplains and stream channels in an urban environment.

Using GIS to identify suitable areas for sustainable drainage systems for floodplain and stream channel mitigation in Stillwater, Oklahoma Hailey Seago

Development and evaluation of a hybrid constructed wetland for greywater treatment and reuse in rural area

Ynoussa Maiga University Joseph KI-ZERBO ynoussa.maiga@gmail.com and

In the arid regions, water scarcity is a major obstacle to agricultural production, especially during the dry season. Greywater, which is household wastewater without feces, can be an alternative source of water for agricultural production. In rural area of Burkina Faso, households’ greywater is generated from three main sources: laundry, dishwashing and shower. This greywater is discharged directly onto the ground, often close to the houses, causing unpleasant situation and health issues. In order to contribute to solve sanitation issues while providing water for reuse in gardening, a hybrid constructed wetland (consisting of a vertical filter followed by horizontal filters) was developed using locally available materials and installed in 2 households. The treatment system has been developed in such a way to allow the collection of shower greywater directly from the shower room. For this, it is placed behind the shower room, outside the courtyard. Dishwashing greywater and laundry

grewater are collected from a collection point located inside the courtyard. Then, the greywater flows into the system by gravity avoiding the use of energy. Our project is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development through the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program, a competitive grant program that supports research in developing countries with strong potential for development impact. The preliminary results show some interesting trends. The removal efficiencies of fecal coliforms in the first and second household were 3.88 and 3.57 log.u respectively. The removal efficiencies of E. coli were 3.31 and 3.67 log.u respectively. Based on the preliminary results, we expect to have treated greywater compliant with the WHO reuse guidelines. This study supports the WHO considerations that new and innovative methods are needed to ensure more sustainable management of water resources that incorporates health considerations.

Cheick Omar Tidiane Compaoré, University Joseph KI-ZERBO Martine Diallo/Kone, Institut de recherche en Sciences Appliquées et Technologies Seyram Sossou, International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering

Hermann Some, Institut de recherche en Sciences Appliquées et Technologies James Mihelcic, University of South Florida Aboubakar S. Ouattara, University Joseph KI-ZERBO

Nicholas Shepherd

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma nick.shepherd@ou.edu and Robert W. Nairn

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Artesian net-alkaline mine drainage (MD) from underground abandoned lead-zinc mining operations in the Picher mining field have been contaminating Tar Creek for over 40 years. The greatest contribution of MD to Tar Creek is located near Douthat, Oklahoma and remains untreated. Multiple MD discharges from boreholes, air vents, and mine shafts are located throughout the Douthat site, and the nominal head elevations of the mine pool intersect the ground elevations, resulting in highly variable flow rates. The first objective of this study was to characterize the water quality and quantity from multiple MD discharges throughout the Douthat site to determine if passive treatment was a viable option. Water quality and quantity samples were regularly measured from 2018 through 2021 at five discharges. Sharp-crested weirs were instrumented with pressure sensors at the three largest discharges to calculate flow rates on 15-minute time intervals. The calculated median and maximum combined flow rates were 4,046 lpm and 154,000 lpm, respectively. However, the peak flow rates typically occurred for less than 37 hours and were the result of elevated stream flows recharging the mine pool through open mine features, such as mine shafts.

The flow weighted average totals metals concentrations of the five discharges were 0.022 mg/L Cd, 22.6 mg/L Fe, 0.045 mg/L Pb, and 5.76 mg/L Zn. It was concluded that the water quality and quantity was treatable via a passive treatment system (PTS), despite the highly variable flow rates because water reuse treatment wetlands with design flows exceeding the maximum calculated flow rates have been implemented and existing PTS have successfully treated MD with greater metals concentrations. The second objective of this study was to propose a PTS capable of remediating 90% of the MD by volume. The conceptual design . covered approximately 120 acres and consisted of a 240 ac-ft storage pond, followed by a PTS with a design flow rate of 2,150 gpm. An 11-year simulation based on historical mine pool elevation data from USGS and trendlines to calculate MD flow rates from each discharge was used to evaluate the performance of the conceptual system. The simulation showed the conceptual PTS was capable of annually retaining 95% of Cd (43.2 kg), 89% of Fe (58,900 kg) and Pb (122 kg), and 86% of the Zn (13,200 kg) from the MD discharges at Douthat.

Conceptual passive treatment system to remediate mine drainage in a hydrologically and topographically challenging location

Abstracts

Water, Reconciliation and Our Common Future

Merrell-Ann Phare UCentre for Indigenous Environmental Resources International Joint Commission maphare@yourcier.org

We often hear “Water is Life”, but what does that mean in the face of climate change, our history of colonisation of Indigenous territories, and our relationships within Canada and across the Canada-US border? These are diverse but connected issues. Merrell-Ann will share her work as a lawyer and writer, and

her work with the International Joint Commission and the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources to discuss how reconciliation and water governance reform as the most critical underpinning to a more secure and just water future.

Abstracts

Preparing for hydrologic extremes through anticipatory actions

Paul Block University of Wisconsin-Madison paul.block@wisc.edu and Jonathan Lala Electric Power Research Institute Juan Bazo, Red Cross Climate Centre

Climate and weather-related disasters are increasingly expensive and deadly. Hydrologic catastrophes are especially devastating, accounting for over half of all disasters and global disaster victims. Novel approaches are desperately needed for vulnerable communities. Post-disaster assistance is a crucial component of disaster relief, however the potential for reducing humanitarian impacts through anticipatory, predisaster planning and actions cannot be overstated. Empirical evidence suggests that pre-disaster actions can reduce loss of life and property and result in cost savings for relief and governmental organizations. Early action protocols have been developed in a few countries, conditioned on forecasts and risk analysis, outlining trigger criteria and identifying early

actions. Concurrently, an extensive number of subseasonal-toseasonal climate forecast products are now available to derive hydrologic forecasts. Thus there exists significant potential to tailor subseasonal-to-seasonal hydrologic forecast products to appropriately trigger a suite of preparedness actions and decisions across multiple lead times. These approaches respond to the strong demand for large-scale, multi-sectoral hydrologic forecast and management tools to enable early preparedness for anticipated drought and flood extremes. Yet open questions remain regarding balancing trade-offs between actions and financing, appropriate inclusion of community-based constraints and preferences, and dynamic responses to a changing climate.

Evaluation of merging method for CHIRP satellite rainfall estimate over Wabi Shebelle River Basin, Ethiopia

Kindie Engdaw Tadesse

Africa center of water excellence management, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia kindie.engdaw@aau.edu.et and Assefa M. Melese

Florida International University, Miami, FL

Merging continuous spatial coverage of satellite estimates with accurate point measurements from gauge networks provides a better rainfall field. However, it is difficult to choose the best merging method to combine different data sources for a specific study area. The performance of the merging method depends on different factors such as sampling density, spatial distribution, resolution, interpolation method, elevation, and radius of influence. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a combination of interpolation and merging methods for satellite rainfall estimates, CHIRP (Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation). It is intended to assess the best method for producing an improved dataset at the basin scale. Four satellite-gauge merging methods: Simple Bias Adjustment, Regression Kriging, Cressman Scheme, and Barnes Scheme with the three combinations of interpolation techniques modified Shepard, sphere map, and Inverse Distance Weight were used. The assessment is

essential in climate and hydrological application in datasparse Wabi Shebelle River Basin in Ethiopia. Quantitative and categorical performance evaluation index techniques were applied. All combinations of interpolation and merging methods considered improve the accuracy of rainfall estimate. The merged estimates were found to be significantly better than raw and other satellite estimates. In general, the modified Shepard interpolator technique with the regression kriging merging method outperformed the other estimates followed by Shepard -Simple Bias Adjustment approach in estimating and reproducing monthly rainfall amounts in all statistical indicator values (RMSE, MAE, CC, and POD). All interpolators with Barnes merging scheme method have a weak performance for all statistical indicator values in the majority of the study areas. Performance of merged CHIRP without elevation has a minimum error and higher CC values.

Abstracts

School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering, University of Oklahoma mchen15@ou.edu and

Zhi Li Yongjie Huang

Albert Johan Mamani Larico

Xiaoming Hu

Elinor Martin

Renee McPherson

Yang Hong Ming Xue

Hector Mayol Novoa

Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms, University of Oklahoma Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Arequipa, Perú

Peru is considered one of the most affected areas by Climate Change, as the increase in temperature and retreat of tropical glaciers over the Andean Mountain, its limited water resources are being challenged by the company of population growth, intensive mining, and water contamination. Due to the geographical location of the country lying between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, as well as the absence of local hydrometeorological data, many studies found it difficult to produce accurate precipitation estimates in this area. In this study, we cross-compared two remote-sensing-based rainfall observations: NASA Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrieval for GPM (IMERG) and Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation (MSWEP), as well as the Weather Research Forecast (WRF) model simulations against 397 rain gauge observation records from

2010 to 2018 within the Peruvian border. The results indicate that the multi-precipitation ensemble method has the closest precipitation estimates to rain gauge measurement, compared to other precipitation estimates. Moreover, the WRF simulated precipitation has very comparable accuracy, if not better, to GPM IMERG at the daily time scale and has better accuracy at the west slope of the Andes than GPM IMERG. We further examine the monthly precipitation of GPM IMERG, WRF simulations, and the Global Precipitation Climatology Center (CPCC) gridded gauge-analysis precipitation products derived from quality-controlled station data, using the Triple Collocation method. The results confirm that, at the monthly scale, WRF simulation has comparable accuracy of precipitation estimation as remote sensing and rain gauge observations.

Cross examines the precipitation products by the rain gauge, remote sensing, and WRF simulations over a South American region across the Andes Mengye Chen

Teaching Water Sustainability: Pedagogical Strategies for Higher Education

Jim F. Chamberlain University of Oklahoma jfchamb@ou.edu

Climate change, rising populations and higher standards of living are putting extraordinary pressures on regional freshwater supplies. Professionals and managers must understand the sustainability of water resources (i.e., water security) as an interplay between supply and demand across various sectors – domestic, energy, industrial, and ecological. This presentation describes pedagogical tools of active and participatory learning that can be employed to accompany and reinforce textbook concepts of water security. These

experiential learning methods can be employed in either onground or remote college undergraduate or graduate-level courses. Water equity for underserved populations as well as water ethics are included in the pedagogical topics. The presentation utilizes a newly published textbook on water security (2022) and expands upon pedagogy described in a UNESCO study on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) (2010).

Abstracts

Deliberative Public Engagement to Address Water Resource Issues: Cases From the Southern and Southwestern United States

Robert C. Richards University of Arkansas Little Rock - Clinton School of Public Service rcrichards@clintonschool.uasys.edu and

Justin Reedy, University of Oklahoma Chul Hyun Park, University of Arkansas Little Rock

Members of underserved communities face substantial watermanagement and water-quality challenges in the southern and southwestern U.S. (Mattos et al., 2021). For example, in Oklahoma, concerns about long-term water availability are leading to projects to divert water from rural watersheds to urban areas (Burch et al., 2020), which could exacerbate inequities across geographic, class, and racial/ethnic differences. In coastal areas of South Carolina, rising demand for water in rapidly growing communities is causing saltwater intrusion into fresh water aquifers, even as stormwater runoff and environmental pollutants are harming water quality. Both of these issues are raising concerns about future inequities in water access in the state’s coastal region (Nowlin, 2019; Reedy & Anderson, 2019). Moreover, underrepresented communities in Arkansas face two such challenges. First, in a number of rural, predominantly African American communities in the Delta region of Arkansas, the maintenance of aging water and wastewater infrastructure is becoming more difficult, as limited incomes and population declines have resulted in diminished tax revenues and therefore heightened risks to water quality (Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, 2014). The second challenge concerns water, sanitation, and hygiene. In southwest Little Rock, among some Latinx mobile-home residents, there have been reports of sewage contamination of drinking and surface water, leading to adverse health impacts on children (K. Zuccardi, personal communication, June 1, 2022). Public engagement involving methods of democratic deliberation is a promising approach for addressing these challenges. Collaborative-

Matthew C. Nowlin, College of Charleston Lindsey Meeks, University of Oklahoma

governance techniques featuring citizen deliberation have been successfully employed to develop water policy involving climate change in coastal areas (Nowlin, 2019; Reedy & Anderson, 2019). Participatory governance has the potential to enhance several aspects of the water-governance process, including issue identification and characterization, policy selection and design, and policy implementation, including by increasing the effectiveness and legitimacy of adopted policies (Hurst et al., 2021; Kochskämper et al., 2018; Nowlin, 2019). Moreover, comparative evaluation of similar participatory watergovernance processes across different states and regions can yield valuable insights on the effectiveness and appropriateness of collaborative-governance techniques (Kochskämper et al., 2018). This paper describes water-management and waterquality issues faced by members of underserved communities in Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Arkansas, and outlines past and forthcoming processes of public deliberation aimed at gathering input from residents and stakeholders on those issues as well as potential policy responses. Features of these engagement processes include the development of balanced briefing materials—developed with input from residents, other stakeholders, and water experts—offering multiple policy options, and the use of structured discussions guided by neutral facilitators (Hurst et al., 2021; Nowlin, 2019). Further, the paper sketches a coordinated effort to evaluate these publicengagement efforts using a common set of metrics, informed by Gastil et al.’s (2012) framework for evaluating deliberative citizen-engagement processes, to provide comparative insights.

Providing Information that Matters: An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Different Areas of Educational Content on Recycled Water Knowledge and Acceptance

Braden Tanner University of Oklahoma tannbrad@ou.edu and

Recycled water represents one partial solution to increasingly concerning world-wide water scarcity issues. However, much research has suggested that due to factors such as the ‘yuck factor’ (i.e., disgust), perceptions of risk (particularly health risks), and knowledge of recycled water, public acceptance of recycled water is often low, which represents a significant barrier to the actual implementation of potable water reuse methods. Educational interventions seeking to increase one’s knowledge of recycled water have often been explored as a potential method to help overcome public distaste for recycled water, but results have often been mixed, leading to some skepticism over education and knowledge’s ability to increase acceptance (see Smith et al., 2018 for a review). Drawing upon theory from the decision sciences, we propose that at least in part, these inconsistent results may be driven by failures to empirically demonstrate what types of educational content are impactful enough to actually increase knowledge and, subsequently, recycled water acceptance (e.g., some material/areas of content may be too complex and confusing for a lay audience, or may be insufficient to adequately address the concerns that drive one’s apprehension towards recycled water). Thus, working together with experts in the field of water reuse, we created an educational video developed to encompass four distinct areas of content: 1) The need

for sustainable, alternative water supplies 2) Explanations and illustrations of direct, indirect, and de-facto reuse 3) Information on the purification process 4) Locations that have successfully implemented and benefitted from recycled water We then tested which of these content areas most increase recycled water knowledge (using a pre/posttest, withinsubjects design), as well as the effect of this knowledge on attitudes and acceptance toward recycled water. Overall, we found that compared to a control video, the content defining and illustrating direct, indirect, and de-facto reuse, as well as content emphasizing current successful recycled water programs led to large increases in recycled water knowledge (ds = .83 and .87, respectively). Knowledge, in turn, predicted more favorable attitudes toward and acceptance of recycled water (β = .44, R2 = .20). This suggests that future educational campaigns should more carefully consider the type of information provided to the public, as some pieces of information in this domain are likely be more impactful than others. Specifically, water practitioners might seek to center future educational materials on illustrations of direct, indirect, and de facto reuse, as well as successful recycled water programs. By doing so, more impactful educational resources could be created, helping to ensure that policymakers can make the most of precious time and resources.

Gwen Hoang, University of Oklahoma

Dana Mahmoud-Elhaj, University of Oklahoma Muhammad Asif, University of Oklahoma

Jenna Holt, University of Oklahoma

David Sabatini, University of Oklahoma

Jim F. Chamberlain, University of Oklahoma

Adam Feltz, University of Oklahoma

Abrupt Drought–Pluvial Transitions: Patterns, Trends, and Causes Zong-Liang Yang liang@jsg.utexas.edu Yamin Qing Shuo Wang Pierre Gentine

Scientists have known for some decades that droughts (dry spells) and heavy rains (pluvials) would be more frequent and intense under a warming planet. The ongoing drought this year in the United States and the recent floods in Las Vegas, St. Louis and Kentucky in July 2022 are an unfortunate reminder of such projections. Droughts and pluvials have a substantial influence on available water resources, agricultural productivity and human wellbeing. The abrupt transitions from droughts to pluvials may lead to greater impacts than the sum of individual events due to the potential increase in the vulnerability of populations and ecosystems. Furthermore, the drought−pluvial transitions have compound effects as droughts make the area more vulnerable to the following pluvials. In this presentation, I will talk about our recent work in revealing observational evidence for abrupt drought−pluvial transition (ADPT) on a global scale. We explore the mechanisms of ADPTs from the perspective of soil moisture−atmosphere feedbacks. We find that there is a significant increase in the ADPTs frequency (0.14−2.05%

per year) and affected area (0.08−1.57% per year) globally during the recent period (1980−2020). Extreme rainfall often follows short-duration dry spells, especially subseasonal dry spells. The complex coupling of soil moisture and precipitation can be explained by the indirect chain of processes resulting from land−atmosphere feedbacks. The soil moisture−latent heat flux−precipitation transitive causal chain is likely to trigger the rainfall following the drought in humid regions, while the soil moisture−moisture convergence− precipitation chain enhances the post-drought rainfall in arid regions, indicating the contrasting roles of land−atmosphere feedbacks in modulating the ADPT occurrence.

Reference: Qing, Y.M., S. Wang, Z.-L. Yang, and P. Gentine, 2022: Contrasting roles of soil moisture−atmosphere feedbacks in modulating the abrupt drought−pluvial transition under a warming climate, Nature Climate Change (under review).

Abstracts

Inter-seasonal relationships of land surface variables across Europe

Daniel Mesheske

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Oklahoma dmesheske@ou.edu and

Anthropogenic climate change is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of climactic extremes across Europe. With rising temperatures, the impacts of a severe or prolonged agricultural drought could yield devastating financial costs. As such, indicators that predict future drought could mitigate risk and damage. This study explores the inter-seasonal relationship between land surface variables using linear regression and correlation analysis. Data from MERRA-2, between 1980 and 2020, were used for temperature, ET, PET, and soil moisture. ET and PET were used to derive the Standardized Evaporative Stress Ratio (SESR), which is a metric that incorporates several near-surface state variables to represent evaporative stress on the environment. It is shown through regression modeling that higher mean temperatures lead to increased

evaporative stress throughout much of Europe during spring, summer, and fall. Correlation values yielded a strong negative relationship consistent with the known characteristics between temperature and evaporative stress. Further, lag-regression analysis between subsequent seasons demonstrated strong negative correlations for mean temperature and mean SESR ratio for both a spring-summer and summer-fall seasonal lag across much of the European continent. In addition, many of these correlations show statistical significance above 90%. Finally, this study identified a relationship between root zone soil moisture and SESR yielding correlation at high levels of statistical significance in central continental areas away from the oceans.

Jordan I. Christian, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma

Jeffery B. Basara, School of Meteorology, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Oklahoma

Abstracts

Flash droughts in a Changing Climate across the central United States

Jordan Christian School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma jchristian@ou.edu and

Elinor Martin, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma

Jeffrey Basara, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma

Jason Furtado, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma

Flash droughts, defined by a rapid intensification toward drought, are a subseasonal phenomenon that can lead to agricultural yield loss, excessive evaporative stress on ecosystems, and an increased risk for wildfires and heatwaves. Rapid drought intensification develops due to a lack of rainfall coupled with enhanced evaporative demand.

In a changing climate, trends in precipitation variability and temperature may affect the occurrence of flash drought over time. As such, this study presents changes in flash drought

frequency, intensity, and duration over the central United States using CMIP6 model data for historical simulations (1850-2014) and future scenarios (2015-2100) combining shared socioeconomic pathways and representative concentration pathways (SSP126, SSP245, and SSP585). Evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, and root zone soil moisture are used to identify flash drought events in six models to investigate how flash drought characteristics and drivers change in a future climate.

Abstracts

Transforming Water and Wastewater Services in the USA

Upmanu Lall Columbia University ula2@columbia.edu and

Water systems face the dual challenge of aging infrastructure and increasing climate induced stress. These are the most difficult to resolve for smaller, rural, and poorer communities, who need affordable solutions. Correspondingly, from a sustainability perspective, the water community has been discussing the “One Water” concept, i.e., a common strategy for addressing water, wastewater, and stormwater management, including treatment and re-use. In this talk, we will present initial efforts at scoping a new generation of spatially distributed or decentralized architecture for water and wastewater

systems including re-use that has the potential for identifying the appropriate scale for system implementation for a given setting, with the goal of pursuing centralized management of a highly decentralized (as in sources, treatment, storage and conveyance) infrastructure. Optimization models for the purpose and their example applications reveal the potential for significant cost savings. Issues as to regulatory changes, management and pervasive sensing and digital control of systems are discussed.

Sara Schwetschenau, Columbia University Mark Elliott, University of Alabama

Kevin White, University of South Alabama Joe Brown, University of North Carolina

Enhancing resilience of communities to climate change through a catchment based integrated management approach in Uganda

Callist Tindimugaya Ministry of Water and Environment, Kampala, Uganda callist_tindimugaya@yahoo.co.uk

Uganda has been implementing a number of projects to enhancing resilience of communities to impacts of climate change through catchment based integrated management of water and related resources. The projects are designed to support government efforts to increase resilience of communities to risk of floods, droughts and landslides through promoting catchment based integrated, equitable and sustainable management of water and related resources.

One of the projects being implemented in Uganda is called “Enhancing Resilience of Communities to Climate Change through Catchment Based Integrated Management of Water and Related Resources in Uganda” (EURECCCA). The project is being implemented in three catchments of Maziba, Aswa, and Awoja through establishing frameworks for climate resilient catchment management; implementing concrete adaptation actions for resilient and sustained ecosystems, agricultural landscapes and diversification of livelihood systems; and building capacities of extension services and institutions at sub-catchment, catchment level to support local communities. The project has generated a number of experiences for enhancing resilience of communities to climate change. The project has formed catchment and sub-catchment

management committees consisting of representatives of various stakeholders at district and subcounty level. The committees oversee and participate in the implementation of project activities and mobilize community members to participate in project execution for ownership and capacity building. The project has promoted construction of improved cooking stoves through women groups as well as supporting existing private tree nurseries to produce tree seedlings. The project has also employed a stakeholder/ communitybased approach of restoring degraded riverbanks, wetlands and construction of water harvesting and flood control structures to enhance the resilience of the ecosystems and communities to the risk of floods and landslides. Furthermore, demonstration centres have been set up at three research centres of the National Agricultural Research Organisation in Serere, Kabale and Lira to facilitate experience sharing on ecosystems conservation, control of floods and landslides and Alternative Income Generating Activities. Through the various activities implemented by the project the resilience of communities to climate change is being enhanced. These good approaches are being scaled up to the various catchments in the country.

Examining The Connection Between Water Security, Mental Wellness, and Resilience Among Indigenous Populations: A Scoping Review

Allison Au-Yeung McMaster University allisonresilience@gmail.com and

Lyndsey Huynh Toney Lieu

Background: Among Indigenous communities, there is a lack of water regulations and access to safe drinking water. This has led to adverse mental and physical health, alongside negative social and cultural effects. Objective: A scoping review examining the connection between water security, mental wellness, and resilience among Indigenous communities in North America was conducted. Design: The key search terms were inputted based on location, Indigenous communities and water. Three main databases were used; Medline, Sociological Abstracts and PsycINFO. Only primary article (no review, conceptualonly or law articles. Limited to quantitative research) searches were included. Results: Four quantitative articles met criteria for inclusion out of 2,630 studies. Results demonstrated that Indigenous populations face adverse consequences as a result of not having access to clean drinking water. Environmental

injustices influenced the likelihood of developing water anxiety. Water insecurity significantly impacted mental health, and magnified previous mental health trauma. Conclusion: This scoping review revealed numerous knowledge gaps in the current body of scientific research on water anxiety in Indigenous communities. Further empirical research needs to be done in order to better understand mental health and access to clean drinking water in Indigenous communities. There needs to be more representative researchers, organizations and government officials who understand Indigenous culture that contribute to research, an increase in the implementation and funds for more hygienic facilities to improve the poor water quality on reserves, and more culturally relevant support for Indigenous individuals dealing with mental health issues and stress from water anxiety in the future.

Dr. Christine Wekerle

Six Nations Youth Mental Wellness Advisory Committee, McMaster University

Sustainable Reuse of Mine Drainage Residuals for Phosphorus Management

Dayton M. Dorman

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, University of Oklahoma dayton.m.dorman-1@ou.edu and Robert W. Nairn

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, University of Oklahoma

Eutrophication of water bodies has become a considerable concern in today’s society. Novel management practices are needed to decrease phosphorus (P), a common limiting nutrient from entering surface waters which ultimately causes eutrophication and water quality degradation in receiving water bodies. Phosphorus-sorbing materials (PSMs) have been investigated as a way to decrease external P loadings into streams and reservoirs. PSMs can be divided into two general categories: i) calcium (Ca) and/or magnesium (Mg) based materials that promote P precipitation and ii) iron (Fe) and/or aluminum (Al) based materials for P adsorption. While the P removal mechanism for Ca/Mg-based PSMs is a slow process, the P removal mechanism for Fe/Al PSMs is rapid. However, the cost of these Fe/Al salts can be cost prohibitive for wide-scale watershed applications. Several studies have looked at the P removal efficiencies of different industrial waste products including mine drainage residuals (MDRs) rich in iron and aluminum oxides. These studies have found that MDRs have a high P-sorption capacity and can be a more economical alternative to traditional Fe/Al salts. However, many of these studies do not consider how the originating water quality and age and resulting mineralogy of these solids affects sorption capacity and possible release of metals. This study analyzed MDRs from net-alkaline hardrock mine drainage passive treatment systems (PTS) (Tar

Creek Superfund Site, Tri-State Lead-Zinc Mining District, USA) and from net-acidic coal mine drainage discharges and net-alkaline coal mine drainage PTS (Arkoma Basin, Oklahoma, USA). The solids were analyzed for total metals composition, percent crystallinity, specific surface area, and mineralogy. Initial sorption capacity was determined and the solids were allowed to age to determine the effects of aging on crystallinity and sorption capacity over time. The solids collected from discharges had iron concentrations ranging from 332,000 (±9,400) mg/kg while solids collected from PTS had an iron concentration of 524,000 (±41,600) mg/ kg. Results showed less crystalline (<5%) material (primarily ferrihydrite and poorly order goethite) found near discharges where precipitates were freshest, while older materials in PTS were more crystalline (more ordered goethite and hematite). Preliminary data show that all mine drainage residuals have a large sorption capacity for phosphate ( 90 mg/g) and demonstrated minimal desorption of metals over time. This study shows that the reuse of MDRs is a sustainable and viable P management strategy that can help mitigate eutrophication in surface water bodies. However, if reuse is to be exploited and optimized in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner, more research is needed on the effects of mineralogy and age on the sorption capacity of these solids and any potential desorption.

Exploring cost, environmental impacts, and efficacy of point-ofuse water disinfection technologies

Bright Carl Elijah Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Georgia Southern University be05055@georgiasouthern.edu and

According to the World Health Organization, 785 million people lack access to basic drinking water facilities, and 144 million people rely on surface water which is prone to microbial contamination. Point-of-use (POU) water disinfection technologies can be adopted to target this problem by treating water at the household level; however, navigating various POU disinfection technologies for a given water source or location can be difficult. While numerous conventual POU technologies exist (e.g., chlorination), new emerging POU technologies (e.g., some using nanotechnology) have been coined by developers to be lower cost with higher treatment capacity. It is unclear if these claims are substantiated and how novel technologies stack up against conventual ones in terms of cost, environmental impacts, and disinfection efficacy. In this research, we compare POU technologies using quantitative sustainable design methods to assess conventional and novel POU treatment technologies. The technologies evaluated

include chlorination using sodium hypochlorite, silver nanoparticle enabled ceramic water filter, ultraviolet lamp, and ultraviolet light emitting diodes (LED). This study leverages the open-source Python packages of QSDsan (QSD for sanitation and resource recovery systems) and EXPOsan (EXPOsition of sanitation and resource recovery systems). Specifically, the relative sustainability is assessed using technoeconomic analysis (TEA), life cycle assessment (LCA), and disinfection efficacy. Uncertainty is included in all input parameters, and sensitivity analysis (Spearman’s rank correlation) is used to identify which assumptions influence outcomes. The study assumes a population of 1000 people, household size of 6 people, and technology lifetime of 5 years. Escherichia coli is used as indicator microbe in characteristic surface and ground waters. Study results can potentially inform decision makers, non-profit organizations, and future research on sustainable approaches to safe drinking water through POU technologies.

Ethan Rhine, Department of Civil Engineering and Construction, Georgia Southern University

Lewis Stetson Rowles, Department of Civil Engineer ing and Construction, Georgia Southern University

Abstracts

Monitoring Drought through the Lens of Landsat: Drying of Rivers During the California Droughts

Shang Gao

Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science University of Oklahoma shang.gao@ou.edu and

Zhi Li, Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing Labo ratory, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma Mengye Chen, Hydrometeorology and Remote Sens ing Laboratory, School of Civil Engineering and Envi ronmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Water scarcity during severe droughts has profound hydrological and ecological impacts on rivers. However, the drying dynamics of river surface extent during droughts remains largely understudied. Satellite remote sensing enables surveys and analyses of rivers at fine spatial resolution by providing an alternative to in-situ observations. This study investigates the seasonal drying dynamics of river extent in California where severe droughts have been occurring more frequently in recent decades. Our methods combine the use of Landsat-based Global Surface Water (GSW) and global river bankful width databases to accurately separate river water extent from other water bodies (e.g., ponds, wetlands, and lakes). As an indirect comparison, we examine the monthly fractional river extent (FrcSA) in 2071 river reaches and its correlation with streamflow at co-located USGS gauges. We place the extreme 2012–2015 drought into a broader

Yang Hong, Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma Daniel Allen, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University

context of multi-decadal river extent history and illustrate the extraordinary change between during- and post- drought periods. In addition to river extent dynamics, we perform statistical analyses to relate FrcSA with the hydroclimatic variables obtained from the National Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) model simulation. Results show that Landsat provides consistent observation over 90% of area in rivers from March to October and is suitable for monitoring seasonal river drying in California. At a yearly scale, summer mean FrcSA is increasingly sensitive to winter precipitation in a drier climate; and the elasticity is also reduced with deeper ground water table. Overall, our study demonstrates the detectability of Landsat on the river surface extent in an arid region with complex terrain. River extent in catchments of deficient water storage is likely subject to higher percent drop in a future climate with longer, more frequent droughts.

Trust factor as a predictor of acceptance of recycled water

Gwen Hoang University of Oklahoma g.hoang@ou.edu and

Braden Tanner Dana Mahmoud

Water recycling provides a sustainable solution to water shortage issues. Even though recycled water offers a safe alternative to the traditional water source, the implementation of water recycling is not always met with positive public reactions. Public objection remains one of the leading obstacles that prevent proposed water reuse plans from being executed. Various factors, such as the “yuck factor”, concern about exposure to risk, and lack of confidence in authorities, have been found to play a part in the general public rejection of reuse schemes (Ross et al., 2014). Among the identified components associated with public acceptance of recycled water that we focus on here is trust (Fielding et al., 2018). We added to the current state of research by offering the instruments to measure generalized and particularized trust that could help predict water reuse acceptance. We also provide evidence that some brief educational interventions can increase domain specific trust, and this increase results in greater acceptance of recycled water. Our research examined in two studies how generalized trust and particularized trust was related to acceptance of recycled water. Generalized trust refers to tendencies to be generally trusting, and particularized trust refers to trust in a predetermined trustee within a specific domain (in this case, recycled water). Our studies identified 4 major generalized trust factors (i.e., confidence in others, trustworthiness, others’ good intention, and others’ reliability), and 3 major water

specific trust factors (i.e., trust in water provider, trust in water authority, trust in government). Results from Study 1 (N = 417) showed that domain general factor involving other’s reliability was significantly correlated with acceptance of recycled water (r = .12). All three domain specific factors predicted reuse acceptance – trust in water provider (r = .30), trust in water authority (r = .29) and trust in government (r = .25). Study 2 (N = 286) provided participants with a brief educational video about recycle water. Those who received the video (M = 7.49, SD = 2.71 on an 11-point scale) were more likely to accept reuse water than those who were not provided with the video (M = 6.28, SD = 2.61), t = 3.85, p < .001, d = .46. But importantly, the video increased the domain specific factor of trust in government (M = 3.55, SD = 1.03 on a 6-point scale) compared to those who did not receive the video (M = 3.26, SD = 1.15), t = 2.25, p = .03, d = .27. Our data suggested a trend that the change in trust in government as a function of education resulted in higher acceptance of recycled water (B = 0.51, t = 1.83, p = .07). These results suggest that both domain specific and domain general trust can be important predictors of recycled water acceptance. Additionally, our data provide evidence that short educational interventions can increase acceptance of recycled water at least in part because of an increase in domain specific trust.

Adam Feltz

Abstracts

Identifying disparities in interventions to increase public acceptance of recycled water

Dana Mahmoud University of Oklahoma dhfme@ou.edu and

Braden Tanner, University of Oklahoma

Gwen Hoang, University of Oklahoma

Muhammad Asif, University of Oklahoma

Climate change is shifting the accessibility of potable water for people across the globe. Low-income communities will likely be the most affected by these changes; it’s already hard for some communities to have regular access to clean water and climate change will only make this harder for them. Reuse water may be a viable option for communities facing shortages. However, public acceptance has been generally found to be a barrier to successful implementation of recycled water programs. Because of the psychological barriers to acceptance, some researchers are investigating different ways to increase acceptance of recycled water. While some efforts have been found to be successful increasing acceptance, there is little to no data investigating if these interventions have differential impacts of different groups of people. We present two studies exploring the potential differential impacts on high- and low-income participants of intervening with (a) defaulting people into recycled water programs and (b) educating about recycled water. In both studies, participants were given a scenario where they were asked to imagine that they were in charge of buying water for the company’s water cooler. In the first study, participants were either defaulted into buying recycled water or traditional water, but they were free to choose the other option. Participants were then asked which water they would buy. We used percent of poverty level, education level, home ownership status, and occupation status

Jenna Holt, University of Oklahoma Adam Feltz, University of Oklahoma

to measure socioeconomic status. Using a logistic regression, the interaction indicated that those on the lower end of the socioeconomic status range were not strongly impacted by the default type; however, the higher end of the socioeconomic scale were impacted by the type of default they were put in, β Interaction = 0.71, OR = 2.04, p = .06. We found a main effect for default type, β Default = 2.36, OR = 10.57, p < .001, and no main effect of socioeconomic status, β SES= -0.12, OR = 0.89, p =.38. The second study aimed at testing whether educating participants may reduce disparities. Half of the participants were asked to watch a video with relevant educational information on reuse water that was made in partnership with OU’s WaTER Center (Tanner, 2021). The other group received a control video. We used a logistic regression to analyze the data and did not find the hypothesized results, β Interaction = -0.22, OR = 0.8, p = .64. We did not see a main effect of socioeconomic status, β SES = = 0.09, OR = 1.1 , p =.5, or the education intervention, β Educate = -0.45, OR = 0.64, p =.28. The development and use of reuse water may help some communities facing water shortages. However, our studies suggest that researchers should be aware that some attempts to overcome psychological barriers to recycled water may increase rather than decrease disparities. Careful study of interventions that could increase disparities is needed.

Addition of Sorptive Amendments to Address Leachability of Trace Metals from Hard Rock Mine Drainage Passive Treatment Residual Solids

Justine I. McCann

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, University of Oklahoma justine.mccann@gmail.com and Robert W. Nairn

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, University of Oklahoma

Passive treatment of mine drainage effectively decreases the concentration of ecotoxic metals in impacted water and sequesters the metals in residual solids, the composition of which vary depending on the biogeochemical process in use. Mine drainage passive treatment systems must undergo rehabilitative maintenance to continue functioning over decadal time scales. This maintenance includes removing residuals from the system, including iron oxyhydroxides from oxidation ponds and spent or clogged organic substrate from the vertical flow bioreactors. Removal occurs infrequently, but it creates large amounts of waste that may become hazardous if exposed to the environment. In this study, three amendments, biochar, biosolids, and coal combustion residuals (CCR), were

added to hard rock mine drainage treatment residual solids at a constant weight ratio to examine their potential to increase retention of ecotoxic metals. Three leaching tests were used to determine whether the retention of metals was increased by the addition of these amendments. Although the amendments had neutral to basic pH, large surface areas, and cation exchange capacities that were hypothesized to increase sorption of trace metals, the concentrations of most metals were statistically similar or elevated compared to the control. Further research may show that an application rate greater than 5% by mass or a mixture of amendments may decrease the concentration of metals available to the environment via interactions with the water cycle.

Abstracts

A Comparative Analysis of Ecosystem Service Valuation Tools For the Economic Analysis of Nature

Alissa Meek, Graduate Research Assistant

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, University of Oklahoma alissa.m.meek-1@ou.edu and Robert W. Nairn

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, University of Oklahoma

The state of the global environment necessitates changes in human environmental behavior, a feat which involves reframing the public’s understanding of ecosystems. Ecosystem service valuation (ESV) is one means of incentivizing sustainable behavior, positioning nature’s benefits within the societal economic agenda. This study comparatively evaluates six ESV tools based on their overall performance relative to defined evaluative criteria. Each tool is applied to multiple ecosystems including passive treatment systems and restored wetlands. The former evaluates the ability to provide both primary and ancillary ecosystem services, while the latter presents a unique opportunity to observe impacts of anthropogenic activity on aquatic ecosystem function, as this site will likely undergo enhancement. The results of this study

will provide better understanding of the unique interactions between water quality changes and ecological functioning. Identification of the advantages, limitations, and intended uses of ESV tools will remove a significant level of uncertainty for decision-makers and will therefore likely encourage greater participation in ecological engineering activities. As ESV efforts become more widely accepted, improvements in environmental education and appreciation are expected to manifest as changes in environmental behavior. Increased conservation action will lessen environmental pressures and mitigate further degradation of ecosystem services. In the longterm, the resulting stability of ecosystem processes will feed directly back to societal stability, much of which will convert to economic enhancement.

Abstracts

Laura Labriola

U.S. Geological Survey, University of Oklahoma llabriola@usgs.gov and

Pierre Kirstetter, University of Oklahoma Yang Hong, University of Oklahoma

Potential effects of projected climate variability on base flow and groundwater storage in reach 1 of the Washita River aquifer were estimated using downscaled climate-model data coupled with a numerical groundwater-flow model. Reach 1 of the Washita River aquifer discharges groundwater to the Washita River, which provides inflow to Foss Reservoir.

To approximate a range in future conditions, Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 climate data were downscaled to the watershed and a time-series of scaling factors were developed and interpolated for three climate scenarios (central- tendency, warmer-drier, and less-warm wetter) representing future climate conditions for the period 2050–2079. These scaling factors were then applied to the soil-water-balance model to produce groundwater recharge and evapotranspiration estimates. A previously published

MODFLOW groundwater- flow model of reach 1 of the Washita River aquifer was run, but the scaled recharge and evapotranspiration data were used instead of the baseline recharge and evapotranspiration, to estimate changes in base flow. Preliminary results indicate that the mean annual percent change in annual baseflow during the 2050–2079 decreased by 6.2% and 20% in the central tendency and warmer-drier scenarios, respectively; the mean percent change in annual base flow for the less-warm wetter scenario increased by 19.7%, compared to the baseline scenario. Preliminary results for the mean annual percent change in groundwater storage for the central tendency, warmer-drier, and less-warm wetter climate scenarios compared to the baseline are +0.06%, -0.41%, and +0.49%, respectively.

Assessing the impacts of climate projections and variability on the Upper Washita River alluvial aquifer, streams (base flows), and Foss Reservoir, western Oklahoma

John Ellis, U.S. Geological Survey Subhrendu Gangopadhyay, BOR Tom Pruitt, BOR

Abstracts

Zhi Li University of Oklahoma li1995@ou.edu and

Shang Gao, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma Mengye Chen, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma Jonathan J. Gourley, NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory

Flash floods, a subset of floods, are largely driven by high rainfall rates in convective storms. In a warmer climate, such storms are expected to become more frequent and severe, leading to potentially higher flash flood risks. However, quantifying the changes in future flood flashiness is challenging due to the lack of high-resolution climate simulations that resolve convectivescale weather patterns. Here we use outputs from a continental convective- permitting numerical weather model at 4-km and hourly resolution and force a numerical hydrologic model at a continental scale to depict such change. As results indicate, US

Changhai Liu, National Center for Atmospheric Research

Andreas Prein, National Center for Atmospheric Research Yang Hong, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

floods are becoming 7.9% flashier by the end of the century assuming a high-emissions scenario. The Southwest (+10.5%) has the greatest increase in flashiness among historical flash flood hot spots, and the central US (+8.6%) is emerging as a new flash flood hot spot. Additionally, future flash floodprone frontiers are advancing northwards. This study calls on implementing climate-resilient mitigation measures for emerging flash flood hot spots.

The US is projected to become more prone to flash floods in a high-end emissions scenario

Quantification of the Impacts of Non-Stationary Climate on Water Resources and Mitigation Strategies: Case-Studies

Sam Sarkar, PE Halff Associates, Inc. ssarkar@halff.com and Troy Dorman, PhD, PE, CFM Halff Associates, Inc.

The sixth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) predicts that a changing climate is expected to have significant impacts on human life and livelihoods across North America even if global warming limited to 1.5 deg-C. Water scarcity is projected to increase during peak summer demand periods exacerbated by intensified droughts and early snowpack melt. At the same time, coastal, riverine and urban flooding due to intensified precipitation events and rising sea levels will pose a dominant risk to urban centers. The Fourth National Climate Assessment predicts that population increase, rural to urban migration and a changing climate will impact the quality of life across the Southern Great Plains (Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas) due a redistribution of demand for food, energy, and water resources. The built environment is especially vulnerable due to increases in temperature, extreme precipitation, and rising sea levels. In this presentation, the authors will provide an overview of methods and results for selected projects that have attempted to quantify the risk of non-stationary climate as it relates to water supply planning, stormwater management and flood mitigation planning. The General Circulation Model (GCM) runs conducted under the IPCC’s Coupled Mapping Intercomparison Project Phase 5 and Phase 6 (CMIP5 and CMIP6, respectively) statistically downscaled for the conterminous US were the basis for quantification of non-stationary climate and subsequent impact assessments for the case-studies presented. A recently completed vulnerability assessment of nine counties in the Apalachee Region of the Florida Panhandle suggests changes

in the 100-year 24-hour precipitation event, varying from a 5% decrease up to a 14% increase for the 2040 and 2070 planning horizons. The changes vary by county, planning horizon and Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP). The 100year 24-hour precipitation event is generally used as the design standard for major stormwater and flood control infrastructure such as detention basins and major conveyances and therefore projected changes in precipitation have ramifications on infrastructure design and level-of-service. Intensity-DurationFrequency (IDF) curves used to derive the precipitation magnitude for the 100-year 24-hour storm are generated on the assumption of climate stationarity. The changing climate requires infrastructure design to use a variable range rather than a fixed value for the design event, accounting for the impacts of climate non-stationarity. Long-term changes in climate also have potential impacts on water supply and drought contingency planning. Extreme precipitation with extended periods of no rainfall between events are expected to result in larger runoff events and reduced baseflow. Water supply reservoirs and lakes may not have the capacity to capture such large events. In addition, evaporative losses from the reservoirs also expected to increase due to increases in air temperature. The combined effect of increased temperature and extreme precipitation may therefore impact water capture, storage, and supply. The changes in watershed hydrology also have the potential to adversely impact recharge and therefore water supply of some of the major aquifers in the region.

Abstracts

Sun Water - Rural African Solar-Powered Water Distribution. Three-Village Case Study: Challenges and Solutions from Cameroon

Joshua Knight Global Hope Network International joshua.knight@ghni.org and Eugene Lendzemo Association for Sustainable Development

Solar Power has played a major role in recent decades in providing water distribution in rural areas. Solar allows communities to have a reliable backup or alternative to grid power. This paper reviews the challenges and solutions for getting solar power to work in powering rural communities with water, using three case study villages that received water in 2021 with assistance from Rotary International, Global Hope Network International and the Association Sustainable Development. The areas of focus include financial, cultural

and environmental sustainability, three of the pillars of long-life cycle projects. The path to sustainability includes utilizing partners with long history in the region, going at the community’s pace for the project, building community financial ownership through up-front cash buy-ins, significant in-kind contributions in the form of labor, room and board, legal agreements committing the community to the project’s sustainability, and thorough training in technical, financial and organizational management of the system.

Application of Hybrid Solar Powered Electrocoagulation and Electrooxidation System for Textile Wastewater Treatment

Yemane G. Asfaha Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management, Addis Ababa University yemane.gebreselassie@aau.edu.et and

Feleke Zewge, Africa Center of Excellence for Water Man agement, Addis Ababa University Teketel Yohannes, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Addis Ababa University

The textile industry is one of the significant consumers of dyestuff, chemicals, and water. As a result, a large amount of wastewater is generated. During the dyeing process at the dyeing unit, 30% of the dyestuffs remain unbound with the cotton cellulose fibers. Therefore, to address this problem, renewable energy-based, hybrid solar-powered electrocoagulation (EC) and electrooxidation (EO) process was evaluated for its capability to remove color, total organic carbon (TOC), and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Aluminum (Al/Al) and iridium dioxide-coated onto titanium (IrO2/Ti) electrodes were selected as anode/cathode for EC and EC-EO experiments, respectively. Various research studies have been reported on textile wastewater treatment by the hybrid EC-EO process. However, these studies vary in terms of working conditions, such as the type of dye and concentration and other operating variables. In addition, much of the literature focuses primarily on the performance of the technology. However, it is also essential to look at the economic aspect, the removal mechanism, and the mineralization study. Therefore, economic analyses, mineralization, kinetics, sludge characterization studies of the treatment method were included and compared with other studies. The box-Behnken statistical experimental design was used to optimize different

Shimelis Kebede, School of Chemical and Bio-Engineering, Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, Addis Ababa University

operating conditions of the processes. The selected EC operating parameters are the concentrated dye concentration, applied current density, electrolysis time, and pH. The three chosen operating conditions for hybrid EC- EO processes are applied current density, pH, and electrolysis time. The results were evaluated based on the interaction effects of operating parameters of the treatment methods on the percentage of COD, TOC, and color removal. The EC process achieved 89% color and 76% COD removal rate at the optimum operating conditions. Likewise, the hybrid EC-EO process obtained 97% COD, TOC, and color removal efficiency. FT-IR and 1H and 13C-NMR spectroscopy combined approach was employed to analyze the dye degradation extent. Both analysis results confirm the complete degradation of the organic contaminants into carbon dioxide and water. Thus, this study discloses that the treatment method using mesh IrO2/Ti electrodes is a promising technology that could reach the discharge limit for industrial effluents. In addition, the optimum operating conditions are tested for real industrial wastewater effluents and show excellent performance in removing pollutants. Likewise, the optimum operational parameters were evaluated directly powered by solar energy and found equivalent removal rate to conventional electricity.

Abstracts

Explainable AI to understand drivers behind water-conserving behaviors

Heather Bedle University of Oklahoma, School of Geosciences hbedle@ou.edu and Christopher R.H. Garneau

University of Oklahoma, Department of Sociology

As climate change-related weather events (including droughts) trend upward in the United States, attitudes of U.S. citizens toward droughts and their use of water-conserving techniques require extensive study.

Using social survey data in combination with drought condition observations, an explainable AI method, SHAP, is employed to investigate the factors that are important in people’s perception of past droughts, short-term and long-term outlooks for droughts, and implementation of behaviors that reduce household water usage.

SHAP is based on game theory and excels in explaining the internal structure of non-parametric, non-linear variables, and is well-suited for the current study because social science survey data commonly includes both linear and non-linear variables. In this analysis, there is no predictive machine learning algorithm that we seek to explain, but rather we examine the survey data as a black box - which is the complicated interplay of the human experience and value systems, from demographics to political, ideological, and religious systems, in addition to individual perceptions and experiences regarding earthquake experiences. The SHAP method is particularly ideal for social science survey data analysis, as it is not sensitive to the independent variables’ levels of measurement (e.g. categorical, binary, linear) - given that SHAP evaluates each variable’s contribution and considers all of the correlations and interactions between variables. What results is a SHAP value for each variable, which represents the relative global importance of that variable in predicting variation in the dependent variable. We analyze data from 2018 that was collected by the Oklahoma Mesoscale

Integrated Sociogeographic Network survey both nationwide and in Oklahoma. Independent variables include a wide range of demographic measures as well as variables that assess cultural worldview, level of social capital, political ideology/affiliation, and experiential data. Our primary methodological aim is to demonstrate that the SHAP method can determine which independent variables contribute the most to drought-related behaviors and attitudes, and can quickly identify interactions between independent variables. When examining the behaviors of Oklahomans in employing waterreducing actions, we note that future perception of drought is a leading factor in taking actions, as well as income, age, and high levels of social capital. Additionally, SHAP reveals variables that affect respondents’ over- and under- estimation of recall of past droughts. Those respondents that overestimate the occurrence of droughts tend to be older, report higher levels of social capital, affiliate with the Democratic Party, and attend religious services more frequently. Using a complementary nationwide survey with similar measures, we note that significant factors for water-conserving behaviors vary between different regions of the US, where, for example, the experience of drought in the western region appears to outweigh political and ideological tendencies related to water-conserving behaviors in the east. We conclude with a discussion that emphasizes the importance of disentangling the complexities of various factors in subpopulations related to drought awareness. Furthermore, we emphasize how this research can highlight actions that could aid in improving the acceptance of policies and water mitigation

The West Africa Well Owner Network (WAWON)An Environmental Education Program for Private Well Owners in Wet Africa

Abu Mansaray Oklahoma State University abu.mansaray@okstate.edu and Kevin Wagner

There are millions of domestic wells distributed in all the towns and villages across West Africa. Most of these wells serve as the only source of water supply for residents. Water quality monitoring in these wells is not required albeit their susceptibility to contamination by pathogens and chemicals from nonpoint sources. The best way to minimize the likelihood of exposure to these contaminants is to educate the well owners about water quality in their wells and the things they could do to ensure safe drinking water. To help address this water quality issue, the Oklahoma Water Resources Center (Water Center) at Oklahoma State University (OSU) is working to establish a West Africa Well Owner Network (WAWON) in collaboration with US Embassies at various locations in West Africa, local leaders, and local university partners. The WAWON will pilot in Sierra Leone with 400 wells in two years, 200 wells per year divided into five provinces (40 wells per province). The results of the pilot project will be used to scale up the program to the majority of well owners in the country, and, subsequently, extended to other countries in West Africa. The OSU PIs will provide technical support to the project, the US Embassy will manage the funds locally, and the co-PIs at Universities in West Africa will coordinate the implementation of the project. The WAWON will develop or adapt educational resources to

create and deliver a science-based, community-responsive education curriculum. The program will educate citizens on water quality and best management practices for protecting their wells. The Water Center will work with professors to train WAWON trainers (students), who will, in turn, educate private well owners about the quality status of their well water and the need for appropriate actions. There will be a dedicated water quality staff who will be always available to answer questions from the project partners. This will help West African well owners access useful information to minimize exposure to water-borne pathogens. We will recruit private well owners in the program, conduct free water quality tests for the well owners, and coordinate meetings where we will discuss with the well owners the status of water quality in their wells and possible further actions. Each training will last for three days. On the first day, the trainers will hold a general session to engage the well owners on groundwater and human health. In the next two days, the trainers will engage each well owner to discuss the results of the water quality screening. Where necessary, remediation instructions or recommendations for additional screening will be given to the participants. The goal is to improve and protect well water quality by improving water quality awareness and knowledge of best management practices.

M. Mozzammel Hoque

Professor (Retd), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Advisor (Hon) to Environment Population Research Center mmh0801mmh@gmail.com

The water resources management has become a critical need in Bangladesh especially in the South West region because of growing demand for water and increasing conflict over its alternative uses. Accommodating huge populations with various uses of water, its growing scarcity becomes a serious issue. The supply of clean and uncontaminated water has fallen far short of demand owing to inadequate flows in the Ganges, pollution caused by the disposal of effluents and chemicals, salinity intrusion in the coastal area, and arsenic contamination. In south west region of Bangladesh storm surge and salinity in both surface water and groundwater as well as in soil is growing with time. The coastal Bangladesh faces an increasing number of challenges including cyclone, tidal surges, floods, drought, saline water intrusion, water logging, and land subsidence, which pose substantial threats to the livelihoods of the coastal inhabitants. Despite due to climate change, inequality of temporal and spatial

distribution of precipitation and flow is occurred. The south west region of Bangladesh is lowest part of the Ganges basin. The Ganges basin are shared by Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and China and as much as more than 80% of the basin lies in India and less than 4% lies in Bangladesh but the total basin is draining to the Bay of Bengal through Bangladesh. Additional impacts are due to upstream structures for water withdrawal such as the Farakka and the river link project of ware resources management India. To meet this challenge in Bangladesh the delta plan 2100 and perspective plan 2041 are making the headway. In this paper, the problems in south west region of Bangladesh such as climate change, salinity intrusion in water and soil, flooding, and livelihoods of the millions are discussed. Further, in this paper the south west regional water resources management issues, water management policy and plan, and regional cooperation in the Ganges basin are also discussed.

Water Resources Management in the South-West Region of Bangladesh and the Trans-boundary Cooperation in the Ganges Basin

Abstracts

The domestic application of international development project best practices and principles

William Strosnider University of South Carolina bill@baruch.sc.edu

Much has been written concerning the constantly evolving best practices and guiding principles for international development projects. These best practices include establishing genuine multidimensional relationships, maintaining community participation, assessing physical and human resources, developing local expertise, learning community needs, identifying indigenous approaches and technologies, prompting grassroots solutions and prioritization, and expectation management among many others. Guiding principles include genuine respect for the community, cultural appreciation, triangulation, optimal

ignorance, community ownership, and flexibility among others. It may not be immediately obvious to international development practitioners that all of these practices and principles are directly applicable to domestic development projects. Domestic development programs are often engaging communities with many parallels to international settings (e.g., cultural, educational, and language differences, indigenous technologies/approaches, trust deficits, resource disparities, long histories of disenfranchisement, etc.). Therefore, these same international development best practices and principles should be considered for domestic service projects as well.

Understanding Long-Term Effects of Dam Removal on Riparian Ecosystems: A Preliminary Engineering With Nature Study

Cheyenne Morgan

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, University of Oklahoma alissa.m.meek-1@ou.edu and Robert W. Nairn

Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, University of Oklahoma

Many studies have focused on the ecological changes that result from dam erection, however, less is known about the long-term effects on ecosystems following dam removal. A longitudinal study of the biogeochemistry and hydrology of riparian ecosystem responses and evolution following dam removal is proposed. The study will determine: 1) legacy sediment impacts on biogeochemical cycles within riverine and floodplain environments years to decades after dam removal, 2) dam removal effects on the hydrological dynamics of a given watershed, 3) climate change effects on biogeochemical and hydrological pools and fluxes at these sites, and 4) possible nature-based solutions to address the long-term effects of legacy dam reservoir sediments. Several sites that have undergone, or will soon undergo, dam removal will be chosen as the research areas for this project. Groundwater and surface water will be collected monthly to quarterly. Sediment samples will be collected at beginning of site investigation; additional sediment samples will be collected on an eventdriven basis (e.g. high river flows, flooding). Samples will be analyzed for C, N, P, S, Si, Mg, Fe, Pb, and Cl to determine the biogeochemical cycles of these elements at the research sites.

Physical parameters (e.g. pH, oxygen reduction potential, total suspended solids, dissolved oxygen) will be collected and hydrogeological characterization (e.g., stratigraphy, hydraulic conductivity, porosity, groundwater gradient, stream morphology, sediment deposition, specific yield and storage) of each site will be conducted throughout the duration of the project. The potential findings of this work will evaluate whether legacy nutrient loads continue to impact riverine ecosystems and down-gradient water quality for years to decades after dam removal. Structural hydrologic shifts, if proven to be permanent, could be the dominant controlling mechanism behind legacy nutrient mobilization. Climate models have been extensively used in environmental science but not in regard to dam removal sites. The influence of temperature and precipitation shifts on legacy reservoir sediments may be of importance in determining how legacy sediments may serve as a nutrient sink or source to surrounding ecosystems. Lastly, nature-based solutions may provide alternative options for management of legacy reservoir sediments. This study may lead to a shift in the dialogue on dam removal, potential longterm impacts, and their role in water cycle resiliency.

Removal of Constituents of Emerging Concern from Secondarily Treated Wastewater Effluent using Wetland Mesocosms

Olivia Overton University of Oklahoma School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science olivia.c.overton-1@ou.edu and Robert W. Nairn University of Oklahoma School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science

The City of Norman, Oklahoma is considering implementing Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) to augment the city’s current water supply. A concern with this implementation is the impact on human and environmental health from constituents of emerging concern (CECs) entering the local water supply from wastewater effluent. CECs are a broad range of pharmaceutical and industrial compounds that remain largely unregulated and understudied in their effects on human populations and surrounding ecosystems. Many CECs are not removed during traditional wastewater treatment processes and are found at higher concentrations in wastewater effluent than in natural waterways, due to the lipophobic and persistent nature of many pharmaceutical and human use products. Treatment wetlands (TWs) have been successful at removing many CECs from wastewater and are cost-effective in comparison to advanced treatment processes that are a common means of CEC removal. This project will establish and study twentyfive ecologically engineered wetland mesocosms at the site of the Norman Water Reclamation Facility (NWRF) to determine their capacity for CEC removal. These mesocosms vary in design to determine which design is optimal for use by the City of Norman. The design variables being analyzed are planted

and unplanted systems and surface flow and subsurface flow wetland systems. Secondarily treated effluent from the NWRF will be used to routinely flood the mesocosms, and upon reaching a set hydraulic retention time, the water will be drained from the system and discharged. Samples will be taken upon water inflow and outflow from each mesocosm, after which these samples will be analyzed for a selected suite of indicator CECs as well as traditional wastewater parameters such as BOD, TSS, nitrogen species, and total phosphorus. These data will help determine the CEC removal capacity of the mesocosms and the impact of the mesocosms on nutrient concentrations. This project will provide initial data and a long-term test site for the city in their consideration of IPR implementation. If this pilot study finds that TWs are effective at CEC removal, the city can use these data to further establish larger scale TWs, utilizing the optimal treatment designs found through this pilot study. This study will also provide more data to aid in the understanding of removal mechanisms in TWs, thus expanding the scientific knowledge base around this topic. As a result of this study, evidence will be provided to determine if TWs are both a cost-effective and effective means of CEC removal for Norman, thus aiding the future IPR implementation.

Management of Seawater Intrusion in a Coastal Aquifer: An analytical Solution for a Radial Well

Bahaa-eldin E. A. Rahim Geology Department, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya bahaa_wali@yahoo.com and Quality Control Department

Central Laboratory, Khartoum State Water Corporation, Khartoum, Sudan

The performance and dynamic of the pumping rate of a proposed radial well (with a total of six arms) in Pintu Geng area in Kelantan State in Northeast of Malaysia Peninsular were simulated using Drainage packages of visual MODFLOW. This model exercise was aimed to determine an optimum pumping rate that would safely maintain an ideal drawdown of <2.0m within a radius of 300m surrounding the Pintu Geng horizontal collector-well (PGHCW). This shallow level of drawdown was meant to act as an effective natural barrier against the local phenomena of both seawater intrusion and aquifer collapse. Furthermore, the model was used as a basis for the design and installation of PGHCW components in

the shallow coastal aquifer of Kota Bharu city. Results reveal that under natural flow conditions at −3 m depth, the model demonstrates satisfactorily when the six collectors (drains) tap a volume of 19,200 – 43,700 m3/day with a minor impact of drawdown (0.5m) within the immediate area surrounding PGHCW. This fluctuation was attributed to the variation of the estimated recharge which in turn suggests increasing the pumping rate during the dry season to sustain to desired yield of 33 m3/day. A steady-state model was also developed to predict the capture zone delineation. Attention was also given to the impact of the well installation to the surrounding 300 m radius by inspecting the degree of the drawdown.

Classification of Iron Oxyhydroxides and Reuse for Stormwater Treatment

Samantha Taylor Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds at the University of Oklahoma samanthataylor@ou.edu and

Iron oxyhydroxides are a solid residual produced in the treatment of metals contaminated mine drainage. The accumulation of these materials shortens the lifespan of passive treatment systems, ecologically engineered ecosystems designed for limited operation and maintenance. Therefore, finding effective reuse options is critically important. Iron oxyhydroxide residuals have been shown to be particularly effective at phosphorus sorption and therefore have potential for water treatment, including stormwater. Iron oxyhydroxide samples were obtained from two net alkaline hard rock mine drainage passive treatment systems, a net alkaline coal mine drainage passive treatment system, and two net acidic coal mine discharge sites. Residual iron oxyhydroxides were characterized for particle size, particle density, bulk density, and hydraulic conductivity. Particle size was determined

using sieve and hydrometer methods (ASTM D422). Particle density was determined using Soil Science Society of America methods and bulk density was determined following ASTM D7263. Hydraulic conductivity was determined using falling head with constant tail water permeability tests (ASTM D5084) for both the raw iron oxyhydroxide residuals as well as residuals amended with various percentages of clean sand. Simulated stormwater tests were run to determine water quality improvement capabilities of the media. These tests compare phosphorus content of water before and after flow through the chosen treatment media. The results of this research are intended to aid in the design of sustainable systems for the treatment of stormwater. Further work on this topic will include final designs, prototyping, implementation, and monitoring of the stormwater treatment design.

M’Kenzie Dorman, Center for Restoration of Ecosys tems and Watersheds at the University of Oklahoma

Robert W. Nairn, Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds at the University of Oklahoma

Distributed hydrologic modeling of extreme flooding under climate change in the Mvskoke (Muskogee) Nation

Theresa Tsoodle School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma theresa.e.tsoodle-1@ou.edu and

Jiaqi Zhang, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Mengye Chen, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Shang Gao, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Zhi Li, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Yang Hong, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

James Williams, Mvskoke Nation Office of Environmental Services

Distributed hydrologic modeling permits researchers to quantify changes in surface water and derive water balance equation variables that come from properties of the land. Argonne National Laboratory assembled a virtual climate conference on April 14th, 2021 and an important detail of their climate resiliency plan includes use of high accuracy, high-resolution climate models that project potential climate impacts in areas that are under-resourced and under-privileged. The mission of the study is to evaluate hydrologic effects of climate change with regards to extreme flooding events in the Mvskoke (Muskogee) Nation. Our approach will be to conduct high resolution distributed hydrologic modeling forced by downscaled global

circulation model (GCM) output under climate change in the Mvskoke (Muskogee) Nation. Precipitation and temperature are forcing data from a 13-year long convection- permitting climate simulation with 4-km grid spacing under both the current and future climates. The hydrologic simulation shows an obvious increase in both peak discharge and flashiness for extreme flood events. Given the impact and aftermath of the 2019 record flood from the Arkansas river, our results suggest great urgency for tribal sovereign nations, located in the Great Plains region, to develop water management plans that allow for climate resilience.

Removal of Nutrients and Phenolic Compounds from Coffee Processing Industrial Effluent Using Constructed Wetland

Theoneste Twagirumuhire PhD candidate, Water management (Water Science and Technology) twagiratheoneste@gmail.com and

Coffee processing wastewater (CPWW) possesses a high pollution load as a result of its organic load. Low pH (up to 3.5), high organic matter content (up to 50,000 mg/L and BOD up to 20,000 mg/L) and considerable phenol compounds (up to 388 mg/L) are three main characteristics of CPWW. Hence, it possesses all the qualities of polluted water that could negatively affect water bodies, soil, human health and plants, unless appropriate management system is implemented. The observation done showed that the huge amounts of following water mostly used to wash coffee are obtained at free cost. Up to now, the poor management of it causes the environmental pollution. The aim of this study is to investigate the nutrients and phenolic compounds removal capacity of Canna Indica based Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetland made of Pumice. The experimental set up of constructed wetland have been done in Jimma University, where the constructed wetland was composed of six cells, the first two duplicated cells were made of pumice with Canna indica plants, the third cell was made of pumice only as control, the fourth and fifth cells were also duplicated and composed of ordinary gravels with canna indica plants and the sixth was made of ordinary gravels only as control. The Pumice substrate

have been collected from Debre Zeyit/Bishoftu, Ethiopia and sized into appropriate size before being installed in constructed wetland cells. After filling substrate into cells at 30 cm depth, the canna indica plant ranged from 25 to 30 cm height from Addis Ababa University garden have been used and planted into constructed wetland, then after, the plants have been irrigated with tap water for one month. Thereafter one month plants growth; 5,000L of coffee wastewater were collected from coffee washing station in Jimma zone during dry season, the wastewater collected have been applied into constructed wetland without any dilution and the hydraulic water retention time followed at every 24 hours within 4 days. Therefore, the preliminary findings showed that the average high pollutants removal efficiency of constructed wetland was found in cells composed of pumice with canna indica plant at day 4. The constructed wetland showed the high capacity of treating coffee wastewater in short time, where within 4 days; the water is clear and safe due to the results found from laboratory analysis. However, this constructed wetland system can be recommendable to coffee washing stations, where it can treat wastewater within 4 days and be released into environment, being sure that wastewater is free from harmful.

Esayas Alemayehu, Professor of Water and Environmental Engineering, Jimma Institute of Technology (JiT), Jimma University

Adey Feleke Desta, Chair Department of MCMB College of natural and computation science, Addis Ababa University

Jiaqi Zhang

School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma jiaqi.zhang@ou.edu and

Mengye Chen, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Shang Gao, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Zhi Li, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Theresa Tsoodle, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma Yang Hong, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma

Changing climate and its extremes will reduce the reliable supply and quality of fresh water, and consequently limit food production, biofuels, and energy security. Understanding how climate extremes affect the food-energy-water systems (FEWS) is imperative to support future planning and climate adaptation process for the communities. Therefore, we are motivated to investigate the response of FEWS to climatic extremes from the perspective of water resources. This study focuses on two strategically important regions of the U.S., the Northeast (NE) and Midwest (MW), which together account for nearly half of U.S. population and GDP. The decadal “snapshot” of climate extremes is first identified using the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS-2) data for these two study regions. To compare with the impacts from climate extremes (i.e., heavy precipitation, droughts, heat- and coldwaves), the “calm climate” scenario is designed by utilizing daily climatology values for a decade. Then the hydrologic

Balazs Fekete, Environmental Sciences Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Fabio Corsi, Environmental Sciences Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Charles J. Vörösmarty, Environmental Sciences Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center, Graduate Center, City University of New York

modeling experiments are conducted using the calm and extreme forcings to analyze the impact of climate shocks to FEWS from the perspective of water resources. Several runoff characteristics (percentiles of Q1, Q5, Q10, Q20, Q50, Q80, Q90, Q95, Q99) are examined and the results show that among all scenarios, heavy precipitation scenario generates the highest runoff of all percentiles for the MW region; while for the NE region, heavy precipitation scenario only produces the highest runoff at Q99. In MW, heat and drought scenarios have more impacts for low runoff (Q1), while heat and cold scenarios have more impacts on Q1 in NE. Overall, this study examines the effect from individual types of climatic extremes in regions subject to their combined influences. The insight is helpful to disentangle the complexity in the security of FEWS under a future climate that is projected to experience a multitude of changes in extremes.

Investigate the response of food-energy-water systems to climatic extremes in Northeast and Midwest of US from the perspective of water resources

Warrior Science, Kayanní:yo (A Good Path) of Water Security for Haudenosaunee

Dawn Martin-Hill McMaster University Dawnm@mcmaster.ca

Banquet Prezi format

From the perspective of the traditional Haudenosaunee, we speak in terms of responsibilities with respect to water, not in terms of water rights. From time immemorial, we have held the view that the “law of the land” is not man-made law, but a greater natural law, the Great Law of Peace ....the root words for “rain” in Mohawk means expensive, or precious or holy. Culturally, we would not abuse this resource (King, 2007, p. 452). Indigenous communities in Canada are experiencing severe water crises caused by climate change and colonialism but are also uniquely positioned to contribute to the solutions to these problems by accessing Indigenous Knowledge (IK). IK is “...a complete knowledge system with its own concepts of epistemology, philosophy, and scientific and logical validity... [which] can only be fully learned or understood by means of the pedagogy traditionally employed by [the] peoples themselves...” ( Daes 1994). IK is increasingly recognized as a valuable source for adaptation and resilience-building in the face of impending environmental change and growing water insecurity - locally, across Canada, as well as globally (UNFCCC, 2016; Nakashima et al., 2018; IPBES, 2019). The Government of Canada’s The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call on the governments of nationstates to “...support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management” (United Nations, 2015). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs citing the IPCC report stated... account for only around 5 percent of the world’s population, [yet] they effectively manage an estimated 20-25 per cent of the Earth’s land surface. This land coincides with areas that hold 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity and about 40 per

cent of all terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes. Indigenous peoples therefore play a key role in efforts to protect the planet and biodiversity. (UN DESA, 2021) Follow the science, the data, they say. Indigenous transmission of knowledge is encoded through song, dance, ceremony, and stories in our language. The Ohneganos research project sought to co-create community stories’ that weaved traditional knowledge and western scientific data through visual, sensory, and emotive mediums in multidimensional ways; such as an immersive virtual reality interactive experience of data visualization a learning tool of water monitoring and sensing. Integrating real-time water sensing data within a decolonial place-based linguistic mapping program called Terrastories, a holistic interactive digital map that houses both Haudenosaunee knowledge supported by scientific dataarcheological data, historical signifiers to climate change modelling of water futures. Yathate is a ‘path’ that implies a warrior’s intentions to be of aid - to be helpful - something which is considered as kayanní:yo (‘a good path’) as it protects what our ancestors valued the most. In this way, co-creation approaches to IK science is putting our bodies back on the land and waterways, rediscovering our ancestral knowledge and translating it to solve modern colonial-induced ecological problems. The elevation of IK enhanced with WS and modern technologies helps advance the protection of water, animals, heritage and land ecosystems. The creation of application of scientific pluralism - when deemed appropriate - is, in fact, Warrior Science; it is clearing the yathate through rebuilding and nurturing cultural spiritual connections by sustaining ancient laws and relationships that has proven to mitigate the climate crisis we are all currently experiencing.

Abstracts

Anthropogenic Drought: Definition and Modeling Frameworks

Amir AghaKouchak University of California Irvine amir.a@uci.edu

In this presentation, we discuss the notion of anthropogenic drought which is broadly defined as a drought caused or intensified because of human activities. We argue that drought must be defined and understood as a process as opposed to a product to help better frame and describe the complex and interrelated dynamics of both natural and human-induced changes. In this presentation, after a general definition of anthropogenic drought and a review of the progress in this area, we present two different methods for assessing human influence on water availability: (1) a datadriven multivariate approach that links the information on

inflow and surface reservoir storage to water demand; (2) A model-based framework that brings a top-down and bottomup approach to provide localized water assessment based on local available infrastructure and projected water demands. Further, we make the case that anthropogenic drought and the corresponding human interactions should be incorporated in models that include land-atmosphere interactions, water balance, and energy balance. Finally, we discuss existing research gaps and opportunities for better understanding, modeling, and management of this phenomenon.

Performance Assessment of Interpolation Techniques for Optimal Areal Rainfall-Temperature Estimation. The Case of Two Contrasting River Catchments, Akaki, and Mille, Ethiopia

Hirpo Gudeta

Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management, Addis Ababa University hirpo.gudeta@aau.edu.et and

In the topographic complex catchments, landscape features have a significant impact on the spatial prediction of rainfall and temperature. In this study, performance assessments were made of various interpolation techniques for the prediction of the spatial distribution of rainfall and temperature in the Mille and Akaki River catchments, Ethiopia through an improved approach on selecting the auxiliary variables as a covariate. Two geostatistical interpolation techniques, ordinary kriging and kriging with external drift, and one deterministic interpolation technique, inverse distance weighting were tested through a Leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) procedure. The results indicated that using the multivariate geostatistical interpolation technique (KED) with the auxiliary

variables as a covariate outperformed the univariate geostatistical (OK) and deterministic (IDW) techniques for the spatial interpolation of sampled rainfall-temperature data in both contrasting catchments, Akaki and Mille, with the lowest estimation errors (e.g., for Mille annual mean rainfall: RMSE = 75.32, 77.34, 245.72, MBE = 3.70, -33.18, -15.61, MAE = 67.99, 69.51, 192.64) using KED with the combination of elevation and easting as a covariate, IDW and OK, respectively. Thus, the study confirmed that the use of elevation and easting/northing coordinates as predictors in geostatistical interpolation techniques could significantly improve the spatial prediction of climatic variables.

Tenalem Ayenew, Addis Ababa University

Tena Alemirew, Addis Ababa University

Abstracts

Evaluation of factors affecting the quality of citizen science rainfall data in Akaki catchment, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Hailay Zeray Tedla Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management (ACEWM), Addis Ababa University hailay.zeray@aau.edu.et and Alemseged Tamiru Haile and International Water Management Institute

Data quality has remained the main concern of citizen science programs. Citizen science is the participation of people in the actual science – collecting data, making records, analysing or finding new information. Particularly, the factors affecting rainfall data quality observed by the citizen scientists are not well understood. A citizen science program was set-up to monitor rainfall data using 19 raingauges during the summer rainy season of 2020 in Akaki catchment, Ethiopia. The effect of citizen scientists’ attributes on the quality of rainfall data was examined. A systematic quality control procedure was developed and applied to evaluate daily rainfall data quality. Then, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple

Linear Regressions (MLR) model were used to evaluate the effect of citizen scientists’ attributes on the quality of rainfall data. Easy-to-detect errors, during the initial stage of quality control, formed most of the errors in the rainfall data collected by the 19 citizen scientists. The rainfall data quality was mainly affected by education level, location and head of family attributes of the citizen scientists. Our findings indicated that the PCA technique and MLR model can provide useful information on the influence of citizen scientists’ attributes on rainfall data quality. Thus, training and supervision of citizen scientists should consider their attributes to ensure data quality.

Abstracts

An innovative spring capture method for improved water quality

Derek Ten Pas Calvin University, Clean Water Institute djt34@calvin.edu and Julie Wildschut Calvin University Jfield00@calvin.edu and

Many rural, indigenous communities in Andean countries of South America rely on springs as their primary drinking water source. While 75% of the urban population in Ecuador has access to safely managed drinking water services, only 53% of rural Ecuadorians experience such access. A variety of spring capture methods are employed in these communities to receive spring water resulting in varying water quality. Water from these spring fed sources, delivered to the community via a distribution network, is most often not chlorinated, increasing the risk of water borne pathogens. For rural Ecuadorian communities in poverty, health issues related to water quality amplify financial challenges. Therefore, clean water is essential to both the health and financial well-being of these rural populations. A simple, improved technique has been developed in Ecuador’s Chimborazo Province by a local, indigenous organization Corporación de Desarrollo Integral Socio Económico (CODEINSE), to protect spring water sources for community water supply. This new technique, “The CODEINSE Method” builds on the strengths of a traditional subterranean spring capture, while employing several design improvements to prevent surface water contamination. However, since this improved method and its benefits are not widely known or documented, most rural water systems continue to be built using less economical, more labor intensive, and less effective methods

to collect spring water. To spread awareness and validate water quality improvement, Calvin’s Clean Water Institute fielded research teams to go to Ecuador to collect water quality data for a comparative analysis between traditional spring capture methods and the CODEINSE Method. According to water quality data collected in Ecuador between January 2020 and August 2021, the CODEINSE Method consistently provides high quality water and results in a substantially reduced level of water borne pathogens compared to traditional methods of spring capture. On average, the CODEINSE Method yields water with less than 1.0 CFU/100mL, water that is deemed no risk by the World Health Organization. In comparison, water collected from spring boxes could be categorized as intermediate risk yielding 90 CFU/100mL, and water collected using subterranean spring capture was categorized as high risk, yielding 107 CFU/100mL on average. This session supports the mission of the OU International WaTER Conference by presenting information about an emerging method of spring capture that reconciles environmental, economic, and social inequality. By increasing public exposure through events like the OU International WaTER Conference, the CODEINSE Method has the potential to not only improve water quality in the rural Andean communities in Ecuador, but in developing countries across the world. .

Carly Bogdajewicz, Calvin University, Clean Water Institute

Chad Tatko, Calvin University, Clean Water Institute

Robert Hoeksema, Calvin University, Clean Water Institute

Wondimu Kebede Wakejo

Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa and Department of Chemical Engineering, Wachemo University Wondimu.kebede@aau.edu.et and

Beteley Tekola Meshasha, Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management, Addis Ababa University and School of Chemical and Bio Engineering, Addis Ababa institute of Technology, Addis Ababa University

Joon Wun Kang, School of Chemical and Bio Engineering, Addis Ababa institute of Technology

Yonas Chebude, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Science, Addis Ababa University

Contamination of water by ciprofloxacin has become a significant concern due to its adverse health effects and growing evidence of antimicrobial- resistant genes evolution. To this end, a chemically modified bamboo biochar was prepared from bamboo sawdust to effectively remove ciprofloxacin (CIP) from an aqueous solution. Under similar adsorption conditions, the modified bamboo biochar (MBC) has an excellent CIP removal efficiency (96%) compared to unmodified bamboo biochar (UBC) efficiency (45%). Thus, MBC was used in batch adsorption experiments and the process was optimized with the central composite design (CCD) framework of response surface methodology (RSM). Sorption process variables such as initial CIP concentration,

pH, adsorbent dose, and contact time are investigated and found to affect CIP removal significantly. The optimal CIP sorption was obtained at MBC dose (0.025 g L-1), CIP initial concentration (20 mg L-1), pH (7.5), and contact time (46 min). The adsorption kinetic data were well described by pseudosecond-order (R2 = 0.999), and both Langmuir (R2 = 0.994) and Freundlich (R2 = 0.972) models fit the isotherm data well. These results suggest that CIP adsorption is mainly controlled by chemisorption. Moreover, the CIP adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. MBC is a promising lowcost candidate for removing emerging contaminants such as ciprofloxacin from water.

Enhanced ciprofloxacin removal from aqueous solution using a chemically modified biochar derived from bamboo sawdust: Adsorption process optimization with response surface methodology

Abstracts

Assisting Small, Disadvantaged Community Water Systems in Texas- Filling the Gap with TAWWA Volunteers

Steven Walden Texas Section AWWA, Small Systems Division, Chair stevenwalden@sbcglobal.net and Elston Johnson

TAWWA, Small Systems Division

We will describe “lessons learned” from our first two years of field work. Examples of lessonlearned include the following: a) Very small community PWSs are overwhelmed with regulatory complexity, Operators are in a state of shock and despair, no way out! b) 77 % of the Texas Community water systems serve less than 3,300 people (2.73 Million people served!) and many of these small PWSs are NOT public entities. Rather,

many are privately owned manufactured housing communities providing low income housing for blue collar workers, and c) many of these troubled small water systems are near larger, compliant water systems and have been denied water interconnections for policy reasons. We will also describe barriers to stable and compliant water service and possible remedies to these barriers.to these communities and describe

Integrated surface-subsurface modeling of a low-head dam to enhance aquifer recharge

Antonio Amado Arenas

Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University aarenas@iastate.edu and Lu Liu

Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University

Prolonged drought conditions can stress water systems, affect power generation and agriculture, and disrupt commerce and economic activities. As it is the case with other weather-related disasters, droughts disproportionately impact vulnerable populations and underserved communities often don’t have the resources or alternatives to adapt to drought conditions exacerbated by climate change. Denison is a city with 8,000 residents in Crawford County in Western Iowa, a county that is most reliant on agriculture and the most socially vulnerable in the state. In recent years, prolonged dry conditions in Western Iowa have impacted water levels in the unconfined aquifer that Denison uses as drinking water source and city officials are looking for alternative ways to guarantee Denison’s water

supply for years to come. This study presents a feasibility study on the construction of a low-head dam on the Boyer River near Denison as a way to augment groundwater supply. The main objective is to quantitatively assess the increase in aquifer levels derived from the construction of the low-head dam. Analyses were made using novel physics-based surface-subsurface modeling under historic and future climatic conditions projected by the CMIP6 climate models. The research is still undergoing, and the results will provide 1) technical considerations of a low-head dam as a way to raise aquifer levels and 2) recommendations for water planners and stakeholders to prepare for anticipated future drought conditions.

Performance of Modified Trickling Filter in Removing Conventional and Emerging Pollutants from Urban Sewage: On-Site Evaluation in New Delhi, India

Rishabh Shukla

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India, and University of Oklahoma rishabh.shukla@ou.edu and Shaikh Ziauddin Ahammad Department of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India

In recent years, the presence of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB), antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in aquatic environments has gained attention since these pollutants may harm humans and aquatic life. Emerging contaminants may enter the ecosystem via a variety of routes, with wastewater being the most common. Due to weak and insufficient waste treatment facilities, it is common practice in developing countries to discharge untreated sewage into natural water bodies. In India, 35 large cities produce an estimated 15,644 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage, but the current treatment facilities can only handle 51% of this amount. The rest of the sewage is dumped directly into water bodies without being treated. Therefore, considering the health problems and environmental pollution caused by the lack of adequate wastewater treatment, there is an urgent need to develop an effective decentralised wastewater treatment which can remove both conventional and emerging pollutants. In this study, we developed a sponge-based modified trickling filter (MTF) to remove conventional and emerging pollutants from urban sewage. The MTF consists of two treatment zones, i.e., aerobic and anoxic zones, in which the aerobic zone performs nitrification, whereas the anoxic zone performs

denitrification. The dissolved oxygen concentration inside the reactor was maintained by the natural air movement through the ventilation window in the aerobic zone. We studied the removal of carbapenem, tetracycline, quinolones, macrolides and β- lactam resistant bacteria and genes and PPCPs through MTF. The performance of the reactor was evaluated for more than a year on raw urban sewage. The results obtained from this study revealed that more than 60%, 90% and 65% reductions in the concentration of COD, ammoniacal nitrogen and phosphate, respectively, were obtained through the MTF reactor. In addition, Miseq sequencing was used to examine the microbial community composition in MTF. The sequencing results revealed that Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes, Chloroflexi and Actinobacteriota were the dominant phyla in MTF. Moreover, the co-occurrence of various nitrifiers, denitrifiers, aerobic denitrifiers, and ANAMMOX bacteria in MTF suggested their role in nitrogen removal. The MTF provides a significant reduction (> 90%) in the abundance of ARB and ARG. Through MTF, a more than 50% reduction in the concentration of targeted PPCPs was achieved. Overall, the findings indicate that the MTF reactor is a viable option for decentralized wastewater treatment in small communities.

Abstracts

Improved Model for water Infrastructure Delivery

Onyeka Nkwonta

Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mangosuthu University of Technology Durban, South Africa onyinkwo2017@gmail.com

This research has attempted to develop a model for improving the delivery of water services in developing countries such as South Africa. The model lays a foundation for development of appropriate policies, regulations and procedures to improve water service delivery at EThekwini municipality. A triangulation approach was employed to develop the model using Delphi method and a structured questionnaire survey. The Delphi study involved three rounds with ten experts participating in all rounds until consensus was achieved. After the Delphi study, a

conceptual model was developed and validated using data collected from experienced professionals that deals with water infrastructures at EThekwini metro. The data collection was based on convenience sampling where 306 questionnaire were distributed and 210 complete responses were received. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used in this paper to determine the validity and reliability of the constructs of the conceptual model. The findings revealed that the structural model data was acceptable.

Nutrient mass balance for an integrated resource recovery system in Costa Rica

Haidar Aldaach

West Virginia University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering hsaldaach@mix.wvu.edu and Kevin Orner

West Virginia University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in organic waste are typically discarded in landfills. This can negatively affect water resources through eutrophication. However, organic waste can be diverted from landfills and be beneficially recovered as fertilizer. The overall goal of this study is to determine the fate of nitrogen and phosphorus in an integrated resource recovery system comprised of an anaerobic digester followed by a struvite precipitation reactor that receives multiple organic waste streams (sewage sludge, organic municipal solid waste, and FOG) in Monteverde, Costa Rica. The objectives of this study are to (1) monitor the operation of a constructed resource recovery pilot-scale system in the study area from July to December 2022, (2) gather field data along with data from the literature on nutrients to create a database, (3) use the database to estimate the amounts of nutrients input into the pilot-scale system, and (4) determine whether these amounts of nutrients are sufficient for offsetting synthetic fertilizer use in the region. A nutrient mass balance is used in this study to achieve the study’s purpose. Results from previous literature that also used mass balance analysis on nutrient resource recovery in the

same area (Monteverde, Costa Rica) showed that PO43- and NH4+ are released from the animal manure during anaerobic digestion, and their concentrations in the liquid phase are increased by 130% and 120%, respectively. Furthermore, average removals of total phosphorus and nitrogen were 25% and 4% through sedimentation in the digesters. However, the average removals of PO43 -P and NH4+-N from the digester effluent during struvite precipitation were 79% and 14%, respectively. Therefore, there is evidence that integrating an anaerobic digester and struvite precipitation reactor can help better manage organic waste in the region. I have reviewed ten articles and collected data for nitrogen and phosphorus for the study area. I will share the mass balance results from previous literature and field data in my presentation. The field data will be collected from the study area in August 2022. A mass balance of nutrients in an integrated resource recovery system can be used to inform policy on improved sanitation, remove nutrients to reduce eutrophication risks, and recover struvite to be used as a fertilizer.

David Wilcox

University of Oklahoma, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds dmwilcox@ou.edu and Robert W. Nairn

University of Oklahoma, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds

Billions of dollars are spent annually on stream and river restoration projects in the United States, often with the goal of establishing a riparian buffer between upland areas and the water to improve water quality. In the Horse Creek watershed of the Grand Lake o’ the Cherokees, stream conservation easements seek to improve water quality by removing land from agricultural production. These riparian ecosystems are transitional between aquatic and terrestrial environments, providing a wide range of ecological functions such as nutrient cycling, primary production, and organic matter decomposition. In agriculturally dominated areas such as the Horse Creek watershed, loss of riparian habitat has been identified as a major contributor to water quality degradation. This project aimed to evaluate the structural and functional success of establishment of riparian buffers in the Horse Creek watershed through comparison to regional reference streams. Habitat assessments and rapid bioassessments generated physical habitat and fish, macroinvertebrates, and periphyton community data. Riparian vegetation recovery was evaluated using the National Riparian Core Protocol procedures. A remote sensing approach using a small unoccupied aerial system (sUAS) generated data to calculate vegetation recovery and extent. A number of ecosystem functional indicators were

coupled with structural data. Gross primary productivity and respiration were evaluated using an open diel oxygen method Decomposition was evaluated using cotton tensile strength loss assays. Cotton strips simulate cellulose fibers found in natural leaf litter, an important source of energy for aquatic environments. Tensile strength was evaluated before and after incubation to determine rate of loss. Remote sensing approaches generated multispectral images of the easements and evaluated both normalized difference vegetation index and digital surface models. Results indicate that functional indicators of stream ecosystem health are responding positively to conservation easements in the watershed. Cotton tensile strength loss assays indicate that decomposition is similar to reference conditions in the conservation easement site. Nutrient data indicates that phosphate and nitrogen concentrations decrease in the conservation easement, although the concentrations are higher than at the reference site. These results indicate that the Horse Creek conservation easement is achieving its goals of improving water quality. Future studies should continue to evaluate both structural and functional indicators in the Horse Creek watershed to monitor changes to water quality and habitat.

Ecosystem Metabolism as a Tool to Evaluate Conservation Easement Success in the Horse Creek Watershed of the Grand Lake o’ the Cherokees, Oklahoma

Solar based water purification system for household wastewater treatment

Anuradha Awasthi

National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur (CSIR-NEERI), India anu17awasthi@gmail.com and

Environmental Materials Division

National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur (CSIR-NEERI), India

Clean water provision has gradually become an essential issue since its inclusion as one of the SDGs (Clean Water and Sanitation) declared by the UN General Assembly in 2015. Freshwater finds various livelihood applications in the domestic, industrial, and energy sectors of nations around the globe. Reclaimed wastewater has been considered an alternative water resource for non-potable or (indirect) potable use, particularly in counties or regions facing water scarcity. Around 80.0% of water is supplied to households for domestic use and returns to domestic sewage and greywater. Several advanced water purification technologies are now available, but they have not been particularly successful due to high maintenance costs and resource utilization. Focusing on renewable energies such as solar distillation for household wastewater treatment is one of the safest and economically viable methods for better efficiency. The need of the hour is to develop long-term treatment methods that make use of readily available natural resources and non-toxic nanomaterials. Considering solar energy’s vast abundance and inexhaustibility, harnessing it to produce clean water is viable to meet current global water and clean energy scarcity challenges. The current research focuses on recent advancements and emerging applications of these solarpowered processes using novel carbon-based nanomaterials. Research focuses on the efficiency of solar distillation systems for trapping heat for vaporization, interaction, and condensation.The efficiency of two nanomaterials, carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) and graphene oxide (GO), towards solar energy utilization for household wastewater treatment has been studied. Synthesized

nanomaterials were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Ultraviolet-Differential reflectance spectroscopy (UVDRS), and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The result indicates that carbon nanoparticles coated stainless steel (SS) sheet shows a higher rate of water evaporation (15 %) as compared to plain (SS) sheet (4%) due to the photothermal effect of carbon nanoparticles. Spectrophotometric assays confirm the stability of coating for a longer duration when tested against distilled water as blank. Thermal profiling of nanosuspension of GO at different concentrations (5, 10, 20, 25, 30 mg) indicated that synthesized GO nanosuspension at 10 mg concentration shows high water evaporation loss compared to other concentrations with excellent stability. A stability test of nanosuspension was carried out using zeta potential, which accounted to be negative (-31.14 to -31.39 mV) with 80 nm particle size at pH 7 with excellent dispersibility. The synergistic approach of nanocomposites and solar energy for treating water will be a new eco-friendly approach adopted to treat and reuse wastewater for domestic to large-scale applications. Current water treatment technology is convenient and practical for decontaminating water through solar energy in combination with synthesized nanomaterials. Water treatment and purification using advanced nanomaterials are intended for all sectors, including domestic and commercial uses with a variety of applications. Keywords: Water treatment technologies; solar energy; solar distillation; photothermal materials; nanosuspension

Retrofitting conventional treatment plants due to changing source water quality in India

Pawan Labhasetwar Chief Scientist and Head, Water Technology and Management Division pk_labhasetwar@neeri.res.in

India is the second-most populous country (16% of the global population) and has only 2.4% of the geographical area and 4% of the world’s water resources. The current population is around 1.4 billion, with an annual population growth of 1%. Increasing population and aspirations are puttingup stress on already limited water availability in India. The urban population is projected to be 600 million by 2030, and the demand-supply gap will widen to around 50 billion cubic meters (BCM) in 2030. Presently, five of the world’s 20 largest cities facing water stress are in India, and Delhi is second on the list. Drinking water is accorded the highest priority in India, and most of the major cities meet their water demand through surface water sources. The urbanization in India is also exerting stress on water infrastructures, such as the augmentation of raw water sources, treatment plants, and distribution systems. Conventional water treatment plants consisting of aeration, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection remain the only medium to provide treated water to the large population, particularly those at the bottom of the pyramid. Fluctuating source water quality in India also affects the performance of the conventional water treatment plants. It has been observed

over the years in India that the surface water source quality is deteriorating significantly. The proliferation of algae in source water is a significant concern that is getting exacerbated due to climate change. As the conventional water treatment plants cannot effectively remove algae, particularly cyanobacteria, growing complaints are received about poor taste, color, and odor in drinking water. Nagpur, a central Indian city, also faced problems of algae in source water which could be tackled by resorting to pre- chlorination and increase in the dosing of the coagulant poly-aluminum chloride (PAC). However, these steps are only temporary in nature, and these conventional water treatment plants need to be retrofitted by having additional treatment units such as ultrafiltration and granular activated carbon. With aging water treatment infrastructures, retrofitting otherwise also had become mandatory. An efficient water treatment system such as ultrafiltration may be an option due to the considerable cost reduction of ultrafiltration membranes. This paper further analyzes the cost-implications of having these additional water treatment units against the backdrop of limited tariff recovery by Municipal Corporations responsible for water supply in the cities.

The University of Oklahoma Thurman J. White Forum and Conference Services 1704 Asp Avenue Norman, Oklahoma 73072

The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution. www.ou.edu/eoo.