Current models in design of urban water management systems and their corresponding infrastructure using centralized designs have commonly failed from the perspective of cost effectiveness and inability to adapt to the future changes. These challenges are driving cities towards using decentralized systems. While there is great consensus on the benefits of decentralization; currently no methods exist which guide decision-makers to define the optimal boundaries of decentralized water systems. A new clustering methodology and tool to decentralize water supply systems (WSS) into small and adaptable units is presented. The tool includes two major components: (i) minimization of the distance from source to consumer by assigning demand to the closest water source, and (ii) maximization of the intra-cluster homogeneity by defining the cluster boundaries such that the variation in population density, land use, socio-economic level, and topography within the cluster is minimized. The methodology and tool were applied to Arua Town in Uganda. Four random cluster scenarios and a centralized system were created and compared with the optimal clustered WSS. It was observed that the operational cost of the four cluster scenarios is up to 13.9 % higher than the optimal, and the centralized system is 26.6% higher than the optimal clustered WSS, consequently verifying the efficacy of the proposed method to determine an optimal cluster boundary for WSS. In addition, optimal homogeneous clusters improve efficiency by encouraging reuse of wastewater and stormwater within a cluster and by minimizing leakage through reduced pressure variations.

Extensive studies have indicated that real-life project-based learning through industry involvement in capstone design courses provides benefits to students, faculty, and industry practitioners. This paper presents the contributions of industry participants to student experiential and project-based learning in the civil and environmental engineering senior design courses at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). Surveys were conducted to obtain insights into the contributions of industry involvement in the capstone design course from the perspectives of both students and practitioners. Practitioners have been involved in various roles, including project mentors for capstone design projects and/or judges for students’ capstone design project presentations. Practitioners, through the students, are provided with new ways of looking at and solving problems. Practitioners, through their involvement, provide valuable feedback to the faculty and students that enriches the overall experience gained in the capstone design course. This feedback helps improve student performance on their projects and provides them with additional tools to carry forward into their engineering careers. However, there was a gap in perception between students and practitioners with regard to the benefits of industry involvement. This paper also describes two successful capstone design projects and culminates success drivers from the reflection of instructors teaching these courses. The results of this study have substantial implications for faculty teaching these courses. They showed what students did well and pinpointed areas for improvement through the lens of industry practitioners.

Volumetric clarification is a common storm-water unit operation for hydrologic attenuation that couples particulate matter (PM) separation. Recent volumetric clarification can also include integrated filtration. This study examines the unsteady hydraulic and head loss response of a volumetric clarifying filter (VCF) system to urban source area hydrologic loadings in Baton Rouge, La for 19 fully captured events. The rainfall-runoff response of the $\mathrm{1,088}{\text{m}}^2$ paved watershed is examined as a direct VCF loading. Watershed responses yielded two classes of behavior; high volume events with an equilibrium volumetric runoff coefficient from 0.6–0.8 while low volume events were 0.4–0.6. Runoff PM as suspended sediment concentration (SSC) yielded coarse heterodisperse influent particle-size distributions (PSDs); transformed to finer and more monodisperse PSDs after treatment. While event-mean head loss is less than 25 mm, instantaneous values up to 200 mm were dependent on instantaneous flow to the filters. Without backwashing, filter ripening head loss is small due to the coarse uniform filter media and radial filter configuration, with a loss of 2% porosity across the series of 19 events. Despite filter ripening an Ergun model was capable of predicting head loss across the entire flow rate range. Head loss and flow frequency distributions were exponential. Results indicate that a volumetric clarifier, filter geometry, and engineered media combination are capable of reducing effluent SSC to $<30\text{mg}/\text{L}$ through serial mechanisms of sedimentation followed by filtration.

A very detailed water budget analysis was conducted on Lake Trafford in South Florida. The inflow was dominated by surface water influx via five canals (61%), with groundwater influx constituting 12% and direct rainfall constituting 27%. Lake discharge was dominated by sheet flow (69%) and evapotranspiration (30.5%), with groundwater recharge of the hydraulically connected unconfined aquifer accounting for only 0.5%. The removal of 30 M tons (4.4 × 10⁶ m³) of organic sediment impacted the groundwater influx, causing enhanced groundwater flow into the deeper parts of the lake and mixed flow along the banks, creating a rather unusual pattern. The large number of groundwater seepage meters used during this investigation led to a very reliable set of measurements with occasional failure of only a few meters. A distinctive relationship was found between the wet-season lake stage, heavy rainfall events, and pulses of exiting sheet flow from the lake. Estimation of the evapotranspiration loss using data collected from a weather station on the lake allowed the use of three different models, which, when averaged, produced results comparable to Lake Okeechobee (South Florida). A limitation of this investigation was the inability to directly measure sheet-flow discharges, which had to be estimated as a residual within the calculated water budget.

Lake Trafford, a 600-ha subtropical lake in southwestern Florida, has suffered from over 50 years of cultural eutrophication, resulting in the invasion of Hydrilla verticillata and organic sediment accumulation due to herbicide treatments. This study aimed to assess the effects of dredging on nutrient dynamics. A pre-dredging nutrient budget, developed using land use models and climatic data, estimated nutrient loads of 190 kg d⁻¹ for total nitrogen (TN) and 18.6 kg d⁻¹ for total phosphorus (TP), with total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) of 70.4 kg d⁻¹ for TN and 4.15 kg d⁻¹ for TP. Post-dredging analysis, using detailed spatiotemporal data, showed higher nutrient loads of 274.3 kg d⁻¹ for TN and 24.2 kg d⁻¹ for TP. While dredging reduced legacy nutrient accumulation, it led to increased nutrient influx from groundwater, caused by the exposure of organic sediment, as evidenced by increased lake water electrical conductivity. These findings demonstrate the importance of conducting thorough pre-dredging assessments to mitigate unintended consequences, offering practical insights for managing nutrient loads and improving restoration strategies in eutrophic lakes.