Ulrich Dittmer

Prof. Ulrich Dittmer

Institute for Water Infrastructure and Resources, TU Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

22Years (2005-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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1 November 2019 in Journal of Environmental Management
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
Amin E. BakhshipourAmin E. Bakhshipour
Amin E. Bakhshipour
Ulrich DittmerUlrich Dittmer
Ulrich Dittmer
Ali HaghighiAli Haghighi
Ali Haghighi
WNWolfgang Nowak
Wolfgang Nowak

1 July 2020 in Science of The Total Environment
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
Anacleto RizzoAnacleto Rizzo
Anacleto Rizzo
KTKatharina Tondera
Katharina Tondera
TPT.G. Pálfy
T.G. Pálfy
Ulrich DittmerUlrich Dittmer
Ulrich Dittmer
DMD. Meyer
D. Meyer
FMF. Masi
F. Masi

9 August 2022 in Water Research
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
LMLena Mutzner
Lena Mutzner
VFViviane Furrer
Viviane Furrer
HCHélène Castebrunet
Hélène Castebrunet
Ulrich DittmerUlrich Dittmer
Ulrich Dittmer
Stephan FuchsStephan Fuchs
Stephan Fuchs
LVLuca Vezzaro
Luca Vezzaro
Urban wet-weather discharges from combined sewer overflows (CSO) and stormwater outlets (SWO) are a potential pathway for micropollutants (trace contaminants) to surface waters, posing a threat to the environment and possible water reuse applications. Despite large efforts to monitor micropollutants in the last decade, the gained information is still limited and scattered. In a metastudy we performed a data-driven analysis of measurements collected at 77 sites (683 events, 297 detected micropollutants) over the last decade to investigate which micropollutants are most relevant in terms of 1) occurrence and 2) potential risk for the aquatic environment, 3) estimate the minimum number of data to be collected in monitoring studies to reliably obtain concentration estimates, and 4) provide recommendations for future monitoring campaigns. We highlight micropollutants to be prioritized due to their high occurrence and critical concentration levels compared to environmental quality standards. These top-listed micropollutants include contaminants from all chemical classes (pesticides, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and industrial and household chemicals). Analysis of over 30,000 event mean concentrations shows a large fraction of measurements (> 50%) were below the limit of quantification, stressing the need for reliable, standard monitoring procedures. High variability was observed among events and sites, with differences between micropollutant classes. The number of events required for a reliable estimate of site mean concentrations (error bandwidth of 1 around the "true" value) depends on the individual micropollutant. The median minimum number of events is 7 for CSO (2 to 31, 80%-interquantile) and 6 for SWO (1 to 25 events, 80%-interquantile). Our analysis indicates the minimum number of sites needed to assess global pollution levels and our data collection and analysis can be used to estimate the required number of sites for an urban catchment. Our data-driven analysis demonstrates how future wet-weather monitoring programs will be more effective if the consequences of high variability inherent in urban wet-weather discharges are considered.

1 July 2015 in Ecological Engineering
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
DMDaniel Meyer
Daniel Meyer
FCFlorent Chazarenc
Florent Chazarenc
DCDominique Claveau-Mallet
Dominique Claveau-Mallet
Ulrich DittmerUlrich Dittmer
Ulrich Dittmer
NFNicolas Forquet
Nicolas Forquet
Guenter LangergraberGuenter Langergraber
Guenter Langergraber

2 August 2022 in Water Research
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
SHSina Hesarkazzazi
Sina Hesarkazzazi
Amin E. BakhshipourAmin E. Bakhshipour
Amin E. Bakhshipour
MHMohsen Hajibabaei
Mohsen Hajibabaei
Ulrich DittmerUlrich Dittmer
Ulrich Dittmer
Ali HaghighiAli Haghighi
Ali Haghighi
Robert SitzefreiRobert Sitzefrei
Robert Sitzefrei
Recent research underpinned the effectiveness of topological decentralization for urban stormwater networks (USNs) during the planning stage in terms of both capital savings and resilience enhancement. However, how centralized and decentralized USNs' structures with various degrees of redundancy (i.e., redundant water flow pathways) project resilience under functional and structural failure remains an unresolved issue. In this work, we present a systemic and generic framework to investigate the impact of adding redundant flow paths on resilience based on three strategies for optimal centralized versus decentralized USNs. Furthermore, a tailored graph-theory based measure (i.e., eigenvector centrality) is proposed to introduce redundant paths to the critical locations of USNs. The proposed framework is then applied to a real large-scale case study. The results confirm the critical role of layout decentralization under both functional (e.g., extreme precipitation events), and structural failure (e.g., pipe collapse). Moreover, the findings indicate that the implementation of redundant paths could increase resilience performance by up to 8% under functional failure without changing the network's major structural characteristics (i.e., sewer diameters, lengths, and storage capacity), only by leveraging the effective flow redistribution. The scheme proposed in this study can be a fruitful initiative for further improving the USNs' resilience during both planning and rehabilitation stages.