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Department of Environmental, Water and Agriculture Engineering
General Information The division of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering (EWRE) provides the basic science and engineering for the proper design and study of advanced water supply systems, exploitation and preservation of surface and groundwater resources, design and performance of pipelines, drainage and sewer systems, water and waste water treatment systems, maritime structures, air pollution control, disposal of municipal refuse and industrial wastes, quality of the coastal and marine environment, remediation of contaminated soils and groundwater environments. Courses at the undergraduate level include Fluid Mechanics, Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering. In addition the Division offers two general strings of elective courses, each leading to a final project and a seminar. One string on "Hydrodynamics and Water Resources", and the other on "Environmental Engineering" Studies at the graduate level lead towards the following degrees:
Nonlinear dynamics and chaos in hydrodynamics. Application of fractal analysis in formulation and solution of environmental problems. Modern theories of wave forecasting. Nonlinear wave shoaling and coastal processes. Wave structure interaction. Stratified flow studies. Remote sensing of the marine and coastal environment. HYDROLOGY OF SURFACE RUNOFF Theoretical and applied research of topics related to surface runoff. Rainfall distribution in space and time. Moving storms. Rainfall-runoff relations. Linear and nonlinear models of surface runoff systems. Single event and continuous models of watersheds. Evaporation from reservoirs and lakes. Evapotranspiration from land surface. Infiltration models for watersheds. Hydrology of arid and semi-arid watersheds. HYDROLOGY OF GROUNDWATER Research focuses on the topics:
COASTAL AND MARINE ENGINEERING Coastal and ocean hydrodynamics; Shore protection; Contaminant transport in marine environment; Ports, coastal and off-shore structures; Breakwaters; Ship hydrodynamics and modeling. Construction of artificial islands off the coast of Israel. WATER RESOURCES SYSTEMS Development and application of systems analysis methods, simulation and optimization to planning, design and operation of water resources systems. Special emphasis is placed on incorporation of water quality into the models and consideration of risk and uncertainty in the decision making process. A series of studies has concentrated on multi-quality water distribution systems: methods for optimal design and operation, with particular attention to the non-smooth nature of optimization problems. WIND ENGINEERING AND CLIMATOLOGY The effects of wind on structures, on man and on his environment are studied theoretically and experimentally at the M. David Lipson Environmental Tunnel. Use of small-scale models are used to simulate ventilation, wind flow transport, dispersion of heat and pollutants, and heavy gas in urban areas and complex topography. Heat disposal from industrial plants, smoke movement and control. Building climatology, use of passive solar energy in buildings, and air conditioning in buildings. AIR POLLUTION The location of the Technion directly above the industrialized Haifa Bay intensifies the awareness to air pollution problems. Studies involve characterization of pollutants, especially atmospheric aerosols, precipitation chemistry, gas particle reaction, and electron microscopy of particles. Research also includes topics in air pollution meteorology, air pollution control, indoor air, emissions from municipal landfill. WATER TREATMENT AND QUALITY STUDIES Studies concerned with novel and improved methods of water treatment include contact flocculation-filtration in the absence, as well as in the presence of organic matter, using polyelectrolytes and inorganic flocculants, adding water-treatment chemicals by slow release from polymers, adsorbing pollutants from multicomponent systems on synthetic resins and activated carbon, and precipitating traces of heavy metal in presence of organic pollutants. WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT A number of studies are concerned with fundamental information needed for managing water quality and with characterizing the behaviour of some specific pollutants. They include problems caused by the presence of anionic and nonionic detergents in reclaimed effluents and their biodegradability and disinfection by-products, as well as chloroorganics resulting from effluent disinfection by chlorine and chlorine dioxide. WATER POLLUTION MICROBIOLOGY AND VIROLOGY Research on the effect of biological wastewater treatment processes and of chlorination, bromination, ozonation, and other disinfectants on micro-organisms, has dealt with pathogenic micro-organisms: protozoa, bacteria, viruses, and micro-organisms used as index of pollution. Studies also involved the possibility of using bacteriophages as a pollution index and the survival of bacteria and viruses in sea water. The survival of pathogenic bacteria and viruses on a 70,000 cubic meter reservoir was investigated. The effect of sewage and cattle manure in fish ponds was studied from an ecological and human health point of view. The regrowth of bacteria in the distribution water is being studied. WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND RECLAMATION Israel is currently utilizing essentially all of its conventional water resources. Renovated wastewater constitutes the most immediately available economical source of additional water, particularly for agriculture, which already utilizes 70% of its total water supply, and ground water recharge. The staff is involved in research dealing with the whole range of problems concerning wastewater treatment and reclamation methods from the large regional and country-wide projects to systems used by small communities. ADVANCED METHODS FOR TREATMENT AND RENOVATION For the reclaimed wastewater to join the main stream of water use in Agriculture, rather than being restricted to a limited range of crops, it has to reach quality beyond that afforded by processes now in use. A wide of treatment methods is being studied, including advanced biological treatment, novel sequencing and optimization of physico-chemical and biological treatments, direct flocculation and clarification of raw wastewater, nitrification-denitrification,activated carbon adsorption, removal of refractory nitrogen and organic compounds by treatment with lime, ozone, and activated carbon to give water of very high quality, suitable for groundwater recharge, direct contact flocculation filtration of effluents, ammonia and phosphate removal and recover by adsorption on ion-exchange resins and alumina, as well as the use of ozone for effluent disinfection for unrestricted irrigation. Developing processes for treating and recycling industrial wastes. Studies are conducted at the request of both industrial concerns and governmental agencies; for example, introduction of wastewater treatment and recycling systems in petroleum refineries and paper mills, as well as treating metal finishing waste streams to make them treatable in municipal plants. MONITORING OF WASTEWATER RECLAMATION AND REUSE SYSTEMS Wastewater reuse for agricultural irrigation
is most essential as far as the balance of supply and demand of water in
Israel is concerned. Monitoring of the two largest wastewater reuse projects
in Israel, as well as the relevant research and engineering and scientific
investigations of these projects, is conducted at the Technion on a continuous
basis. The two projects are:
MUNICIPAL WASTE TREATMENT AND MATERIAL AND ENERGY RECOVERY With the continuous rise in both population size and living standards, solid waste disposal becomes an increasingly serious problem. In addition, the rising cost of both raw materials and energy makes it important to reclaim values from municipal and industrial wastes. Studies include development of a high efficiency methanogenic digestion process to recover energy from Israeli waste, system engineering problems in raw materials recovery from domestic refuse, and leaching of pollutants from sanitary landfills. AGRICULTURAL WASTE TREATMENT AND MATERIAL AND ENERGY RECOVERY Research and development in the field of anaerobic and aerobic high rate processes for treatment and recovery of agricultural liquid, semi-liquid and solid wastes are conducted on a continuous multi-year program; Investigation of animal wastes derived from dairy cows, cattle, pigs and poultry; Intensive R&D program on material and energy recovery in industrial greenhouses and aquaculture. Remediation of contaminated soils and groundwater. Research and development of bioremediation and bioventing methods and reclamation of saturated and unsaturated zones is conducted FACILITIES Wastewater and Water Treatment Laboratories; Environmental Microbiological Laboratory; Trace Organic and Toxic Contaminant Laboratory; Laboratory for Industrial Wastewater Treatment and Water Renovation; Environmental Chemistry Laboratories; Pilot Plants for water and wastewater treatment and energy conservation in environmental processes; Hydraulic Laboratory facilities; Towing Tank; Wave Basin; Environmental Wind Tunnel; Air Quality Control and Air Pollution Laboratory; Workshop Facilities; Electronic Laboratory. (See also Center for Research in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, and Coastal and Marine Engineering Research Institute.) FACULTY MEMBERS Argaman
Yerachmiel, Professor
Narkis
Nava, Professor
Neumann Peter, Professor
Mamane
Yaacov, Professor
Rubin
Hillel, Professor
Shamir
Uri, Professor
Stiassnie
Michael, Professor
Zimmels
Yoram, Professor
Agnon
Yehuda, Associate Professor
Armon Robert, Associate Professor
Dosoretz
Carlos, Associate Professor
Galil Noah, Associate Professor
Green Michal, Associate Professor
Gutman Per-Olof, Associate Professor
Hassid
Samuel, Associate Professor
Indelman Peter, Associate Professor
Shaviv Abraham, Professor
Shmulevich Itzhak, Associate Professor
Sinai Gideon, Associate Professor
Broday David, Senior
Lecturer
Shavit Uri, Senior
Lecturer
Friedler Eran, Senior
Lecturer
Carmel Yohay
Lecturer
Ostfeld Avi, Senior Lecturer
Lahav Ori,
Senior Research Associate
Bear Jacob, Professor Emeritus
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