Research Projects
Current Projects
STTR Phase I: Machine learning and video-based sensor for measuring sewer flows
The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will be to provide water reclamation facilities with accurate and reliable data across all pipe flow conditions in order to make infrastructure and operational decisions. This decision-making capability is important as many facilities spend millions of dollars each year on improving sewer system function, yet are constrained by lack of quality data on sewer flows. Improved sewer flow data may help to optimize infrastructure improvements and reduce costs to taxpayers. In addition, this work may directly advance the health and welfare of the American public through improved wastewater collection systems operations and reduced overflows and basement backups. This technology has broader social implications as low-income and minority communities are disproportionately affected by flood impacts.
Supported by:
Supported by:
Lafferty Family Foundation
Stormwater Infrastructure and Antibiotic Resistance
Antibiotic resistance is a public health crisis that could render antibiotics ineffective against bacterial infections. Our research has revealed connections between stormwater and antibiotic resistance and indicated that stormwater can move antibiotic resistance genes through the environment. This finding is especially concerning because it means that stormwater could serve as a link between people and antibiotic resistance bacteria; however, this finding is also encouraging because stormwater systems, including green infrastructure best management practices, could be designed to mitigate this threat. This research will fundamentally investigate how antibiotic genes transfer and spread in the environment and what impacts resistance.
Remote sensing of stormwater infrastructure
Managing stormwater assets is a challenge for municipalities and government entities who must operate and maintain infrastructure that is decentralized and geographically disperse. This research seeks to assist these efforts through the integration of drone and satellite remote sensing for inspecting stormwater assets.
Supported by
Supported by:
Measuring flow rates using distributed temperatures sensing
It can be a significant challenge to identify sources of flow in stormwater and sanitary sewers using traditional in-situ monitoring approaches and there are no cost-effective methods that can determine flow rates and flow sources throughout an entire sewer system. This proposal seeks to overcome this challenge through a novel approach to flow monitoring and analysis that can capture flow dynamics throughout a sewer network. To do so, this approach utilizes distributed temperature sensing through a figure optic cable within the sewer network that can measure temperature continuously at 1-meter intervals. While previous studies and preliminary work have identified the potential for this approach, there are several challenges that this proposed work will address to validate this method. This work will overcome these challenges by (1) defining the relationship between flow sources and temperature across a range of environmental conditions and (2) improving the methods for estimating flow from temperature.
Improving stormwater system function
Many green stormwater infrastructure practices are designed to capture, treat, and infiltrate stormwater runoff. While they are effective at reducing volume of stormwater runoff and particulate pollutants, in many cases the concentrations of dissolved nutrients are higher in the flow leaving green stormwater infrastructure than that entering it. Therefore, this project seeks to develop innovative ways in which to improve the dissolved pollutant mitigation of green stormwater infrastructure through novel treatment approaches.
Supported by:
