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11/9/2009 Fall 2009 Graduate Seminar Series Friday, November 13, 2009, Location 386 NEB 2:45 pm Reception; 3:00 pm 50-Minute Seminar SUSTAINABLE URBAN WATER INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS James P. Heaney Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences University of Florida ABSTRACT As early as the 1960’s, urban water experts from the ASCE Urban Water Resources Research Council were advocating the need to take an integrated systems view of water supply, wastewater, and stormwater. While these investigators were able to scope out the problem, they lacked the essential computational and measurement tools to conduct these evaluations. A brief chronology of advances in developing more sustainable urban water infrastructure systems is presented. Then, general principles of urban water management are described that can develop more sustainable systems by integrating the traditionally separate functions of providing water supply, collecting, treating, and disposing of or reusing wastewater, and managing urban wet-weather flows for flood control, drainage and water quality control. Improved sustainability is defined in terms of the extent to which treated wastewater and stormwater can be reused as sources of supply for nonpotable water supply needs such as irrigation and toilet flushing. This presentation will describe options for evaluating urban water infrastructure options that can move us towards more sustainable urban water futures. BIOSKETCH Dr. Heaney received his PhD in environmental and water resources engineering from Northwestern University. Currently, he is Professor of the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida. He specializes in the application of decision support systems to developing more sustainable urban water infrastructure systems including water supply, wastewater, and stormwater. Dr. Heaney has served on numerous committees of the National Academy of Sciences dealing with water and environmental issues. He is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and a Diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers

11/2/2009 Fall 2009 Graduate Seminar Series The UF Water Institute is pleased to announce that Dr. Aris Georgakakos, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Director of the Georgia Water Resource Institute, will be the next speaker in the Smallwood Distinguished Scholar Seminar Series. Dr. Georgakakos' research interests include remote sensing of hydrologic variables; flood and drought management; hydropower scheduling; agricultural planning; and decision support systems for river basin planning, management, and conflict resolution. Thursday November 5, 2009 Speaker: Aris Georgakakos, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Director of the Georgia Water Resource Institute Seminar Title: Climate Change Assessment for the ACF River Basin Abstract (PDF) Time: 3 pm - 5 pm Thursday, November 5, 2009 Location: 209 Emerson Alumni Hall The seminar will be videostreamed for off-campus viewers: http://at.ufl.edu/~video/main/index.php Dr. Georgakakos is available to meet with interested faculty and students while he is here. Please contact Wendy Graham (wgraham@ufl.edu) if you are interested in scheduling a meeting with your group or department.

10/26/2009 Fall 2009 Graduate Seminar Series Friday, October 30, 2009, Location 386 NEB 2:45 pm Reception; 3:00 pm 50-Minute Seminar A Comparison of Organic Chemical Contaminants in Wisconsin and Florida Sediments Joseph J. Delfino, Ph.D. Professor Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences University of Florida Abstract Sediments in waterways contain chemical contaminants that have been discharged, or have drained, from urban or semi-urban sites and watersheds over varying periods of time. Studies of organic chemical sediment contaminants were performed in different Wisconsin [Lower Fox River, Upper Fox River, and Sheboygan River] and Florida waterways [over 30 sites statewide, including the St. Johns and Miami Rivers, and various smaller drainage systems] at different times over several decades. The goal was to characterize inputs from various point and non-point sources in diverse watersheds. Point sources of organic chemical contamination found in sediments of selected waterways originated from pulp and paper mill and municipal wastewater treatment plant effluents, and various other industrial activities. Nonpoint source contributions originated from watershed runoff, including roadways and soils, and from uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. Several priority pollutant polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons were identified and quantified in the ?g/kg to mg/kg range as were residual chlorinated pesticides. Many non-regulated aromatic compounds were also found. Compounds related to the natural breakdown of vegetative material as well as the chemical dissolution of trees in pulp mills were observed. In more industrialized urban areas, polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs] were identified and quantified. For poorly water soluble organic chemical compounds, the sediments represent an environmental compartment that should be monitored to assess the types of contaminants that have entered waterways and where they are most likely to reside for long time periods. BIO-SKETCH JOSEPH J. DELFINO is Professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences (EES), University of Florida. His research has focused on water quality chemistry including studies of the interaction of petroleum-derived fuels with water (e.g. oxygenated fuel additives such as MTBE), and the accumulation of mercury in Everglades soils. Additional studies have included the distribution, fate and transport of toxic organic chemicals from hazardous waste sites to surface waters, and the aquatic chemistry of lead in an impacted wetland site. He has also guided studies on the chemistry of humic substances derived from Florida waters (including the use of stable isotopes to track carbon and nitrogen fluxes), the nature of organic matter in river sediments, the fate of carbamate pesticides in surface and ground waters, and the biodegradation of pentachlophenol at a superfund site. More recent research has involved the dissolution kinetics of explosive compounds, the fate of organic compounds and potential endocrine disruptors related to pulp mill processes, carbon and nitrogen in the Suwannee River Estuary, nitrates in ground water and surface waters with current emphasis in the Suwannee and Santa Fe River watersheds, and water resources policy with emphasis on sustainable water supplies in Florida. He teaches several undergraduate and graduate courses related to industrial ecology, water quality and public health. The Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida will be hosting a graduate student research seminar each Friday afternoon during the semester. The purpose of this graduate seminar series is to enhance interaction among graduate students, faculty, and other members of the University by having a weekly seminar series where ideas can be exchanged and feedback provided on research endeavors.

10/21/2009 Fall 2009 Graduate Seminar Series Dr. Mark Benjamin University of Washington The 2009-2010 AEESP* Distinguished Lecturer Dr. Benjamin will present his lecture: Micro-granular Adsorptive Membrane Filtration: A Whole New World Of Treatment Technologies? Friday, October 23, 2009 3:00 pm in 282 J. Wayne Reitz Union AEESP-Florida Environmental Science Poster Session: preceding the lecture from 1:00 to 2:45 pm in 284 JWRU * AEESP = Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors Dr. Mark M. Benjamin is the 2009-2010 AEESP Distinguished Lecturer. Dr. Benjamin is a professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington. He received a B.S, in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and M.S. and PhD degrees Chemical and Civil Engineering, respectively, from Stanford University. Dr. Benjamin’s research interests include: physical-chemical treatment processes, natural organic matter chemistry and behavior in water treatment systems, adsorption and ion exchange, membrane-based technologies for water and wastewater treatment, removal of metals from water and formation of chlorinated disinfection by-products. Micro-granular adsorptive membrane filtration: A whole new world of treatment technologies? In this talk, Dr. Benjamin will describe the unexpected trajectory of some of his recent research, which started as an investigation of how adsorbents can protect membranes from NOM-induced fouling, but has evolved into a study that asks the question: Can membranes serve as essentially inert supports for miniaturized packed-bed treatment processes that have been shrunk from the scale of meters to <1 mm?

10/6/2009 Smallwood Distinguished Scholar Seminar Series The UF Water Institute is pleased to announce that Dan Kahan, Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law at Yale Law School, will be the next speaker in the Smallwood Distinguished Scholar Seminar Series. Mr. Kahan is a member of the Cultural Cognition Project, a group of scholars interested in studying how cultural values shape public risk perceptions and related policy beliefs regarding environmental and climate change issues, among others. Project members are using the methods of various disciplines -- including social psychology, anthropology, communications, and political science -- to chart the impact of this phenomenon and to identify the mechanisms through which it operates. The Project also has an explicit objective to identify processes of democratic decision-making by which society can resolve culturally grounded differences in belief in a manner that is both congenial to persons of diverse cultural outlooks and consistent with sound public policymaking. Thursday October 8, 2009 Speaker: Dan M. Kahan, Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law, Yale Law School Seminar Title: The Cultural Cognition of Risk: Theory, Evidence, and Implications Time: 3 pm - 5 pm Thursday, October 8, 2009 Location: 209 Emerson Alumni Hall Seminar Description: The cultural cognition of risk refers to the tendency of persons to conform their beliefs about putatively dangerous activities to their cultural evaluations of those activities. This lecture will examine the basic theory behind cultural cognition, experimental and other empirical evidence of its influence on perceptions of environmental and technological risks, and the implications of it for risk communication and policymaking. The seminar will be videostreamed for off-campus viewers: http://at.ufl.edu/~video/main/index.php Mr. Kahan is available to meet with interested faculty and students while he is here. Please contact Wendy Graham (wgraham@ufl.edu) if you are interested in scheduling a meeting with your group or department.

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