ABSTRACT

PI name: Kevin Lansey
Institution: University of Arizona
Proposal Number: 0835930


This award is an outcome of the competition as part of the Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (NSF 07-579) solicitation under the subtopic Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructures (RESIN). The proposed project will advance engineering and scientific understanding and will develop new methods for integrated water and wastewater infrastructure planning. Over the next four years, the project aims to identify, design and evaluate water supply/wastewater treatment system configuration alternatives in the presence of complex, competing objectives and uncertainty. Each configuration will include all major conveyance facilities (pumps and pipes), storage, and treatment facilities for water and wastewater. Alternative facilities plans will be evaluated based on the triple bottom lines consisting of: (i) economic, (ii) environmental, and (iii) social values. The major intellectual innovation is the proposed approach to optimize a sustainability objective function that embodies the triple bottom line with components representing capital, operation, and maintenance costs; greenhouse emissions and depletion of ecosystem water allocations; social and institutional defined limits on water reuse and decentralized wastewater treatment; and risk as penalties arising from failure to meet system sustainability and resilience objectives. In addition to the innovations in the encompassing effort, novel approaches will be developed for dual water distribution system planning and design and new computational algorithms will be developed to optimize the resulting models. Frameworks for assessing social and institutional preferences, in the short-term for existing infrastructure and reuse options and in the long-term as co-evolving with conjunctive systems will be established.

Multiple factors combine to increase the complexity and urgency of water/wastewater facilities planning, as addressed by this project: (i) water scarcity and the need for efficient and sustainable use of every available water resource; (ii) increased population and thus, increased demand for water; (iii) general deterioration of water supply and sanitary infrastructures that are reaching the end of their lifecycles; (iv) heightened public awareness of the quality of water consumed; (iv) interdependence of water supply goals and other, sometimes competing objectives such as in-stream uses for reclaimed water and minimization of greenhouse gas emissions. These factors necessitate an urgent consideration of infrastructure system sustainability and resilience in the presence of supply and demand uncertainties. In short, water supply based solely on engineering judgment must be transformed to operate in an increasingly complex planning landscape. Moreover, the proposed research directly addresses the recently identified "National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge" of restoring and improving urban infrastructure and wastewater systems. The systems analytical tool will generate impact, not only in the southern Arizona growth corridor but also nationally as a result of its generic approach. It will allow planners to objectively approach decisions regarding sustainable water/wastewater systems integration, degree of decentralization of new wastewater treatment facilities, timing and scale of new facility addition, and (where system extension is contemplated) apportionment of costs among existing and proposed facilities. The application of the tools to real systems and generating guidance for the applicability of decentralized dual water supply system will lead to the much broader impact of altering the present water supply paradigm that treats wastewater as a disposal issue rather than a resource. Our approach considers an integrated water and wastewater infrastructure system that is advantageous in meeting expanding water demands while accumulating the benefits of lower energy consumption and cost, a reduced carbon footprint, and better overall water quality. The project also has significant public awareness and education activities on water reuse at many levels, including key institutions (e.g., regional players such as Tucson Water) and K-12 education. Workshops will be held at AWWARF and WERF meetings. Innovations from the work will be published in peer-reviewed journals, disseminated to practitioners, and incorporated into engineering and public policy curriculum. Efforts will be made to expand the role of under-represented groups in this area through project participation.