CE 583
Special Topics in water and Environmental Engineering
Civil Engineering Department
Jordan University of Science and Technology
First semester 2024/2025
Prof. Dr. Ziad Al-Ghazawi
INTRODUCTION:
This 3-credit hour course covers important and timely topics in water and environment that the Civil Engineering curriculum may not provide full coverage of. Some topics are covered in-depth especially those related to the CE career, other topics are covered sufficiently to equip students with general and basic knowledge needed for the now-a-day's Civil and Environmental Engineering profession. Because many topics of this course are new and timely, the list of topics covered is growing year by year so that our CE graduates are equipped with the knowledge they need in the market place.
The course teaches senior students how to write professional engineering reports from Inception to progress to final reporting on a topic selected by a student or a small group of students to practice positive values of team work. Therefore; there is NO typical first, second and final exams rather a student course grade is based on the quality of submission of reports and the quality of professional presentations before class in addition to other evaluation points (See Below).
The Course will host guest lecturers from industry, NGOs, government, municipalities, Consulting firms and donor communities/experts so that students get familiar with real life engineering projects in the water and environment sector.
The student group work may include field surveys and assessments of a selected water and/or environmental issue introduced in class. With focus on climate change modeling, mitigation and adaptation, the course starts with a series of lectures to lay out the stage for students to select topics to start working on throughout the rest of the course.
This course covers basic and advanced material in Integrated Water Resources management (IWRM) in general and as related to climate change adaptation especially in the urban environment, in particular. The full list of topics is organized in 6 (Six) parts as shown below in this Syllabus.
TOPICS COVERED:
PART I: Climate Crisis
? CC crisis, climate CoP conferences, IPCCC and country commitments
? GHGs sector inventory, mitigation and adaptation
? CC modeling, downscaling and incremental scenarios
? Climate Finance
? Climate justice
? SDGs and UN agencies
PART II: Water Crisis
? Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM): a tool of adaptation to CC
? Rainfall water harvesting both on the household level and the catchment level
? Virtual water and water footprints
? Green water and capture of flash floods into field crops
? Grey water reuse and energy recovery
? Wastewater reuse and resource & energy recovery
? NRW reduction and management
PART III: More Timely Water Topics
? Governance of water resources allocation, management and KPIs
? Tran-boundary water issues and international water law
? Biosaline agriculture
? Water utilities and privatization
? Management of industrial wastewater and resource optimization
? Managed groundwater recharge (MAR) and conjunctive use
? River Bank Filtration for water supply and water reuse
PART IV: Sustainable and Healthy Environment in City Ecosystem
? Transdisciplinarity, ecosystem health, gender roles
? City heritage and socio-economic & cultural aspects in Civil Engineering
? Zoning, urban agriculture and management of construction waste
? Safety measures during and after building construction
? Flood control measures/tools in the urban environment
? The dilemma of city cleaning, stray dogs and rodents
PART V: Essentials of Engineering Report Writing & Presentation
? Basics of a good engineering report and an impressive presentation
? Process of engineering mission from Bidding to Submission
? Proposal writing, TOR, SOW, Tools of literature survey, IR, Interim and Final reports
PART VI: Field visits and Invited talks
? The course includes field visits to systems and projects in operation
? Speakers from government, NGOs, consulting firms and donors are invited to talk before class on pre-selected topics from within the course agenda.
Grading:
Project proposal, Inception and Progress reports: 25 %
Quizzes: 10%
Attendance and in-class participation: 10 %
3 Power point presentations (Inception, Interim and final reports) : 15%
Final Exam: grade will be given on the Term paper/Final report (40%)