David J. Blackwood

Domestic source of phosphorus to sewage treatment works

Phosphorus is an element essential for life. Concerns regarding long-term security of supply and issues related to eutrophication of surface waters once released into the aquatic environment have led governments to consider and apply measures for reducing the use and discharge of phosphorus. Examples of source control include legislation to reduce phosphorus use in domestic detergents. This research shows that other domestic sources of phosphorus also contribute significantly to the domestic load to sewer and that overall, domestic sources dominate loads to sewage treatment works. Estimates provided here show that although the natural diet contributes 40% of the domestic phosphorus load, other potentially preventable sources contribute significantly to the estimated 44,000 tonnes of phosphorus entering UK sewage treatment works each year. In the UK, food additives are estimated to contribute 29% of the domestic load; automatic dishwashing detergents contribute 9% and potentially increasing; domestic laundry 14%, including contributions from phosphonates, but decreasing; phosphorus dosing to reduce lead levels in tap water 6%; food waste disposed of down the drain 1%; and personal care products 1%. Although UK data is presented here, it is anticipated that similar impacts would be expected for other developed economies. Consideration of alternatives to all preventable sources of phosphorus from these sources would therefore offer potentially significant reductions in phosphorus loads to sewage treatment works and hence to the aquatic environment. Combining all source control measures and applying them to their maximum extent could potentially lead to the prevention of over 22,000 tonnes-P/year entering sewage treatment works.

SWARD: decision support processes for the UK water industry

In industrialised countries water service providers (WSPs) must provide an appropriate level of service with an acceptable performance at an acceptable cost to customers. In the UK a move towards sustainable development is now also a major goal for WSPs. However, the imposition of institutional systems and regulatory targets still encourage the adoption of less sustainable technologies or solutions by the water industry. It is within this context, that the Sustainable Water industry Asset Resource Decisions (SWARD) project has developed a set of decision support processes that allow WSPs to assess the relative sustainability of water/wastewater system asset development decisions. A Guidebook has been produced that takes the WSP and its stakeholders through the processes essential to incorporating sustainability in asset investment decision‐making. Several case studies that demonstrate the SWARD principles in application are included within the Guidebook, the experience of which is described in this paper.

Bioethanol in Nigeria: comparative analysis of sugarcane and sweet sorghum as feedstock sources

This review discusses the relative merits of sweet sorghum and sugarcane crops for the expanding bioethanol sector in Nigeria. We have compared, from a number of perspectives, sugarcane molasses and sweet sorghum stalk juice as biomass sources for Nigerian fuel alcohol fermentations and the findings indicate that sweet sorghum is most suited in terms of the adaptability of this crop to harsh climatic and cultivation conditions. In terms of environmental impact, sweet sorghum cultivation is more water efficient, requires less energy input, fertilization and agrochemical application. The concept of life cycle analysis was used to compare the environmental, social and economic impacts of using sweet sorghum stalk juice and sugarcane molasses. Sweet sorghum represents a more favourable biomass source and there is great potential for sustainable development and utilization of sweet sorghum for bioenergy production in Nigeria. However, there is need for well defined, structured, coordinated, targeted and monitored scientific efforts and investments in order to realize maximum associated benefits.

A cost comparison of traditional drainage and SUDS in Scotland.

The Dunfermline Eastern Expansion (DEX) is a 350 ha mixed development which commenced in 1996. Downstream water quality and flooding issues necessitated a holistic approach to drainage planning and the site has become a European showcase for the application of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). However, there is minimal data available regarding the real costs of operating and maintaining SUDS to ensure they continue to perform as per their design function. This remains one of the primary barriers to the uptake and adoption of SUDS. This paper reports on what is understood to be the only study in the UK where actual costs of constructing and maintaining SUDS have been compared to an equivalent traditional drainage solution. To compare SUDS costs with traditional drainage, capital and maintenance costs of underground storage chambers of analogous storage volumes were estimated. A whole life costing methodology was then applied to data gathered. The main objective was to produce a reliable and robust cost comparison between SUDS and traditional drainage. The cost analysis is supportive of SUDS and indicates that well designed and maintained SUDS are more cost effective to construct, and cost less to maintain than traditional drainage solutions which are unable to meet the environmental requirements of current legislation.

Making more sustainable decisions for asset investment in the water industry - sustainable water industry asset resource decisions - the SWARD project

Effective Integrated Water Management (IWM) is an aspiration for all those engaged in water service provision, and is a key component of the World Water Vision. Part of this includes the sustainability of water systems and their interaction with other urban systems. In the urban drainage field, there are many examples of attempts to establish effective integrated systems. A major problem, however, is the elusive nature of the concept of sustainability and how to translate what is known in terms of sustainability principles and objectives into action within the IWM perspective. Case studies are presented that illustrate how urban drainage problems can be approached in a way that takes due account of sustainability considerations. These studies utilise a new Guidebook that presents multi-criteria decision support systems to assist Water Service Providers (WSPs) to assess the relative sustainability of water/wastewater system asset development decisions. The Guidebook was developed as part of a UK government and industry funded multi-partner project over the past 4 years. An essential feature of the Guidebook is its transparency, as it is intended to be accessible to all stakeholders affected by a proposed development.

Decision mapping : understanding decision making processes

The task of arriving at an engineering decision typically involves extensive and complex analyses, the evaluation of alternatives, and the resolution of conflicts between stakeholders. Research into institutional frameworks, decision making, and decision support tools have guided improvements in the quality of decisions. However, existing organisational structures and decision frameworks must be acknowledged and addressed if the desired improvements are to be realised. A mapping technique is proposed that allows the existing decision-making processes and information flows to be identified and analysed. The result is a mechanism to understand the context and processes of the decision task, and ultimately to aid in the introduction of new decision protocols and decision support systems.

Transformation in a changing climate: a research agenda

The concept of transformation in relation to climate and other global change is increasingly receiving attention. The concept provides important opportunities to help examine how rapid and fundamental change to address contemporary global challenges can be facilitated. This paper contributes to discussions about transformation by providing a social science, arts and humanities perspective to open up discussion and set out a research agenda about what it means to transform and the dimensions, limitations and possibilities for transformation. Key focal areas include: (1) change theories; (2) knowing whether transformation has occurred or is occurring; (3) knowledge production and use; (4) governance; (5) how dimensions of social justice inform transformation; (6) the limits of human nature; (7) the role of the utopian impulse; (8) working with the present to create new futures; and (9) human consciousness. In addition to presenting a set of research questions around these themes the paper highlights that much deeper engagement with complex social processes is required; that there are vast opportunities for social science, humanities and the arts to engage more directly with the climate challenge; that there is a need for a massive upscaling of efforts to understand and shape desired forms of change; and that, in addition to helping answer important questions about how to facilitate change, a key role of the social sciences, humanities and the arts in addressing climate change is to critique current societal patterns and to open up new thinking. Through such critique and by being more explicit about what is meant by transformation, greater opportunities will be provided for opening up a dialogue about change, possible futures and about what it means to re-shape the way in which people live.

Sustainable urban development in practice: : the SAVE concept

The need for sustainable development of the urban environment presents the research community with a number of challenges and opportunities. A considerable volume of research has been undertaken into the constituent parts of this complex problem and a number of tool kits and methodologies have been developed to enable and encourage the application of specific aspects of research in practice. However, there is limited evidence of the holistic integration of the body of knowledge arising from the research within real-life decision-making practices. In this paper we present an overview of the existing body of knowledge relating to sustainable development of the urban environment and propose a generic framework for its integration within current practices. This framework recognises the need to: understand social, economic, and environmental issues; understand the decision-making processes; provide a means of measurement, assessment, or valuation of the issues; provide analytical methods for the comparative assessment of complex data to enable an evaluation of strategies and design options and to communicate effectively throughout the process with a wide range of stakeholders. The components of a novel sustainability assessment, visualisation and enhancement (SAVE) framework, developed by the authors to ‘operationalise’ the body of knowledge are presented and justified. These include: decision-mapping methods to identify points of intervention; indicator identification and measurement approaches; appropriate mathematical and analytical tools and an interactive simulation and visualisation platform which integrates and communicates complex multivariate information to diverse stakeholder groups. We report on the application of the SAVE framework to a major urban development project and reflect on its current and potential impact on the development. Conclusions are also drawn about its general applicability.

Sewer exfiltration and the colmation layer.

Sewer rig studies demonstrate a rapid exponential decline in exfiltration rates from gaps and joints to establish an ultimate steady-state equilibrium varying between 10(-3)-10(-6) l s(-1), with minimum average daily rates per standardised leak area and sewer length varying between 0.02-9.0 l d(-1)cm(-2) and 0.0002-2.0 l s(-1) km(-1) respectively. These loss rates are much larger than those derived from indirect monitoring/modelling studies which suggest losses between 1.4 x 10(-5)-0.179 l s(-1) km(-1). The confusion regarding conflicting definitions of the colmation, transition, bridging and biofilm layers is addressed, and the significance of these clogging layers in terms of both hydraulic and matrix potential on the exfiltration loss is evaluated. The influence of variability and instability of flow and bed turbulence on determining critical leakage conditions following the onset of equilibrium steady-state is assessed. This challenges the generally held assumption that elevated head pressure condition alone is a necessary precursor for rupture of the clogging layers.

Streaming and 3D mapping of AGRI-data on mobile devices

A mobile app for delivery of context aware data for crop monitoring and scouting is presented.Data intensive streaming methods were evaluated for delivering in-field AGRI-data.Customisable interactive 3D visualisation methods were evaluated for displaying AGRI-data.Testing highlights that different users prefer different 3D interactive visualisation methods.Testing highlights that data streaming and rendering is possible in low connectivity environments. Farm monitoring and operations generate heterogeneous AGRI-data from a variety of different sources that have the potential to be delivered to users on the go and in the field to inform farm decision making. A software framework capable of interfacing with existing web mapping services to deliver in-field farm data on commodity mobile hardware was developed and tested. This raised key research challenges related to: robustness of data steaming methods under typical farm connectivity scenarios, and mapping and 3D rendering of AGRI-data in an engaging and intuitive way. The presentation of AGRI-data in a 3D and interactive context was explored using different visualisation techniques; currently the 2D presentation of AGRI- data is the dominant practice, despite the fact that mobile devices can now support sophisticated 3D graphics via programmable pipelines. The testing found that WebSockets were the most reliable streaming method for high resolution image/texture data. From our focus groups there was no single visualisation technique that was preferred demonstrating that a range of methods is a good way to satisfy a large user base. Improved 3D experience on mobile phones is set to revolutionize the multimedia market and a key challenge is identifying useful 3D visualisation methods and navigation tools that support the exploration of data driven 3D interactive visualisation frameworks for AGRI-data.