BSEN30280

Source: https://hub.ucd.ie/usis/!W_HU_MENU.P_PUBLISH?p_tag=MODULE&MODULE=BSEN30280&TERMCODE=202500&ACYR=2026 Parent: https://hub.ucd.ie/usis/!W_HU_MENU.P_PUBLISH?p_tag=COURSE&MAJR=ETS2&AUDIENCE=

Academic Year 2025/2026

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Water and Wastewater Engineering (BSEN30280)

Subject: : Biosystems Engineering

College: : Engineering & Architecture

School: : Biosystems & Food Engineering

Level: : 3 (Degree)

Credits: : 5

Module Coordinator: : Dr Rajat Nag

Trimester: : Autumn

Mode of Delivery: : On Campus

Internship Module: : No

How will I be graded? : Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module is focused on Environmental Engineering in relation to water, including: key parameters of water quality for different water sources; physical, chemical and biological techniques used in water and wastewater treatment and basic hydrologic principles. Risk assessment and Health and safety aspects relevant to the area will also be reviewed.

About this Module

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What will I learn?

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to: \ \ 1. Critically assess current research in the area of water quality monitoring: extract, through literature and data search, information pertinent to a given water quality issue.\ \ 2. Describe important parameters of water quality, distinguish between drinking, surface and wastewater standards with reference to relevant Irish and EU legislation.\ \ 3. Describe and compare main methods for measuring water pollutants; analyse and interpret water quality data.\ \ 4. Explain and differentiate between the unit operations of water and wastewater treatment facilities; select appropriate unit processes to achieve specific treatment requirements.\ \ 5. Model simplified systems to using mass balances to understand and predict contaminant transport in water treatment plants and in the landscape.\ \

Indicative Module Content:

The module content is as follows:\ 1. Introduction\ Convert concentrations of individual species into common constituent units\ Differentiate between different water sources and the relative advantages & disadvantages of each.\ Distinguish between point and diffuse sources of pollution\ \ 2. Water quality parameters and literature review\ Understand the main parameters used to evaluate water quality\ Understand key stages of carrying out a literature review\ How to use a database (OneSearch)\ How to use reference management software (Mendeley)\ \ 3. EU legislation and water treatment\ Outline EU legislation for water quality\ Understand differences in quality standards for drinking, bathing, wastewater and water for re-use\ Understand physical-chemical processes involved in water treatment \ Carry out calculations to estimate treatment parameters\ \ 4. Data analysis on water quality parameters (based on open-source data provided by EPA): workshop\ \ 5. Physical and biological processes\ Use the law of conservation of mass to write a mass balance that includes rate of chemical production or disappearance.\ Differentiate batch reactors, completed mixed flow reactors, and plug-flow reactors.\ Relate a reactor’s retention time to reactor volume and flow.\ Use 1-3 to model the movement of pollutants through the environment\ Understand microbial growth and death curves\ \ 6. Wastewater treatment part 1\ Design a grit chamber\ Design a primary settling tank\ \ 7. Wastewater treatment part 2\ Integrate mass balances with biological growth kinetics to develop design equations for secondary treatment\ Determine levels of treated wastewater that can safely be put in a river\ \ 8. Hydrology\ Estimate surface runoff from changing land use\ Understand physical mechanisms of infiltration\ Estimate infiltration using a variety of models\ \

How will I learn?

Student Effort Hours:

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Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

The key teaching and learning approaches will include: active/task-based learning; peer and group work; lectures; enquiry & problem-based learning; student presentations.

Am I eligible to take this module?

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Learning Recommendations:\

It would be advantageous if students have studied engineering or science subjects and have a proficiency in mathematics.

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Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Incompatibles:\ BSEN40180 - Advanced Environmental Eng\ \ \  \

How will I be assessed?

Assessment Strategy

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Carry forward of passed components

No

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What happens if I fail?

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. \

Assessment feedback

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment\ • Feedback individually to students, post-assessment\

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback provided mid semester

Reading List

Mihelcic, J.R., Zimmerman, J.B. (2014) Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals, Sustainability, Design [online], 2nd ed, John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, available: https://ucd.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwY2AwNtIz0EUrEyyTU5IN01LMjUEVVKJ5mkGqmaVpUqqRYbKhUaJBKnhsJ9DM0dcyItg4GLFHDD6zm5yil5kKOm4B_cK0-PigJCNg8WsG3kZtamEGStnuEaGIcRZgewZYy4MvCQLdPwfsEVhAj3qC80H1SnIKUr3iJsjAAtprIMTAlJonzMCNdDagCIOkK2ILWmKOQipCTpRBxs01xNlDF2haPHT4JR7mvAojMQbeRNCy9bwS8Pa2FAkGBZPEJENzYL4xNLUwNklNNUuyTDO3SAIGjmVyUqJpkoEkgyhWs6RwiEszcAFrdBPIGIEMA2saMA2nyoK9JwcOFwDIxm06.\ \ Mines, R.O. (2014) ‘Environmental Engineering: Principles and Practice ’, available: https://go.exlibris.link/jtMdNrgM.\

When is this module offered?

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.

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