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| CEE 41Q. Clean Water Now! Urban Water Conflicts. |
Why do some people have access to as much safe, clean water as they need, while others do not? You will explore answers to this question by learning about, discussing and debating urban water conflicts including the Flint water crisis, the drought in South Africa, intermittent water supply in Mumbai, and arsenic contamination in Bangladesh. In this course, you will explore the technical, economic, institutional, social, policy, and legal aspects of urban water using these and more water conflicts as case studies. You will attend lectures and participate in discussions, laboratory modules, and field work. In lectures, you will learn about the link between water and human and ecosystem health, drinking water and wastewater treatment methods, as well as policies and guidelines (local, national, and global from the World Health Organization) on water and wastewater, and the role of various stakeholders including institutions and the public, in the outcome of water conflicts. You will dive into details of conflicts over water through case studies using discussion and debate. You will have the opportunity to measure water contaminants in a laboratory module. You will sample a local stream and measure concentrations of Escherichia coli and enterococci bacteria in the water. A field trip to a local wastewater treatment plant, as COVID and university policy allows, will allow you to see how a plant operates. By the end of this course, you will have a greater appreciation of the importance of institutions, stakeholders and human behavior in the outcome of water conflicts, and the complexity of the coupled human-ecosystem-urban water system. |
| 4 Units | |
| CEE 272. Coastal Contaminants |
Coastal pollution and its effects on ecosystems and human health. The sources, fate, and transport of human pathogens, nutrients, heavy metals, persistent organics, endocrine disrupters, and toxic algae. Background on coastal ecosystems and coastal transport phenomena including tides, waves, and cross shelf transport. Introduction to time series analysis with MATLAB and R. Undergraduates may enroll with consent of instructor. |
| 3-4 Units | |
CEE 274P. Environmental Health Microbiology |
Microbiology skills including culture-, microscope-, and molecular-based
detection techniques. Focus is on standard and EPA-approved methods to
enumerate and isolate organisms used to assess risk of enteric illnesses, such
as coliforms, enterococci, and coliphage, in drinking and recreational waters
including lakes, streams, and coastal waters. Student project to assess the
microbial water quality of a natural water. Enrollment by consent of
instructor, application required. |
| 4 Units | |
| CEE 375A. Water, Climate & Health |
This course will review and discuss current literature on the
water, climate, and human health nexus. We will review the
climate-change projections from
the most recent IPCC assessment and discuss their
implications for water access and infectious disease, with an emphasis on
low- and middle-income countries. Each student will write a research
proposal that proposes novel
research on the water, climate, and human health nexus. Course enrollment
is capped.
Permission to enroll must be obtained from the instructors through an application process.
This class is co-taught with Prof Jenna Davis. |
| 3 Units | |
| CEE 275C. Water, Sanitation & Health |
Students acquire basic knowledge to participate in a dialogue on
water, sanitation and health issues in developing and developed
countries. The focus is on enteric pathogenic pollutants. Material
includes: Important pathogens, their modes of transmission and the
diseases they cause, their fate and transport in the environment, and
the means by which they are measured; statistical methods for processing
and interpreting waterborne pollutant concentrations, and interpreting
data from epidemiology studies; microbial source tracking; epidemiology
and quantitative microbial risk assessment; reduction of pathogens in
water and sludge; and non-experimental water, sanitation, and hygiene
research. Several laboratory sessions will allow students to measure
indicator bacteria and viruses using culture-based techniques and expose
students to molecular methods for measuring health-relevant targets in
water. This class is co-taught with Prof Jenna Davis. |
| 3-4 Units | |
| CEE 175A/275A. California Coast: Science, Policy, and Law |
Interdisciplinary. The legal, science, and policy
dimensions
of managing California's coastal resources. Coastal land use and marine
resource decision making.
The physics, chemistry, and biology of the coastal zone, tools for exploring
data from the coastal ocean, and the institutional framework that shapes
public and private decision making. Field work: how experts from different
disciplines work to resolve coastal policy questions. Team taught with
Debbie Sivas of the Stanford Law School.
Students must apply to take this course, instructors' consent
required. |
| 3-4 Units (Graduate students register for 275A, LAW 514.) |
|
CEE 271M/371M. Transport Phenomena |
Heat,
mass, and momentum transfer theory from the viewpoint of the basic
transport equations. Steady and unsteady state; laminar and turbulent
flow; boundary layer theory. Prerequisites: fluid mechanics, ordinary
differential equations. Can be taken for a letter grade or credit / no
credit. |
| 3 Units | |
| OSPSANTG 76. Urban Water |
This course explores the
technical, economic, social, policy, and law aspects of urban water
using United States and Santiago case studies. The course will include
lectures, discussions, laboratory modules, field work, and field
trips. Lectures will provide foundational information on the link
between water and human and ecosystem health, centralized and
decentralized drinking water and wastewater treatment methods, as well
as policies and guidelines (local, national, and global from the World
Health Organization) on water and wastewater. Students will dive into
details of nuanced conflicts over urban water through case studies from
the US and Santiago through discussion and debate. Laboratory modules
will give students the opportunity to measure common water
contaminants. Field work will include sampling of surface water sources
and analyzing concentrations of E. coli and enterococci in the
water. Field trips to a local wastewater treatment plants and the
Mapocho river (which runs through the city), headwaters of the Maipo
River, and San Antonio where the Maipo River discharges to the sea will
give students the chance to see many of the things we will be discussing
in class. Course themes include (1) scientific uncertainty, (2)
politics, and (3) complexity of the coupled human-ecosystem-urban water
system. This class is only taught in Santiago, Chile as part of the Bing Overseas program. |
| 4 Units |
| Updated January 2020 |
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