Course Outline

On-Demand Course

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This course is part of the Water Treatment Certificate Program.

This course is part of the Water Treatment Certificate Program.

Purpose and Background

This course will provide a thorough understanding of the planning elements needed to develop a water treatment plant, from energy consideration and permitting needs to source water development and pilot testing. The course will include discussion of the planning requirements and provide real world planning examples every week.

Benefits and Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

Identify the steps in planning a water treatment plant.
Discuss master planning and facilities planning needs.
Explain options for source development.
Describe alternative treatment processes for a given source.
Identify the steps in preliminary design of a treatment project.
List the types of permits and the kinds of permits that may be required.
Identify the requirements for assembling a design team.
Explain why planning for construction early on pays cost and operational benefits.

Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Achievement of the learning outcomes by attendees will be assessed through (3) exams.

Who Should Attend?

Civil engineers who are engaged in water treatment design and planning
Municipal planners and engineers
Consulting engineers working for clients on water treatment projects

How to Earn your CEUs/PDHs

This course is worth 2.4 CEUs/24 PDHs. To receive your certificate of completion, you will need to complete (3) exams and receive a passing score of 70% or higher.

How do I convert CEUs to PDHs?

1.0 CEU = 10 PDHs [Example: 0.1 CEU = 1 PDH]

Course Outline

Week 1: Overview of a Water Treatment Pant Design Project
Course and Week Introduction
Water Supply Sources
Project Timelines
What Kind of Treatment Plant to You Need?
Learning Exercise
Customer Needs
Cost Estimating
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 2: Master Planning Your Water Treatment Plant Project
Week Introduction
Water System Service Areas
Population Projections
Water Demand Projections
Learning Interaction
Facility Planning
Resiliency
Emergency Preparedness
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 3: Source Water Issues
Source Water Issues
Water Rights
Groundwater Sources
Surface Water Sources
Learning Exercise
Seawater Sources
Wastewater Sources
Stormwater Sources
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 4: Intake Designs
Week Introduction
Intake Types
Intake Features
Learning Exercise
Bank Filtration Design
Open Water Intakes Design
Locating and Intake
Learning Exercise
Conclusion
Exam: Week 1-4

Week 5: Treatment Process Selection
Water Treatment Process Alternatives
Water Quality Objectives
Treatment Process Alternatives
Surface Water Treatment
Learning Exercise
Groundwater Treatment
Reuse of Wastewater and Stormwater
Desalination
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 6: Operations Input into Design
Why Operator Input Should be a High Priority
Chemical Feed Systems
Pretreatment Systems
Membrane and Filters
Learning Exercise
Residuals Handling
Facility Automation
Safety in Design
Conclusion

Week 7: Sustainability
Sustainability in Water Treatment Planning
Supply Sustainability
Treatment and Pumping Sizing
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Learning Exercise
Sustainable Materials
Deconstruction
Site Planning
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 8: Energy Needs
Week Introduction
Energy Needs
Facility Codes
Energy Incentives
Learning Exercise
Power Reliability
Solar and Wind Power
Learning Exercise
Conclusion
Exam: Week 5-8

Week 9: Preliminary Design
Preliminary Design of a Water Treatment Plant
Identifying and Sizing the Alternatives
Multi Attribute Analysis
Site Layout
Learning Exercise
Ensuring Safe Site Access
Other Information and Studies
Plan Approval
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 10: Final Desing
Week Introduction
Design Team
Design Process
Successful Design Reviews
Learning Exercise
QA/QC
Specifications
Bidding Documents
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 11: Bidding and Construction
Construction
Design Bid Build
Alternative Delivery Approaches
Construction Manager and General Contractor
Learning Exercise
Ownership During Construction
Changes during Construction
Start Up and Testing
Learning Exercise
Conclusion

Week 12: Cost Estimating
Week Introduction
Levels of Cost Estimating
Cost Estimating Resources
Cost Curves
Learning Exercise
Managing Cost Estimates
Value Engineering
Managing Project Risks
Conclusion
Exam: Week 9-12

Overview Course Outline

This course is now running on-demand rather than to a live schedule, making it easier to fit into your life.

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Course Schedule

Week 1: Overview of a Water Treatment Plant Design Project

Learning Outcomes:

Recognize the steps for the development of a water treatment project.
Demonstrate knowledge of multi-discipline team roles.
Recognize different project delivery platforms.
Identify the major treatment processes that apply to water treatment plant design.
Recognize support systems associated with water treatment plant design.

Topics:

Introduction
Today’s challenges
Multi-discipline teams
Project delivery
Lifecycle of water treatment design projects
Major treatment processes
Design needs
Summary

Week 2: Master Planning, Facilities Planning

Learning Outcomes:

Identify the differences between master planning and facilities planning.
Recognize components of a master plan.
Recognize components of a facilities plan.
Identify major influences on the planning process.
Identify water quality goals, and treatment options.
Evaluating options and selecting preferred alternatives.
Estimating costs and developing schedules.

Topics:

Master planning
Facilities planning
Planning influences
Water quality goals and treatment options
Evaluation treatment options
Evaluating options
Facilities implementation
Summary

Week 3: Project Implementation

Learning Outcomes:

Identify the steps for preliminary design.
Recognize the process of final design.
Demonstrate knowledge of QA/QC processes.
Identify needs during bidding and construction.
Start up, commissioning and acceptance of facilities.

Topics:

Introduction
Preliminary design
Final design
Design reviews and QA/QC
Bidding
Construction services and inspections
Start up and commissioning
Summary

Week 4: Source Development

Learning Outcomes:

Identify potential source water alternatives.
Identify water rights and allocations.
Identify surface water development needs.
Identify groundwater development steps.
Identify the different types of intakes.
Recognize where each intake type is applicable.
Identify potential intake locations.
Recognize the design requirements for each intake type.

Topics:

Introduction
Source water alternatives
Surface water development
Groundwater development
Intake types
Intake applications
Intake siting
Well siting
Intake design
Screening design
Summary

Week 5: Process Selection

Learning Outcomes:

Identify potential treatment processes to meet water quality goals.
Recognize how processes interact.
Identify methods to screen alternatives.
Developing evaluation criteria.
Recognizing how much information is needed to process selection.
Ranking and rating methods.
Cost implications.

Topics:

Introduction
Identification of process options
Recognizing how treatment alternatives will interact
Screening methods
Evaluation criteria
Developing information to support decision making
Ranking and rating methods
Summary

Week 6: Permitting and Code Requirements for Planning

Learning Outcomes:

Assess operational needs of chemical feed systems.
Evaluate pretreatment approaches.
Explore how much operational time is needed for different types of plants.
Investigate facility automation.
Compare process control strategies.
Consider ways to incorporate safety in design strategies.

Topics:

Introduction
Siting approval
Working with permitting agencies
Zoning
Essential facilities designation
Site permits and restrictions
Site selection and plant arrangement
Summary

Week 7: Sustainability and Reliability

Learning Outcomes:

Recognize critical reliability strategies for water treatment plant design.
Identify methods to increase reliability and minimize risks.
Identify options for supplying water in the event of a critical failure.

Topics:

Introduction
Reliability
Risk assessment
Sustainability
Equipment and process failures
Catastrophic facility failures
Equipment reliability
Process reliability
Facility reliability
Emergency response planning
Summary

Week 8: Energy Needs

Learning Outcomes:

Identify methods to determine power needs.
Recognize methods to reduce power needs.
Recognize methods of traditional power supply.
Identify alternative power ans demand management approaches.

Topics:

Introduction
Identifying energy needs
Traditional approaches to water treatment energy design
Alternative power supplies and the impacts on water treatment planning and design
Backup power supply options
Conservation
Summary

Week 9: Testing and Preliminary Design

Learning Outcomes:

Recognize the importance of bench and pilot testing.
Identify times when pilot testing is not needed, or cannot be done.
Identify how long bench and pilot testing data is needed, and what data can be collected.
Recognize process problems that can be identified by testing.

Topics:

Introduction
Data collection for water treatment
Bench testing
Pilot testing
Corrosion testing
Customer acceptance testing
Eliminating bench and pilot testing
Preliminary design
Summary

Week 10: Planning for Water Treatment Plant Design

Learning Outcomes:

Recognize the needed roles and responsibilities of the owner’s and designer’s staffs.
Identify factors that affect the design budget.
Identify factors that affect the design schedule.
Recognize how to select a designer.

Topics:

Introduction
Planning for design
Budgeting for design
Scheduling the design
Record keeping and administration
Planning for changes during the design
Selecting a designer
Negotiating a design contract
Summary

Week 11: Planning for Bidding and Construction

Learning Outcomes:

Identify differences in construction approaches.
Recognize the key contract concerns with each type.
Compare and contrast different approaches to construction.

Topics:

Introduction
Why start early
Traditional bidding and construction
Construction manager at risk
Price based design build
Progressive design build projects
Other construction activities that require pre-planning
Summary

Week 12: Cost Estimating and Financing

Learning Outcomes:

Identify cost estimating levels.
Recognize elements included in a cost estimation.
Cost curves and other methods of estimating costs.
Identify escalation methods, materials costs, labor costs and locations differences.

Topics:

Introduction
Introduction to cost estimating
How are costs estimated
Costs factors
Mitigating cost risks
Contingency
What is the value of water?
Summary

This course outline is subject to change.

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