Water Supply Engineering

Start next run: October 2009 (open for registration)
Duration: 18 Months
Location: UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands

Participant Profile

This specialisation is designed for engineers working in water supply companies, municipal assemblies, government ministries and consulting companies dealing with water supply.

It is particularly geared to the needs of mid-career professional engineers who are dealing with:

• Assessment of groundwater, surface water and drinking water quality.
• Surface water collection and storage.
• Conventional water treatment plants for groundwater and surface water.
• Design and operation of advanced drinking water treatment, including membrane filtration systems for desalination and water re-use applications.
• Sludge treatment and disposal.
• Water transport and distribution.
• Master planning of water supply projects.
• Urban and municipal engineering.

Learning Objectives

After successfully completing the Water Supply Engineering specialisation, graduates will be well equipped to understand:

• The structure of drinking water supply systems, including water transport, treatment and distribution.
• Water quality criteria and standards, and their relation to public health, environment and urban water cycle.
• Physical, chemical and biological phenomena, and their mutual relationships, occurring within water supply systems.
• Water quality concepts and their effect on treatment process selection.
• The interaction of water quality and the materials being used.
• Hydraulic concepts and their relationship to water transport in treatment plants, pipelines and distribution networks.
• The importance and methods of operation and maintenance of water supply systems.
• Options for centralised and urban systems versus decentralised and rural systems.
• Be able to define and evaluate project alternatives on basis of chosen selection criteria.
• Water supply engineering within a watershed context.

In addition, graduates will be able to:

• Design and rehabilitate raw water abstraction, transport, treatment and distribution processes and systems
• Use statistical and modelling tools for simulation, prediction of performance and operation of water supply system components
• Communicate effectively in oral and written presentations to technical and non-technical audiences.

Course Contents

The Water Supply Engineering specialisation consists of seven modules:

• Process Technology covers water chemistry, water microbiology and process technology.
• Unit Operations deals with aeration, sedimentation and filtration.
• Groundwater Resources and Treatment deals with water quality and treatment, including conventional and advanced groundwater treatment, a laboratory course on iron and arsenic removal, and adsorptive processes/GAC modelling & design.
• Surface Water Treatment covers six subjects: water quality of lakes and rivers, bank filtration, coagulation and flocculation processes, chlorination and advanced disinfection (Ozone and UV), desalination and membrane-related technologies, ion exchange technology, and water softening technology.
• Water Treatment Processes and Plants covers six subjects: surface water collection and storage, water treatment processes and plants, operation and maintenance of water treatment plants, process and quality control, rehabilitation of water treatment plants, and sludge treatment and disposal.
• Water Transport and Distribution I deals with four subjects: introduction to water transport and distribution, pumping stations, urban water demand management, unaccounted for water and leakage.

In addition, one elective module must be selected from the following:

• Water Transport and Distribution II
• Decentralised Water Supply and Sanitation