The Water Systems group develops the science and engineering for conveyance, treatment and reuse of urban waters including potable, wastewater and stormwater, manage water resources, model and measure the fate and transformation of chemicals, particulate matter and pathogens impacting water resources, and assess the human and environmental health impacts from these constituents while modeling the components of the hydrologic cycle and the impacts of climate on water resources, human and environmental health.

The National Academy of Engineering considers access to clean water as a critical social, environmental, and economic challenge for the 21st century. Accordingly, the Potable Water research is at the forefront of addressing global water quality issues, investigating innovative treatment technologies and addressing the challenge using alternative water sources as a replacement for high quality fresh groundwater. The development of hydrologic restoration systems to restore the urban water cycle and also reduce chemical and thermal loadings to the surrounding environs is the hub of Storm Water research.

Studies conducted in Florida and throughout the World have demonstrated the sustainability of municipal maintenance practices and resilience of storm drainage systems to provide chemical and particulate load control compared to current best management practices. Major foci of Wastewater research are the development of reuse processes pertinent to human urine, landfill leachate, and membrane concentrate. Research follow an integrated urban water system simulation and optimization approach, and it shows the volumetric benefits of wastewater reuse while identifying the need for advanced wastewater treatment to manage chemicals such as nutrients, metals or emerging contaminants such as endocrine disruptors.

ADMISSIONS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Education for Leadership Roles

• Developing innovative methods for hydrologic assessments
• Elucidating the generation, transport, fate and cycling of rainfall-runoff (stormwater) quantities and chemical loads from biogenic and anthropogenic sources
• Improving the understanding of water use to optimize water conservation ethodology Preserving Surface Water and Groundwater Quality
• Improving Drinking Water Quality
• Improving Stormwater Collection and Treatment
• Improving Wastewater Treatment
• Developing more sustainable urban water systems

Research Focus Areas

• Contaminant transport and fate
• Decision support systems
• Ecohydrology and hydrologic restoration
• Hydrology
• Stormwater control
• Water resources planning and management
• Water conservation
• Urban water infrastructure
• Fundamental characterization of aqueous and particulate-phase contaminants including emerging contaminants: representative ambient monitoring, methodology and load quantification.
• Sourcing and generation of aqueous and particulate phase contaminants, physics and chemistry of contaminant transport and fate.
• Water contaminant control: systems, unit operation and processes, and materials development, in particular innovative mass transfer materials and low impact development materials.
• Water reuse as part of the urban water cycle: volumetric and contaminant load impacts.
• Unit operation and process modeling: scalable physical models and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
• Integrated physical, chemical, biological and thermal treatment phenomena for water cycle components.
• Coupling fundamental monitoring and material balance testing with urban water modeling.
• Fundamental and applied studies of physical-chemical water treatment processes, such as adsorption, coagulation, ion exchange, and oxidation, for a wide range of water qualities including surface water, groundwater, membrane concentrate, landfill leachate, and human urine.
• Innovative applications of ion exchange for water treatment.
• Fundamental studies in aquatic chemistry with a focus on the role of natural organic matter.
• Fundamental and applied studies of adsorption and photocatalysis, including surface optimization.
• Bottom up integrated urban water system simulation and optimization.

Research Outcomes

• Sustainable solutions to water quantity and quality problems.
• New technologies for assessing contaminant transport in surface and groundwater.
• Sustainability of urban rainfall-runoff systems.
• Improved methods water conservation and decision support systems for implementation.

Research Benefits

• Sustainability of surface and groundwater systems
• Restoration of groundwater, wetlands and other hydrologic systems
• Improved surface and groundwater quality
• Improved drinking water quality
• Beneficial water reuse
• Balanced development of supply and demand management systems

Graduate Study Program

Master of Engineering (ME) or Master of Science (MS) Degree

People

To view a full listing of each person’s profile, visit the Water Systems category in our directory.

Facilities

• Laboratory and field sites for research
• Environmental Engineering Science Unit Operations and Process (UOP) Testing facilities
• The Water Institute at the University of Florida provides important university-wide linkages for collaborative research and education
• Environmental Engineering Science Unit Operations and Process (UOP) Testing facilities
• Water Treatment Process Labs and associated state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation
• Water Reclamation and Reuse Laboratory

Latest News

• New study points to concerns of dangerous Vibrio bacteria in Florida’s coastal waters following Hurricane Ian

  October 19, 2023

• Deliz studying presence of potentially toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in the Indian River Lagoon

  February 21, 2022

• Deliz Receives EPA Grant to Build Community Resilience Against PFAS Exposure Due to Flooding

  August 24, 2020

• ESSIE Welcomes Dr. Annable as Department Head

  June 25, 2020

• UF Wins First Place in the Florida Water Environment Association (FWEA) Design Competition

  April 17, 2018

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