This study was conducted to determine causes of irreversible permeate flux declines observed during the treatment of waste water. The resistance of reverse osmosis membranes to fouling during the processing of waste water at various crossflow velocities is evaluated. Tests were performed with a three weight percent NaCl solution and with batches of a waste stream that is treated at AECL's Chalk River Laboratories. With the NaCl tests, the mass transfer coefficient of NaCl was determined for crossflows ranging from 30 L/min to 60 L/min. Using the mass transfer coefficients calculated with the NaCl tests, the permeate flux was predicted for the waste stream based strictly on osmotic pressure considerations. A three-step cleaning procedure was developed to restore the permeate flux of the fouled reverse osmosis membranes to an acceptable level of 1 L/min. This level is required in order to prevent accumulation within the process. Tests were also conducted to determine if the three-step cleaning procedure had degraded the integrity of the membrane. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

In North America, the activated sludge process is commonly used in wastewater treatment. However, there are many aspects of the process that elude researchers, in particular, those that will ensure a successful control and optimization of the process. Because of the biological nature of the activated sludge process, its characteristics are highly dependent on environmental factors and hence can be very difficult to control and manage successfully. A very important factor contributing to an optimized activated sludge plant is the experience of its operators with the activated sludge process. This is achieved through the use of a variety of tools including traditional classroom training, computer based training, expert systems and simulation tools. Some of the tools aim to help the new operators acquire this experience quicker while others aim to enhance the experience of seasoned operators. This project presents a premise that an integration of these tools will be an effective and innovative way to help the operators achieve their goals. Hence, a design of an Integrated Training and Decision Support System (IT-DSS) has been proposed, and parts of the prototype system have been built. Preliminary results showed that such an integrated solution is feasible and realisable although a fully functional system has yet to be realised due to the scope limit. The results of this project provided solid and valuable starting points for the completion of such a step, and they also further support the value of the integration approach that has been put forth.

The main objective of this study was to compare the total suspended solids (TSS) removal efficiency of a modified sedimentation tank to that of a conventional tank The experimental tank was designed for flow to pass over a series of inclined plates. It had a much shallower flow through zone and the inclined plates were situated just below this zone. The inclined plates were added to provide a quiescent settling zone for the falling particles and to act as a barrier to prevent scour of settled particles. A conventional horizontal flow sedimentation tank was also used in this study. The two designs were run in parallel and a highly concentrated clay suspension was passed through both tanks. The TSS concentrations of both the influence and effluent streams were measured. The response of both designs to different parameters such as sampling time, depth over the inclined plates, flowrate, inclined plates spacing and inlet TSS concentration was observed. The tank with the inclined plates (at the smallest spacing) proved to have an equal to slightly high removal efficiency and a slightly better reaction to the change of parameters. This tank also proved to have less dead volume than the control tank. Since the reduction in flow through volume proved to be as good and slightly better than the control tank the concept deserves further research. It has the potential to permit considerable tank depth reductions while retaining efficiency.

A dynamic model describing the simultaneous degradation of easily degradable substrates (sucrose and acetic acid (HAc)) and 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors (UASB) was developed. Two critical factors considered in the multiple substrate degradation processes were sorption and substrate interaction during degradation. Experimental investigations on the sorption of chlorinated phenols under dynamic situations as well as the degradation kinetics of cosubstrates and 2,4-DCP considering sorption and substrate interaction were conducted first. It was found that partitioning was the dominant mechanism in sorption of chlorophenols to anaerobic granules and that metabolically mediated diffusion during sorption was negligible. Under a dynamic situation, anaerobic sorption of chlorophenols which follow sorption linearity and sorption-desorption singulanty in isotherms, can be described by a dynamic model incorporating linear sorption equation. Nonequilibrium sorption caused by diffusion limitations in anaerobic reactors was found to be negligible because of the strong hydrodynamic dispersion that prevails in anaerobic reactors and the high porosity of anaerobic granules. However, rmnor nonideal sorption phenomena were observed for 3,4-dichlorophenol (3,4-DCP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP), both of which showed sorption-desorption isotherm hysteresis. Substrate interaction during degradation of cosubstrates and 2,4-DCP resulted in the inhibition of acetogenesis and methanogenesis by 2,4-DCP. The effect of electron donors on 2,4-DCP degradation was found to be minimal. A modified Haldane type inhibition function was proposed to described the degradation of 2,4-DCP. On the basis of model discrimination results, the degradation kinetics of HAc and propionic acid (HPr) were defined by the uncompetitive inhibition and Haldane type inhibition functions, respectively, with 2,4-DCP as inhibitor. Acidogenesis of sucrose to HAc or HPr followed the Monod equation since no inhibiting factor was found for this degradation process. Knowledge obtained from the above investigations was used to develop a dynamic model for UASB reactors. Data that were obtained from experimental investigations on multiple substrate degradation in continuous UASB reactors were used to validate and veritjl the dynamic model. The model predicts the system responses for 2,4-DCP, 4-monochlorophenol (4-MCP), HAc, HPr and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration in the effluent. Based on model fitting results, it was found that the degradation rates of 2,4-DCP and cosubstrates, HAc and HPr, changed inversely as a function ofthe specific organic loading rate ofthe UASB reactors. The implication ofthis finding was fully discussed.

Urbanization in British Columbia has generally occurred by way of two processes. It has either occurred in relation to the establishment of a single enterprise community in the resource frontier, or, it has occurred in relation to the growth of established municipalities in which previously non urban areas surrounding established municipalities have become urbanized. The urbanization of previously rural areas has, in most cases, resulted in the need for basic municipal services as well as an institutional structure to administer these services and to provide a basic public decision-making structure in the community. Although in the case of single enterprise communities the Provincial Government has followed a definite policy in the implementation of an institutional structure in these communities, no definite policy has been achieved for the implementation of such a structure in what have become known as peripheral communities. These communities have been permitted to follow a number of alternate mechanisms for the provision and administration of services although incorporation under the Municipal Act or the Water Act has generally been viewed by these communities as the only viable mechanism for (i) the provision and administration of services and (ii) the implementation of a public decision making structure in the community. The investigation of one community's attempt to incorporate under both the Municipal Act and the Water Act revealed that the present incorporation process as it is presented in the Municipal Act and as it is prescribed by the Water Rights Branch is not as effective as it might be. This ineffectiveness was found to derive from two sources. The first of these sources was found to be the inflexibility of the corporate forms permitted under both the Municipal Act and the Water Act. In terms of the incorporation process as outlined in the Municipal Act it was found that the population criteria as well as obligations which are established for each municipal form deterred communities from assuming a local government structure for the reason that although communities had a sufficient population level, they were unable to financially support a local government structure of the type outlined in the Municipal Act. In terms of the incorporation process for water improvement districts a similar inflexibility was discerned although this inflexibility did not derive from the Water Act per se but, resulted from the interpretation of the Water Act by the Water Rights Branch and the Department of Municipal Affairs. These two agencies viewed water improvement districts as corporate bodies with only limited objects and powers. Consequently, communities wishing to incorporate under the Water Act for the exercise of a number of objects are deterred from assuming the status of water Improvement district. A second reason for the ineffectiveness of the incorporation process was found to be the lack of communication between the agencies entrusted with the incorporation process and the communities wishing to incorporate. It was found that this lack of communication resulted in (i) the failure of the agencies to perceive the institutional needs of these communities and (ii) the failure of communities to meet standard and act according to established procedures. To remedy the deficiencies of the present incorporation process, it is proposed that the incorporation process be made a "communicative" process which entails basically a three phase process. In the first phase known as the initiation phase, the community approaches the relevant agency and makes evident its need for a local government structure. In the second phase, known as the design phase, the community and the agency engage in a process of evolving a design which would best suit the institutional needs of the community. In the third phase, known as the incorporation phase, the incorporation of the community takes place. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Law, 2016. / Public finance literature has minimally engaged the fiscal autonomy of African local governments, and cities in particular. African cities should independently generate a significant portion of revenue locally in order to finance a varied range of municipal services to a diverse municipal population. This study aims to provide insight through the contextual analysis of the revenue assignment function of African cities. The study explores fiscal discretion and appropriation as a reflection of local fiscal autonomy and how these manifest in local revenue instruments. The study employs an illustrative case study methodology on Nairobi and Johannesburg by means of an examination of local revenue generation particularly water revenue and municipal borrowing to examine the contrasting experience of local fiscal autonomy of these two cities. The legal and institutional frameworks of these cities provide for an array of OSR. Previously, local revenue tools did not address the financing needs for municipal services of infrastructure required to cater for the growing and diverse municipal populations. A national process of local government restructuring compelled the cities to realign local structures to enhance revenue mobilization in order to address the challenge of municipal service delivery. The regulatory environment was also amended to effect intergovernmental transfer arrangements as well as particular local revenue instruments in each case. In Nairobi, the structural and legal changes have effectively entrenched the centralist nature of the Kenyan government, severely limiting the city’s autonomy with regard to water revenue. The city’s fiscal capacity for municipal borrowing has been left largely unchanged by Kenyan local government reform. In Johannesburg, the democratic dispensation has enforced local fiscal autonomy that was evident in the apartheid white local authorities. The mammoth task of centrally managing all the city revenues has brought to the fore administrative challenges particularly regarding water revenue; however, the city’s fiscal capacity has improved its state of municipal borrowing. These findings confirm the decentralization rationale. Fiscal decentralization is thus important for asserting the function of revenue assignment to enhance local fiscal autonomy. The two case cities show that local capacity and the historical role of central government are important in ascribing and manifesting this function.

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The proposal of the municipal baths is situated in Staré Brno. It´s closely of Trade fairs Brno and river Svratka. This proposal has tendence to design of function building in the relation of river Svratka and surrounding area.