go directly to Course Timeline Core Information Course CEE 755/855 Water Quality Management Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits Fall Semester (offered at ODU Campus and Teletechnet sites) Session Fall Session #1 Prerequisite Graduate standing minimum. Prerequisites: (CEE 350 and MATH 307) or Permission of the instructor. Students are expected to have a good background in mathematics and computer. Instructor Jaewan Yoon, Associate Professor, CEE, KH 130 Phone (757) 683-4724 Fax (757) 683-5354 e-mail <yoon@cee.odu.edu> Office Hours Open and Extensive, both in-person and via e-mails. Course Description     Characterization of water quality in natural systems, and the human activities that result in contaminant input to these systems will be discussed and studied in the class. Engineering management practices and methodologies, with particular emphases on TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) and WLA (Waste Load Allocation) approaches, for minimizing contaminant inputs, and for restoring contaminated waters will be main topics. The physical, chemical, biological, and hydrological characteristics of surface water system in junction to water quality management issues will be reviewed. Reaction kinetics and material balances will be investigated for use in modeling contaminant movement in the environment. Specific attention will be given to typical water quality problem domains in stream and river systems, lake and reservoir systems. Groundwater systems will be discussed if the time constraint permits. Students are expected to have a background in hydrology, chemistry, physics, fluid mechanics and computer. Textbook and References     No textbook is designated. Course materials will be based on a combination of handouts, various reference and handbook sections in form of a course pack. Class Topics     Chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of aquatic system Ecological principles impacting water quality Hydrologic and hydraulic principles relating to water-quality monitoring and modeling Quantitative characterization of assimilative capacity of aquatic systems Assessment, remediation, planning and management, and post-audit/monitoring strategies Various pollution constituents - point, nonpoint, diffused, surface-subsurface interaction State and Federal water-quality legislation and permits; standards and criteria Lake stratification and destratification: influences on water quality Eutrophication process and trophic state indices Treatment methods: aeration, nutrient inactivation, biological manipulation, etc. Class Philosophy     The classroom presentation will be lecture and discussion even though the class will be in a teletechnet broadcast setting. I will ask questions during lectures to promote discussion of various topics and to stimulate thoughts. Feel free to interrupt me at any time in order to discuss points that you do not understand or simply want to discuss in more detail. (of course, at the same time we need to use the time wisely to cover class topics) Remember, only dumb questions are those that are never asked. Office Hours: You're welcome to drop by for a discussion. However, I do prefer if you would e-mail your question to me at <yoon@cee.odu.edu> to make an appointment in advance (or flat out asking questions via e-mail). Please come prepared with some explicit questions which demonstrate that you have done some thinking about your 'lingering' problem on your own. You must have a little knowledge to ascertain what it is you don't understand. Grading Policy     Homeworks 10% (Dues at the beginning of following Monday class) Project 40% (Final report and presentation) Article Reviews 10% (Three article reviews and one presentation) Midterm Exam 20% (Takehome) Final Exam 20% (Full class period, Open notes) Total 100%   Final Letter Grade Assignment Final letter grades will be based on brackets (see right side) out of the normalized 100% total. For example, a cumulative total equals to a 65 percentile or higher will guarantee you a grade of C- or better. No "grading by the curve" -- what you earned is what you get.   100%-88% A, A- < 88%-78% B+, B, B- < 78%-65% C+, C, C- < 65% F Class Logistics Right after the first class, please e-mail Dr. Yoon your contact information such as; Your Full Name ODU ID e-mail address (that you can actually be reached) Contact Phone number This is *critical* -- I'll e-mail important materials (including a takehome exam) to the very e-mail address that you sent to me. I expect an average student would spend about 1.5 hours of study outside class for every hour spent in the class. Class website will be used extensively to announce assignments/homeworks and to distribute class materials in addition to providing your latest cumulative grade information. Please make a habit to check the class website often. Homeworks are dued in the beginning of following Monday class. It may turned in before class/put in my mailbox/fax to (757) 683-5354. Problems should be worked neatly and briefly on 8.5"x11" engineering ruled pads (or equivalent), with the pages stapled and numbered. Show all your works so I can give proper credits. Please write legibly on "one side of the paper" only. Miterm Exam will be a Takehome exam. Au contraire, Final Exam will be a full class period, open note exam. Final exam will cover topics discussed after the Midterm exam. If you think your exam was incorrectly graded or graded too harshly, please return it to me with an explanation. I reserve the right to completely regrade a homework/examination that has been returned (regraded result can be either better or worse than the original grade). A requirement of this course is to conduct a class project on a water quality management/modeling/planning problem/design with an in-class, 20-minute presentation and submit a written final report. The project will be a group effort, ideally two students per group, but the student/group ratio will depend on the class size. For more information, please see Another requirement of this course is that *each* student writes three article reviews; first and second reviews will be based on two articles designated by the instructor. Third article review will be based on your choice of a topic from a refereed, technical journal in the field of water quality management/modeling/planning/regulation -- you are encouraged to pick an article which is of interest to you. For the third article review only, you'll give a 15-minute presentation to the class on the article that you've reviewed. In these reviews, I expect a succinct summary of the article to show you understood it your own critical and creative comments, i.e., what was particularly insightful about the article, what was lacking or incorrect, how does it tie in with concepts discussed in class, any conclusions counter to your expectations, etc. Particularly, I want you to prove to yourself and to me that you have thought about the article and produce something beyond what the author(s) has told you. This is basically why we read articles for research. For further details, please refer to Reasonable accommodations are provided for students with disabilities. Please let me know as early in the semester as possible. Please either turn your cellular phone|beeper off or switch it to a vibration mode during the class -- Thank you. Honor System The Old Dominion University Honor Code applies to all works associated with this course. Honor the Honor Code. Remember, the academia is all about pride and respect, and the Honor Code is the heart of it. Course Timeline   CEE 755/855 Water Quality Management Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits Fall Session (offered at ODU Campus and Teletechnet sites) Today is Period Topics 1 Introduction & Course Overview Sources and Uses of Water Water Quality Standards 2 No Class -- Labor Day 3 Physical Characteristics of Water Chemical Characteristics of Water Biological Characteristics of Water Bacteria Source Tracking (BST) in TMDL 1st Article Distributed 4 Water Quality Standards (WQS) in Federal and State Levels Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Water Quality in the EIA process Decision Matrix Tradeoff Analysis Due: 1st Article Review 5 Material Balances of Flow and Concentration Mass Flux:    - Advective    - Diffusive    - Dispersive    - Reactive 6 Contaminant Movement/Transport in Various Environments Types and Common Indicators of Pollution Deadline: Project Proposal 7 Fall break 8 Environmental Laws and Regulations Pollution Control Laws Planning and Management Post-Audit/Monitoring aspects of Water Quality Miterm Exam (Takehome) 9 Tools for Water Quality Management:    - Mathematical Models    - Regulatory Models Due: 2nd Article Review 10 Water Quality in Rivers/Lakes - I    - Characteristics    - Assessment    - Management Strategy    - Models    - TMDL & WLA 11 Water Quality in Rivers/Lakes - II    - Characteristics    - Assessment    - Management Strategy    - Models    - TMDL & WLA 12 Water Quality in Reservoirs/Estuaries - I    - Characteristics    - Assessment    - Management Strategy    - Models    - TMDL & WLA Due: Project Progress Report * E-mail one-page summary of your 3rd Article Review to Dr. Yoon no later than 5:00 PM. 13 3rd Article Review Presentations (at Gornto Teletechnet Building Room 222 ) Due: Written portion of 3rd Article Review 14 Water Quality in Reservoirs/Estuaries - II    - Characteristics    - Assessment    - Management Strategy    - Models    - TMDL & WLA * E-mail one-page summary of your project presentation to Dr. Yoon no later than 5:00 PM. 15 Project Presentations (at Gornto Teletechnet Building Room 222 ) Due: Project Final Report 16 Final Exam Final exam (open notes) will cover topics from River/Lake/Estuary with emphasis on TMDL assessment and reduction design. (I.e., topics discussed after the Midterm exam)   Final Letter Grade will be posted by Noon at the Cumulative Grade page ©2026 J. Yoon