Most of us take our wastewater (sewer) systems for granted. We flush the toilet or wash the dishes or our clothes, and, with very few exceptions, the dirty water leaves our home. While most of the time our wastewater is out of sight and out of mind, what goes on behind the scenes to carry out this important function is very complex and requires the input of many parts and people. We all generate gallons of wastewater every day and often don’t think about how it is dealt with, yet it often requires so much to provide this service to us—strict health regulations, a knowledge of chemical, biological and technical processes, budgeting to run a business, and miles of infrastructure to make it convenient, to name just a few things.

As a leader in your community, making decisions about your community’s wastewater system is probably part of your role. And it is an important role. You may be on a board or council that is the highest decision-making body for your community’s wastewater system. This means you, along with the other leaders, need to oversee all of the activities that go on in the system—not with an extensive knowledge of each activity, but at least with an awareness of what happens and what is required.

Whatever your role or capacity is, you are to be congratulated for taking an interest in your community’s wastewater treatment processes. You may want more information about what it takes to provide the vital service of treating wastewater. This guide to the operations of wastewater systems for non-technical audiences is designed to explain a typical small-community water system—from the time wastewater leaves a home, through the collection and treatment system, to the final discharge to a receiving body of water or reuse—in an easy-to-understand manner.

Design Techniques, Construction Practices & Materials for Affordable Housing

Green building is a time-tested, practical and intuitive approach to creating environmentally sound buildings. Green building combines age-old wisdom; tradition and collaborative design processes; and modern building science, technology and materials application.

Green building structures are energy efficient, conserve resources, create healthier indoor environments and offer durable and beautiful spaces that use environmentally suitable materials. Green building incorporates integrated design concepts, solar orientation, appropriate footprint sizing, glazing awareness, material durability, economic life-cycle analysis, material reuse and salvage, natural material content, locally available materials and economic sustainability.

These Home Remodeling Green Building Guidelines were developed:

• To present a range of voluntary green measures for building professionals and homeowners to choose from when remodeling a home in California
• To provide local governments with an educational tool for city staff, building professionals and homeowners interested in green residential remodeling
• To offer cost-effective suggestions to minimize construction-related waste, create healthier and more durable homes, reduce operating costs for homeowners and support local manufacturers and suppliers of resource-efficient building materials
• To create a policy foundation for local governments interested in implementing a green building program
• To establish regional consistency in green building guidelines to increase predictability for building professionals
• To integrate varying residential initiatives in order to achieve greater simplicity and local applicability
• To offer methods to reduce the impacts of building in California communities, including solid waste management, water conservation, energy efficiency and resource conservation
• To offer a set of guidelines developed by an independent, third-party source in collaboration with a wide range of expert stakeholders

These residential Guidelines were developed for the following reasons:

• To provide local governments with an educational tool for city staff, builders and homeowners interested in green residential construction
• To present a range of voluntary measures for builders to choose from when constructing a green home in California
• To create a policy foundation for local governments interested in implementing a green building program
• To establish regional consistency in green building guidelines to increase predictability for builders
• To integrate varying residential initiatives in order to achieve greater simplicity and local applicability
• To offer a set of guidelines developed by an independent, third-party source.

The purpose of this manual is to provide an overview of coastal geology and a discussion of data sources and study methods applicable to coastal geological field studies. “Coastal geology” is defined as the science of landforms, structures, rocks, and sediments with particular emphasis on the coastal zone. Material in this manual has been adapted from textbooks and technical literature from the fields of geology, geomorphology, geophysics, oceanography, meteorology, and geotechnical engineering.

The practicing scientist involved in coastal projects is expected to be able to obtain a general overview of most aspects of coastal geology and to be able to refer to the reference list for additional information on specific topics.

This manual describes evaluation techniques for both large and small hydro projects, as well as pumped-storage hydro. These procedures can be applied to the modification or rehabilitation of existing hydro projects as well as to new projects.

Information is presented on power system operation and the role of hydropower, the development of data for making hydropower studies, the flow-duration and sequential routing techniques of estimating energy potential, the considerations involved in sizing of powerplants, computer models available for making power studies, the use of reservoir storage for hydropower, special problems involved in estimating costs for hydro projects, techniques for establishing need for hydro projects, alternative approaches for evaluating hydropower benefits, and the methodology for computing power values. Techniques are presented for evaluating multi-project systems as well as single projects, and for incorporating power production in multiple purpose project or system operation.

Appendixes include example calculations, a glossary, a list of references, and a table of conversion factors. An outline of the steps in a hydropower study is provided together with an appendix summarizing the technical material to be presented in a hydropower study report. Information on coordination required with the regional Federal Power Marketing Administrations and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also presented.

This manual provides guidance and criteria for the design of small water supply, treatment, and distribution systems. For the purpose of this manual, small water systems shall be those having average daily design flow rates of 380 000 liters per day (l/d) (100 000 gallons per day (gpd)) or less. However, the use of the term small is arbitrary, there being no consensus in the water supply literature with respect to its meaning.

Regulations regarding the acceptability of a water source, degree of treatment required, and the monitoring requirements are not based on flow rates, but rather on a water system classification relating to the number of people served and for what period of time.

This manual presents procedures for the design analysis and criteria of design for improved channels that carry rapid and/or tranquil flows.

Procedures are presented without details of the theory of the hydraulics involved since these details can be found in any of various hydraulic textbooks and publications available to the design engineer. Theories and procedures in design, such as flow in curved channels, flow at bridge piers, flow at confluences, and side drainage inlet structures, that are not covered fully in textbooks are discussed in detail with the aid of Hydraulic Design Criteria (HDC) charts published by the US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station (USAEWES).

The charts and other illustrations are included in Appendix B to aid the designer. References to HDC are by HDC chart number. The use of models to develop and verify design details is discussed briefly. Typical calculations are presented to illustrate the principles of design for channels under various conditions of flow. Electronic computer programming techniques are not treated in this manual. However, most of the basic hydraulics presented herein can be adapted for computer use as illustrated in Appendix D.

This manual describes methods for evaluating flood-runoff characteristics of watersheds. Guidance is provided in selecting and applying such methods to support the various investigations required for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) civil works activities. The manual references publications that contain the theoretical basis of the methods and detailed information on their use. The manual is organized into four parts.

The first, Problem Definition and Selection of Methodology, describes the products of flood-runoff analysis and the types of investigation for which these products are required. Aspects of flood hydrology are discussed, including physical processes, data availability, and broad approaches to analysis. Guidance in formulating study procedures is provided, which includes criteria for method selection and recommended content for a hydrologic engineering management plan (HEMP). The reporting of study results is the focus of the last chapter in Part I.

Part II, Hydrologic Analysis, provides information on techniques for simulating various components of the hydrologic cycle, including rainfall, snow, infiltration (loss), surface and subsurface runoff, and flow in channels and reservoirs. Multisubbasin modeling and design storm definition are discussed.

Part III, Methods for Flood-Runoff Analysis, addresses the application of simplified techniques, frequency analysis of streamflow data, precipitation-runoff simulation of storm events, and period-of-record precipitation-runoff simulation. Data requirements and calibration / verification of simulation models are considered.

Part IV, Engineering Applications, deals with several issues associated with the application of methods from Part III. The processing of data can be time-consuming and costly; techniques for efficient data handling are addressed. The lack of historical streamflow data is the source of much difficulty and uncertainty in flood runoff analysis. Aspects of dealing with “ungauged” basins are discussed. Issues associated with the development of frequency-based estimates are covered, including the concept of calibration to “known” frequency information. Various aspects of modeling land use change, as well as the effects of reservoir and other projects, are discussed. Finally, three examples illustrate some of the principles presented in this manual.

Following Part IV, Appendices A and B provide references, a generic HEMP, and a set of example applications.

This engineer manual (EM) relies on references and/or technical information in several other guidance documents. Some of those documents are part of this current guidance effort and others are older documents. The most relevant documents are EM 1110-2-1416, River Hydraulics, EM 1110-2-1415, Hydrologic Frequency Analysis, and EM 1110-2-1413, Hydrologic Analysis of Interior Areas.

This Engineer Manual provides guidance to Corps of Engineers (CE) personnel who are responsible for groundwater-related projects. This manual was written with special attention to groundwater-related applications prevalent within the CE. Thus, sections addressing site investigation procedures and the performance of modeling studies are included. Additionally, a chapter focusing on the interaction between surface water and groundwater is included.

This manual applies to all USACE Commands having civil works responsibilities. This manual provides information for application to common Corps groundwater-related studies, including:

1. Site characterization for contaminant remediation.
2. Computer modeling of groundwater flow.
3. Groundwater and surface water interaction studies.
4. Reservoir operations.
5. Groundwater flow to adjacent locks and dams.
6. Remediation of reservoir leakage.
7. Infiltration of runoff to the subsurface.
8. Baseflow between aquifers and fixed bodies including streams and reservoirs.
9. Effects of aquifer pumping on adjacent lakes and streams.
10. Well installation involved with seawater infiltration barriers.
11. Dewatering of an excavation for construction purposes.
12. General regional and local applications.