FRS 002 — Sec. 005 — (2 units) — CRN 53593 — T 5:10-7:00pm — 3102B EU III
Environmental Impacts of Stormwater Runoff

Instructor: Masoud Kayhanian, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering

Description: Million cubic meter of stormwater runoff are discharged from urban and non-urban areas on an annual basis to various receiving waters (e.g., rivers, lakes, oceans). Pollutants associated with this runoff will have serious environmental consequences. For instance, in these days beaches are commonly closed soon after storm event for fear of pathogenic (disease causing) bacteria contamination. Large numbers of fish dies annually due to the non-point source pollution. Increased concentration of organic and inorganic pollutants has been noticed in river and other potable waters. For this reason, it is more difficult and more expensive to treat these waters prior distribution for human consumptions. This course is intended to provide an introduction to stormwater runoff quality so that the students gain the basic knowledge on topics such as: (1) water quality regulations, (2) essential water quality parameters, (3) measurement of water quality parameters, (4) sources of contaminants in stormwater runoff, (5) contaminant of concern and priority, (6) management practices and treatment options.

Format: The course will consist of (1) lectures in the form of power point presentation, (2) guest speakers from consulting firms, government agencies and non-profit environmental groups and (3) student presentations. Several reports, journal articles on related topics will be made available to students. The students will be divided into five groups and each group will be responsible to select a relevant topic and prepare a PowerPoint presentation at the conclusion of the course. Grading: students will be assigned a letter grade based on: (1) regular class participation and interaction (20%), (2) preparing a short critique of the regular reading assignments and (40%) and (3) the quality of final in class power point presentation (40%).

About the Instructor: Dr. Kayhanian has been a research faculty at UC Davis for the past 15 years. He is currently an associate research professor and acting as the associate director of the Center for Environmental and Water Resources Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Most of his current research activities related to non-point source pollution and stormwater runoff from transportation facilities. He performed over 20 major research projects on stormwater related topics for the past 7 years with a budget of over 20 million dollars. He has extensive teaching experience and has taught numerous courses on environmental related topics to undergraduate, graduate and professional.