Water resources & environmental engineering tools — hydrology, open-channel and pipe hydraulics, stormwater, water and wastewater treatment, groundwater, and FE/PE Environmental exam prep.
Compute open-channel flow rate and velocity with Manning's equation for rectangular, trapezoidal, and circular channels. Returns area, wetted perimeter, hydraulic radius, velocity, and discharge.
Find head loss, velocity, or flow in a pressurized water pipe using the Hazen-Williams equation. Includes typical C-factors for common pipe materials and reports the hydraulic gradient.
Estimate peak stormwater runoff with the Rational Method Q = CiA from runoff coefficient, rainfall intensity, and drainage area. The workhorse of small-watershed storm-drain design.
Size the storage volume a detention or retention basin needs to limit peak outflow to the allowable release rate, using the inflow and outflow hydrograph difference.
Calculate discharge over rectangular, V-notch (triangular), and Cipolletti weirs from head and crest geometry — the standard field method for measuring open-channel flow.
Compute ultimate and time-t biochemical oxygen demand from the first-order decay model, plus percent BOD removal across a treatment unit. Core to wastewater plant performance.
Convert a target chlorine dose to pounds-per-day (or kg/day) of feed using the 8.34 factor, and split dose into demand plus residual for water and wastewater disinfection.
Find hydraulic retention time (HRT = V/Q), surface overflow rate, and weir loading for clarifiers, basins, and reactors — the key sizing checks for sedimentation and biological tanks.
Compute groundwater discharge and seepage velocity from Darcy's law (Q = K·i·A) using hydraulic conductivity, gradient, area, and porosity. The foundation of hydrogeology.
Convert the units water engineers live in — flow (MGD, m³/s, L/s, GPM, cfs), concentration (mg/L, ppm, grains/gal), and mass loading — so plant calculations stay consistent.
Environmental and water resources engineering centers on the NCEES licensure ladder — FE Environmental → PE Environmental — supplemented by the state water and wastewater treatment operator certifications administered to ABC-aligned standards. This overview maps what each covers, who administers it, and how they ladder.
FE Environmental prep: math & statistics, engineering economics, hydraulics & hydrology, water and wastewater treatment, water-quality chemistry, groundwater, air and waste, and environmental regulations — the gateway to PE licensure.
PE Environmental prep: water resources and hydrology, open-channel and pipe hydraulics, drinking-water and wastewater treatment, water quality, groundwater, air quality, solid/hazardous waste, and environmental regulations — the licensure exam.
Water & Wastewater Treatment Operator Fundamentals prep: drinking-water and wastewater treatment processes, disinfection chemistry, coagulation/sedimentation/filtration, activated sludge, water-quality sampling, hydraulics, and safety — the operator certification core.