NERC GW4+ DTP PhD studentship: Drinking Water Reservoir Resiliency in a Changing Climate

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus six Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Met Office, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme, please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/.

Supervisory team:
Main supervisor - Dr Danielle Wain (Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath)
Co-supervisor - Dr Lee Bryant, (Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath)
Co-supervisor - Dr Rupert Perkins (Marine Biosciences, Cardiff University)
Co-supervisor TBC - Thomaz Andrade (Welsh Water)

Project description:

Clean water is an important resource and a crucial worldwide societal challenge. Drinking water reservoirs around the world become depleted in oxygen in the summer, when layers of different temperature form due to increased solar heating. Besides being lethal for fish and other aquatic organisms, low oxygen leads to the growth of nuisance algae in presence of high nutrient loads, leading to blooms. Lack of oxygen also causes manganese in the bottom sediments to be released into the water. Algae and manganese contribute to colour, odour, and taste problems within the drinking water supply and require expensive treatment processes. To deal with these issues, water utilities use a variety of interventions within reservoirs and catchments to manage nutrient loads and low oxygen conditions. The resiliency of our water supply infrastructure in the face of a warming relies on the success of such interventions, which is uncertain under future climate scenarios.

The project aim would be to develop a coupled model of hydrodynamics and biogeochemistry for three drinking water reservoirs managed by Welsh Water. The objectives of the project would be to (1) determine the impact of engineering interventions used by utilities (e.g. mixers) on surface water quality and (2) assess the future resiliency of our reservoir infrastructure in the face of a warming climate, when increased summer heating will lead to stronger thermal stratification and diminished transport of oxygen in the water body.

The project will involve applying existing reservoir models to characterise biogeochemistry and hydrodynamics in three reservoir systems by Welsh Water. This will include collecting data to calibrate and validate the models. The three reservoir systems (Plas Uchaf/Dolwen, Ponsticill/Pentwyn, and Llandegfedd) have varying physical characteristics, environmental conditions, and different interventions in place for managing algae and manganese. A particular aim of the project will be to determine the role of forced versus natural mixing in determining transport and transformation of nutrients and metals within the different reservoir systems, and how this changes under stronger stratification conditions. In this way, we can predict the severity of future colour, odour, and taste problems within our water supplies.

Applicants should have a degree in an environment-related science with demonstrated quantitative skills or a background in engineering, maths, physics, or computer science with interest in applying their knowledge to the environment. Programming experience and strong English communication abilities required.