MILJØ210 Biogeochemistry for Water Quality and Sewage Management

Fresh water is a critical and limiting resource for terrestrial life on earth. It is also a medium that is re-used infinitely in modern society. To ensure the earth’s capacity for self-renewal and access to sufficient clean water for future generations, water resources need to be managed with an integral sustainability perspective. The course starts from the three sustainability dimensions (social, ecological and economical) and discusses water as a resource with competing uses (a.o. drinking water, irrigation, industrial process water, transport- and energy bearer). The function of water as a recipient and different aspects of water quality will be elaborated and there will be a focus on soil and sediments as treatment media. The first part of the course discusses the formation of soil and sediment and the basic biogeochemical processes in these that affect the dynamics of organic matter, Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and pollutants - from theirs sources to their sinks in rivers, lakes, fjords and the sea. The second part takes a step forward towards real-world integration with a focus on soils and wetlands as treatment media. His part concludes with a range of concrete examples from today’s decentralized sewage treatment systems. Active group work is an important component of the course: students will study complex real-world cases from all three sustainability perspectives in small project groups.