CIV E 633-ENVIRONMENTAL HYDROLOGY
FALL 2021
MIDTERM EXAM (virtual)
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021, 1730-1845

Instructions: Closed book, closed notes, no web help. Answer only ten (10) questions. When finished, submit in pdf form to the course email. Your work should be neat and clear, and the pdf file 100% readable. Submit NO LATER than 1900 hours (15-min grace period).

  1. What is the most important hydraulic parameter in the analysis of the environmental impact of the Hidrovia project on the Pantanal of Mato Grosso? Explain why.

  2. Describe the four (4) geologic/geographic characteristics/hazards posing a high risk of contamination of groundwater in the case of the Campo regional landfill project.

  3. What five (5) properties make water a suitable medium for life? Describe in detail.

  4. Describe the five (5) processes that form part of the nitrogen cycle.

  5. What natural process is responsible for the oxygen present in the atmosphere? What process is responsible for the nitrogen?

  6. Explain the concept of the 800-mm isohyet. How does it promote sustainability?

  7. Have humans solved the problem of handling their own wastes? Explain in detail.

  8. Why is it a fallacy to state that tropical rainforests such as the Amazon will help in sequestering excess carbon from fossil-fuel burning?

  9. Explain the concept of DO sag curve. How does the Ponce DO sag curve equation differ from the Streeter-Phelps equation?

  10. How did the early inhabitants of the Llanos de Mojos manage to open the nitrogen cycle? How is crop harvesting tied to the opening of the nitrogen cycle?

  11. Explain the concept of redox potential. What is methanogenesis? When does it happen?

  12. Explain why it is difficult to control floods with flood walls. What happened in the Ohio river during the flood of May 2011? What is the current strategy to cope with the problem?