Sustainable Wastewater Treatment in the American South

<p>Aging infrastructure and changing social and environmental conditions are two factors that are currently pushing wastewater treatment towards more sustainable methods. This thesis investigates what sustainable treatment technologies are being used in the American South through a focused sample of six cities across the region: Austin, Texas; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Ocean Springs, Mississippi; and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The study assesses the types of sustainable treatment technology utilized at each facility, the perspectives of wastewater professionals about the technology, and the economic and environmental sustainability of each facility. Data was collected through direct observations on tours of the facilities, open-ended interviews of the wastewater professionals, and use of publicly available budgetary and environmental compliance data for the years 2008 to 2018. Based on the framework of this study, only the Ocean Springs facility was economically and environmentally sustainable. Given the difficulty of defining the term sustainable, however, it is up to each municipality to leverage the sustainable techniques that best fit its wastewater treatment needs.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Year dc:date.available

2020

Author dc:creator

• Miles, Caroline

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. David M. Cochran, Jr.
• Dr. Jerry O. Joby Bass
• Dr. Carl A. Reese

• sustainable wastewater
• wastewater
• bioregionalism
• watershed consciousness
• wastewater in southern united states
• Environmental Sciences
• Geography
• Sustainability
• Water Resource Management

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/747

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1758