2020 Virtual undergraduate Research symposium
Retrofitting an Open Water Wetland in Southern California to Accurately Measure Flows
PROJECT NUMBER: 33
AUTHOR: Brayden Johnk, Civil and Environmental Engineering | MENTOR: Adam Brady, Civil and Environmental Engineering
MENTOR: Laura Leonard, Civil and Environmental Engineering | MENTOR: Jonathan (Josh) Sharp, Civil and Environmental Engineering
ABSTRACT
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Engineered wetlands in California have developed quantification difficulties due to a combination of plumbing and outflow issues. Specifically, at the Prado wetlands, designed to improve water quality for Orange County by removing nitrate and other pollutants from the Santa Ana River, the hydraulic gradient between the wetlands is too low for its current design, inhibiting future research and viable results. The implementation of weirs and weir boxes, tools used to accurately control and measure open channel water flow, provides a remedy for this problem. The Prado’s lower flows led me to choose a fully-contracted, 90 degree v-notch weir design. Following the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s constraints for this type of weir, I designed a weir box to meet these standards to ensure accurate measurements upon construction and implementation. I considered four different hydrologic residence times (HRT) of 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours, and designed four individual weir plates, each abiding by the initial constraints. These will slide into the front of the box to lower/raise the flow, and hence the HRT, of the wetland. The box, currently under construction, will connect to a 6-inch PVC pipe to improve the flow between the wetlands and allow for accurate flow measurements.
VISUAL PRESENTATION
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
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Brayden Johnk is a sophomore at Colorado School of Mines in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is studying civil engineering with a minor in public affairs, and has an interest in hydrology and water resources. His current research focuses on how to effectively design a weir box to mitigate outflow issues in engineered wetlands. In his free time, Brayden loves to hike 14ers, ski, camp, mountain bike, and rock climb.
Great work, Brayden! Looking forward to test and, hopefully, installing these at Prado.
Thanks Adam! I appreciate the help throughout the semester and am anticipating how they will fare in the wetlands.
Brayden, I really like your project and poster design! I also do research for the wetlands and it is cool to see the different ways that we are all contributing. Nice job!
Thanks Kim, I appreciate it!
Great work. I liked the poster design and enjoyed listening to your presentation. Good Luck!
Brayden, I work with Adam and think it’s great how much headway you’ve made on this – nice job. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out when tested in the field!
Brayden, I work with Adam and think you’ve done a great job on this! Looking forward to seeing how it does in the field.