CEV 204E | Computer Applications in Environmental Engineering

Introduction to Data Processing in

Environmental Engineering - I

Spring 2021
Onur Y. Özcan
 What is Data?

▪ Data is uninterpreted information.

▪ Data, information, and knowledge are often used
interchangeably. However, data becomes
information only once it has been interpreted in
context or in post-analysis.
▪ Example:
▪ If the information we are looking for is the average
grade of all students in an exam, then the grade of
one student becomes a data point.

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Image Source: http://dsrc.nl/what-is-data-science/
 Where Does Data Come From?

▪ Experimentation
▪ i.e. Running controlled experiments in the lab or in the field to describe
a system, phenomenon, etc.
▪ Routine Process Monitoring
▪ i.e. Monitoring effluent quality in a wastewater treatment plant
▪ Databases
▪ i.e. WHO - Global database of household air pollution measurements
https://www.who.int/airpollution/data/hap-measurements/en/
▪ Scientific Literature
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 Types of Data

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Image Source: https://www.sixsigma-institute.org/sixsigma_images/six_sigma_data_types.jpg
 Quantitative Data in Environmental Engineering
Water & Wastewater Treatment
▪ Water Temperature
▪ Pressure
▪ Atmospheric pressure at the water surface of aeration tanks, water pressure in pipes, biogas pressure,
transmembrane pressure in membrane filtration
▪ Time
▪ Hyraulic Retention Time (HRT), Solids Retention Time (SRT), reaction times, contact times
▪ Length
▪ Tank dimensions, length of pipes, channels & weirs, water depths, elevations, thickness of filter media, filter pore
sizes
▪ Area
▪ Surface area of clarifiers, cross-sectional area of pipes, filtration area of filters
▪ Volume
▪ Tank volumes, volume of screenings and grit, volume of dewatered sludge

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 Quantitative Data in Environmental Engineering
Water & Wastewater Treatment (cont...)
▪ Concentration
▪ Group parameters – i.e. Hardness: 100 mg/L as CaCO3
▪ Individual constituents – i.e. Mg2+ concentration: 24 mg Mg2+/L
▪ Flow Rate
▪ Loading Rates
▪ Pollutant loading rates, hydraulic loading to clarifiers, volumetric organic loading rates to biological reactors
▪ Energy
▪ Energy (head) losses, energy content of biogas, energy requirement of treatment units
▪ Power
▪ Required for equipment selection (pumps, mixers, blowers)

and more...

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 Quantitative Data in Environmental Engineering
Watershed Management
▪ Topography Data
▪ Digital elevation models (DEM), i.e. a 3D representation of a terrain's surface
▪ Climate Data
▪ Precipitation / rainfall, wind speed, temperature, air pressure, evaporation, cloudiness, solar radiation
▪ Water Flows
▪ Stream Flow Rates, data on water consumption, data on discharges to water media
▪ Water Quality Data
▪ Land Use Data
▪ Agricultural and forest land, residential area, digitized village borders, fertilizer use and livestock data, crop pattern
and agricultural operations, geology and hydrogeology, crop yields

and more...

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 Quantitative Data in Environmental Engineering
Air Quality Management
▪ Air Temperature
▪ GPS Coordinates / Distance Data
▪ Pollutant Concentrations
▪ i.e. 1.6 ppm SO2(g) measured at the coordinates (x, y, z) in the atmosphere or 200 ppm SO2(g) emissions in
the flue gas of an industrial process
▪ Meteorological Data
▪ Precipitation / rainfall, wind speed, temperature, air pressure, evaporation, cloudiness, solar radiation
▪ Land Cover Data

and more...

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 Quantitative Data in Environmental Engineering
Solid & Hazardous Waste Management
▪ Waste Generation Rates
▪ i.e. Per capita solid waste generation (g/ca/d)
▪ Biogas Generation Rates from Sanitary Landfills
▪ Distance Data
▪ i.e. How far away the waste needs to be transported
▪ Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
▪ i.e. Is the waste reactive, flammable, toxic, corrosive, etc.?

and more...

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 Why Collect Data?

▪ Policymaking & regulatory compliance

▪ Quality assurance
▪ i.e. Water and wastewater treatment processes are monitored
constantly to ensure process stability and to quickly address any
operational problems
▪ Process modeling & design
▪ Scientific research

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 Databases: Hydrologic Modeling
Data Type Source
Topography Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) - Digital elev. map (DEM)
http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/
Land use European Environment Agency CORINE Land Cover (2012)
https://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european/corine-land-cover/clc-2012/
Soil National Soil Database
http://85.25.185.76/tgskmae/starter.aspx
International Soil Reference and Inf. Centre ISRIC - Soil Grid 1 km Project
http://soilgrids1km.isric.org
Crop pattern Turkish Statistics Institute (TSI) Crop Production Statistics Database
https://biruni.tuik.gov.tr/bitkiselapp/bitkisel.zul
Climate Turkish State of Meteorological Service
http://www.mgm.gov.tr/
River discharge Turkish State Hydraulic Works
http://en.dsi.gov.tr/

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 Databases: Air Quality Modeling
Data Type Source
Land Cover, Copernicus Pan-European Database
Topography https://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european
Air Quality WHO-Global database of household air pollution measurements
https://www.who.int/airpollution/data/hap-measurements/en/
National Air Quality Network (Ulusal Hava Kalitesi İzleme Ağı)
http://laboratuvar.cevre.gov.tr/Default.ltr.aspx
Air Emissions The European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP)
http://www.emep.int/
EEA-Air pollutant emissions
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/air/air-emissions-data/air-pollutant-
emissions-eea-datasets
Meteorology Meteorological Service (Meteoroloji Genel Müdürlüğü)
https://www.mgm.gov.tr/

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 Data Processing Tools
▪ Spreadsheet Software
▪ Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, OpenOffice Calc
▪ High Level Programming Languages
▪ Python, R, Matlab
▪ Modeling/Simulation Software
▪ Wastewater process modeling: SUMO, GPS-X, STOAT, AQUASIM
▪ Watershed modeling: SWAT, HSPF
▪ Air quality modeling: AERMOD, ADMS
▪ Statistical Analysis Software
▪ Minitab, SPSS, XLSTAT, Stata

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Basic Excel Tutorial

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 Excel Exercise - 1.1
Five students in an Environmental Chemistry class are required to take samples from their lab’s tap water everyday for a week and
measure the amount of Calcium in their sample. Each student runs their own Calcium analysis on the same daily sample, and
records their measurements in an Excel spreadsheet, as given below. Fill out the Q Test (min), Q Test (max), and Sample
Average columns for the data set given below, in your own version of the same Excel spreadsheet.

Sample Q Test Q Test Sample

Date Repeat Measurements (mg Ca/L) (min) (max) Average
- Meas. Meas. Meas. Meas. Meas. 95% conf. 95% conf. (mg Ca/L)
1 2 3 4 5 int. int.
Sample 1 01.01.2019 24 21 27 22 28
Sample 2 02.01.2019 33 35 30 29 29
Sample 3 03.01.2019 45 31 42 39 41
Sample 4 04.01.2019 22 28 25 26 27
Sample 5 05.01.2019 25 29 41 28 24
Sample 6 06.01.2019 33 35 30 29 36
Sample 7 07.01.2019 41 48 45 50 43

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 Excel Exercise - 1.2
▪ Do these first:
▪ Save your Excel file.
▪ Name your current Excel worksheet Ex 1.1.
▪ Create a new worksheet in the same Excel file. Name it Ex 1.2.
▪ In the Ex 1.2 worksheet, for the data set given in Exercise 1.1, plot the
Sample Average data versus Sample Date using a 2-D clustered
column chart.
▪ Insert > Charts > Insert Column or Bar Chart > 2-D Column > Clustered Column
▪ Enter ‘Calcium Plot’ as the chart title.
▪ Enter ‘Calcium Concentration (mg/L)’ and ‘Date’ as the axis titles.

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 Excel Exercise - 1.3
Dissolved Oxygen ▪ Do these first:
Concentration Organic Matter ▪ Save your Excel file.
(mg/L) Removal (%) ▪ Create a new worksheet in the same Excel file. Name it Ex
0.0 5 1.3.
0.1 7 ▪ In the Ex 1.3 worksheet, create the two columns shown
0.2 10 on the left.
0.3 15 ▪ Create a scatter plot of the data, with the correct axis
0.4 25 labels.
0.5 40 ▪ Insert > Charts > Insert Scatter (X, Y) or Bubble Chart >
0.6 50 Scatter
0.7 55 ▪ Use Excel’s built-in linear regression tool by drawing a
0.8 60 trendline through the data and display the R2 value and
0.9 65 the regression equation on the chart.
1.0 70

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 Excel Exercise - 1.4
▪ Do these first:
▪ Save your Excel file.
▪ Create a new worksheet in the same Excel file. Name it Ex 1.4.
▪ Pick a random Turkish city and record its name on your Excel
worksheet
▪ Go to http://www.tuik.gov.tr
▪ Figure out how to download the historical population data available
for your chosen city
▪ In the Ex 1.4 worksheet, create a table with the columns Year and
Population, and display your population data.
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 Excel Exercise - 1.5
▪ Do these first:
▪ Save your Excel file.
▪ Create a new worksheet in the same Excel file. Name it Ex 1.5.
▪ In the Ex 1.5 worksheet, copy the Year and Population columns from the Ex 1.4
worksheet
▪ Create a new column next to Population, and name it Population Growth
▪ In the Population Growth column, calculate the change in population between
each subsequent year
▪ Create a new column next to Population Growth, and name it Growth per Year
▪ In the Growth per Year column, calculate how much the population has changed
yearly for each data interval

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 Excel Exercise - 1.6
▪ Do these first:
▪ Save your Excel file.
▪ Create a new worksheet in the same Excel file. Name it Ex 1.6.
▪ In the Ex 1.6 worksheet, copy all columns from the Ex 1.5 worksheet
▪ Create a new column named Average Annual Growth Rate
▪ In the Average Annual Growth Rate Column, calculate a single value that yields
the average of all values in the Growth per Year column
▪ In the Year column, add the values: 2020, 2025, 2030, 2035, 2040, 2045, and
2050
▪ In the Population column, calculate the estimated population of your city for each
new year added in the Year column using your Average Annual Growth Rate

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 Send Your Excel File

▪ Send your Excel file to itu.cev.204@gmail.com

▪ Make sure you name your file like this:
▪ Week1_<Student Number>.xlsx
▪ Please use your file name as the subject of your email, as well.

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