These exercises are meant to help you practice the concepts from lecture. Exercises with starred numbers (e.g., #1) are mandatory. On-campus students and any students in the online section who wanted to work in groups will submit the mandatory exercises in their groups. Exercises without starred numbers (i.e., none on this homework assignment) are optional; I will give you some extra credit if you submit them. As always, feel free to ask me if you have any questions.
*1. We discussed examples of groundwater issues or problems to motivate the material from class. This problem will add to that list.
a. Find an article or webpage on a contemporary groundwater issue in a U.S. state that starts with the same first letter as one of last names of your group members.
Provide the web address.
b. In a paragraph of 200 words or fewer, summarize the problem; explain the effect of the problem or an engineering solution on the economy, environment, or society; and indicate what you might like to learn in this class to address problems of this nature.
c. Find an image that illustrates this problem—e.g., a photograph, map, drawing, schematic, etc. Provide image and the link.
d. Submit your text, links, and images via email to me (so that I can compile them easily).
*2. The
Des Moines Register reported that the executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association said water used by ethanol facilities is a “drop in the bucket” compared with the total groundwater usage in Iowa.
a. How much groundwater used for different purposes (i.e., domestic supply, agriculture, industry, etc.) in Iowa? Provide sources of your information.
b. Evaluate the argument that water used by ethanol facilities is a “drop in the bucket”. Explain whether you agree or disagree.
*3. The report
Mission 2012: Clean Water says that people in the U.S. dump or bury
240 million gallons of automobile oil each year. Does this number seem reasonable?
Evaluate it quantitatively by considering—for example—the number of vehicles in the
U.S., the number of oil changes, the amount of oil, etc.
*4. Design an experiment to measure the hydraulic conductivity of sandy loam. Use the constant-head apparatus sketched in lecture 3.

a. Choose the length of the sample, the area of the tube holding the sample, and the head difference, and recommend a flowmeter (from an internet search, say) to measure the flow. Provide the cost of the flowmeter as well as a source for the information.
b. Devise a different way to measure the flow and estimate the cost of your alternative approach.
c. Discuss any advantages and disadvantages of the approaches in parts a and b.