A group of UWindsor environmental engineering students came to understand the importance of wastewater treatment — and gained experience working as a team with professionals — in winning a student design competition of the Water Environment Association of Ontario.

Cay-Yen Ang, Jordan Goddard, and Fabianna Palacios took top honours against schools from across the province to address a real-world challenge: reducing overflow of wastewater from the treatment and collection system in Port Dalhousie.

The Windsor team developed a design to eliminate overflow with minimal cost, taking into consideration the effects of climate change. The submission recommended adding chemicals to improve the settling of solids during storm events, implementing fine bubble diffusers to increase the capacity of biological treatment, and use tanks existing on the site to disinfect water with chlorine.

Faculty advisor Rajesh Seth said the project showcased the students’ talents.

“Participation in such competitions is a great opportunity to help increase the visibility and profile of Windsor Engineering,” said Dr. Seth. “Winning it is a bonus, as they now move on to the North American competition in Chicago this October.”

The team also expressed gratitude for advice provided by alumni now working for Stantec Consulting: Mike Reaume (BASc 2010, MASc 2013) and Chrissy Jung (BASc 2017, MASc 2019).

“As one of the smaller groups that competed, we are very proud of the work we were able to achieve,” team members wrote in an account of their experience. “We are honoured to represent not only the University of Windsor but the environmental engineering discipline in this competition.”