Overview
Joseph Hun-wei Lee (Macau University of Science and Technology, China)
Lee’s work focuses on hydro-environmental modelling for sustainable water management of smart cities. The WATERMAN coastal water quality forecasting and management system is a unique and original approach to the oversight of beach water quality that is highly effective at disseminating needed information to the public. Lee has successfully developed water management techniques in Hong Kong and the surrounding bay area, where he has devised real time forecasting of Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) risks for fisheries management, innovated wastewater treatments to reduce carbon footprint, investigated the causes of lead contamination in drinking water supplies, and designed vortex drainage systems to address climate change impacts. His work has demonstrated a very significant applied impact, which is in turn broadly applicable, combining hydraulic theory, numerical modelling, laboratory work and field monitoring, with proven efficacy on policy and decision-making.
Winner Profile
Joseph Hun-wei Lee
Joseph Hun-wei Lee is the Vice-Chancellor and President of Macau University of Science and Technology.
Education:
• 1977 – PhD; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (Civil Engineering)
• 1974 – MSc; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (Civil Engineering)
• 1973 – BSc; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (Civil Engineering)
Selected Awards:
2018 – Da Yu Water Science and Technology Prize (2nd Class), Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society
2017 – Construction Innovation Award (First Prize of Construction Sustainability), Hong Kong Construction Industry Council (CIC)
2017 – 50th Anniversary Special Appreciation Award, Korea Water Resources Association
2015 – Honorary Member Award, International Association for Hydro-environment Engineering and Research (IAHR)
2013 – Karl Emil Hilgard Hydraulic Prize, American Society of Civil Engineers
2010 – China State Scientific and Technological Progress Award (Second class) (Principal Investigator)
2009 – Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award, American Society of Civil Engineers
2008 – Election to Royal Academy of Engineering
2002 – Innovation Award for Construction Industry, The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers
1999 – The Croucher Award (Senior Research Fellowship of the Croucher Foundation)
Acceptance Speech
Distinguished Excellencies and Honored Guests, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am very much humbled and honored to receive this PSIPW award. First of all I would like to thank the Selection Committee of the PSIPW award for selecting my work. I would like to acknowledge my research colleagues over the years, and the support from research grant councils in Macao and Hong Kong – and in particular the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities trust.
We live in a world of constant change and facing many grand challenges. Globally the drivers of change are population growth, urbanization, climate change; and rapid advances in innovation and technology. In particular, urbanization and climate change pose new challenges to water management and call for scientific innovations to achieve the SDGs of sustainable cities, clean water, and good health and well-being.
My research group has been tackling the challenges of smart water management based on our belief that effective solution requires a unique blend of basic theoretical research, laboratory experiments, integrating AI and IoT with field observations. Starting around 15 years ago, we have pioneered the WATERMAN coastal water quality forecasting and management system – and some unique engineering innovations through hydro-environmental modeling: from daily beach water quality forecasting to scientific management of marine fish culture; from innovative urban flood management to tackling environmental disasters (such as excess lead in drinking water) to inform public policy. Very often the solution of complex large scale water pollution problems cannot simply rely on chemical tests in a beaker; and testing whether a new idea really works for such large urban infrastructures often takes more than a few years. Today I would like to illustrate our work using one example - the WATERMAN system for daily beach water quality forecasting. And focusing on the value of our work for society and environmental policy.
The WATERMAN coastal water quality forecasting and management system was started some years ago by asking a simple question – can we predict the water quality on our beaches – so we know where to go for swimming; and on our fish farms – so we can avoid fish kills. We have come a long way through scientific innovations.
The Hong Kong Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS) is a good example of water quality management; wastewater from a population of 5 million is conveyed in deep tunnels to a central Stonecutters Island treatment works for chemically-enhanced primary treatment (CEPT); and discharged into Victoria Harbour after disinfection. In this urbanized environment, we need to protect beaches nearby, we need to protect the multiple beneficial uses of the coastal water. Please note we are talking about 2 million m3 per day of wastewater – around 20 m3/s or nearly the flow of a river. Water management involves more than just treating all the wastes – it has more to do with working with nature.
In Hong Kong beach management is based on E.coli (EC) bacteria concentrations; swimming in polluted waters is dangerous to health. The beach water is sampled once every 2 weeks, and based on the EC concentration the water quality is divided into 4 categories; if above category 3 it is poor. Hence the prediction of the beach water quality index (1,2,3,4) based on the EC concentration every day is the objective. For sustainable water management, a real time water quality forecasting system is needed for protection of public health.
Most people think of water pollution as adding some chemical into a glass or beaker. In reality large flows of wastewater (whether it is domestic wastewater from a treatment plant, or brine from a desalination plant) are injected into the complex turbulent tidal flow in the form of multiple buoyant jets. “Buoyant” because it is freshwater into sea water, and “jet” because it is injected at high velocity. The pollution is then carried by these turbulent eddies or fluid parcels and undergoing biochemical transformations before they are transported to nearby beaches 10 km away.
One unique engine in the WATERMAN system is a robust computer modeling system to predict the fate and transport of the wastewater in the near field – from the source to the surface, a few minutes and diluted 10-100 times – the VISJET model has been applied in many settings in rivers and marine waters to define mixing zones and for EIA. But this gives only predictions in the near field close to the discharge, in the order of 10 m.
Using a unique DESA method, the near field model can be seamlessly and dynamically coupled with the flow model to give the prediction of the bacteria concentration on a beach 10 km away. The near field, intermediate field, and the far field. This simple animation shows how the WATERMAN system works.
Based on this basic research, we have greatly improved our understanding of water quality management, which enabled us how to better use AI-based data driven models. We have validated the predictions and forecasts systematically over a period of 5 years, using a suite of statistical and 3D models – achieving an overall accuracy of 80-90 percent in the prediction of WQI.
It is gratifying that after thorough independent validation and testing, the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department has adopted the WATERMAN system to the public. Now citizens can look up an iPhone App and decide which beach to go to on any given day.
In closing, I would just note that we have developed hydro-environment modeling tools to determine the carrying capacity of fish farms; to forecast the risk of algal blooms; and to develop innovative urban flood management designs to cope with climate change impacts.
Thank you.
Winning Work
[1] “The WATERMAN system for daily beach water quality forecasting: a ten-year retrospective”, Environmental Fluid Mechanics, 23 (2), 2022, pp. 205-228.
[2] “A real time data driven algal bloom risk forecast system for mariculture management”. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 161, 2020, 111731.
[3] “Reduction of Chlorine Disinfection Dosage through Optimal Jet Design in the Hong Kong Harbor Area Treatment Scheme”, Journal of Environmental Engineering, ASCE, 149(2):05022009, 2022.
[4] “Unraveling the causes of excess lead in drinking water supply systems of densely populated highrise buildings in Hong Kong”, Environmental Science and Technology, 2020, 54 (22), 14322-14333.
[5] “Vortex-intake drop structures”, in Vortex-Flow Intakes, IAHR Water Monograph, IAHR Spain, August 2023, pp.61-86 (ISBN: IS978-90-833476-1-5).