Environmental engineering is the integration of science and engineering
principles to improve the natural environment, to provide healthy water, air,
and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to clean up
pollution sites. Environmental Engineering can also be described as
a branch of applied science and technology that address the issue of energy
preservation, production asset and control of waste from human and animal
activities. Furthermore, it is concerned with finding plausible solutions in
the field of public health, such as arthropod-borne
diseases, implementing law which promote adequate sanitation in urban, rural
and recreational areas. It involves waste
water management and air pollution control, recycling, waste
disposal, radiation protection, industrial hygiene, environmental
sustainability, and public health issues as well as a knowledge of environmental engineering law. It
also includes studies on the environmental impact of proposed construction projects.
Environmental engineers study the effect of technological
advances on the environment. To do so, they conduct hazardous-waste
management studies to evaluate the significance of such hazards, advise on
treatment and containment, and develop regulations to prevent mishaps.
Environmental engineers also design municipal water supply and industrial wastewater treatment
systems as well as address local and worldwide environmental issues such as the
effects of acid
rain, global warming, ozone
depletion, water pollution and air pollution from automobile exhausts and industrial sources.
At many universities, environmental engineering programs
follow either the department of civil
engineering or the department of chemical engineering at engineering faculties.
Environmental "civil" engineers focus on hydrology, water resources
management, bioremediation, and water treatment plant design. Environmental
"chemical" engineers, on the other hand, focus on environmental
chemistry, advanced air and water treatment technologies and separation
processes.
Additionally, engineers are more frequently obtaining
specialized training in law (J.D.) and are utilizing their technical expertise in
the practices of environmental engineering law.
Most jurisdictions also impose licensing and registration
requirements.
Development
Ever since people first recognized that their health and
well-being were related to the quality of their environment, they have applied
thoughtful principles to attempt to improve the quality of their environment.
The ancient Harappan civilization utilized early sewers
in some cities. The Romans constructed aqueducts to prevent drought and
to create a clean, healthful water supply for the metropolis
of Rome. In the 15th
century, Bavaria
created laws restricting the development and degradation of alpine country that
constituted the region's water supply.
The field emerged as a separate environmental discipline
during the middle third of the 20th century in response to widespread public
concern about water and pollution and increasingly extensive environmental
quality degradation. However, its roots extend back to early efforts in public
health engineering. Modern environmental engineering began in London in the
mid-19th century when Joseph Bazalgette designed the first major sewerage system that reduced the
incidence of waterborne diseases such as cholera. The
introduction of drinking water treatment and sewage treatment in industrialized
countries reduced waterborne diseases from leading causes of death to rarities.
In many cases, as societies grew, actions that were intended
to achieve benefits for those societies had longer-term impacts which reduced
other environmental qualities. One example is the widespread application of the
pesticide DDT to
control agricultural pests in the years following World War
II. While the agricultural benefits were outstanding and crop yields
increased dramatically, thus reducing world hunger substantially, and malaria was
controlled better than it ever had been, numerous species were brought to the
verge of extinction due to the impact of the DDT on their reproductive cycles.
The story of DDT as vividly told in Rachel
Carson's "Silent Spring" (1962) is considered to be the
birth of the modern environmental movement and the development of the modern
field of "environmental engineering."
Conservation movements and laws restricting public
actions that would harm the environment have been developed by various
societies for millennia. Notable examples are the laws decreeing the
construction of sewers in London and Paris in the 19th century and the creation of
the U.S. national park system in the early 20th century.
Scope
Solid waste management
Solid waste management is the collection, transport,
processing or disposal, managing, and monitoring of solid waste materials. The
term usually relates to materials produced by direct or indirect human
activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on
health, the environment, or aesthetics. Waste management is a distinct practice
from resource recovery, which focuses on delaying the rate of consumption of
natural resources. The management of wastes treats all materials as a single
class, whether solid, liquid, gaseous, or radioactive substances, and the
objective is to reduce the harmful environmental impacts of each through
different methods.
Environmental impact assessment and mitigation
Scientists have air pollution dispersion models to evaluate
the concentration of a pollutant at a receptor or the impact on overall air
quality from vehicle exhausts and industrial flue gas stack emissions. To some
extent, this field overlaps the desire to decrease carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gas emissions from combustion processes. They apply scientific and
engineering principles to evaluate if there are likely to be any adverse
impacts to water quality, air quality, habitat quality, flora
and fauna, agricultural capacity, traffic impacts,
social impacts, ecological impacts, noise impacts, visual (landscape) impacts,
etc. If impacts are expected, they then develop mitigation measures to limit or
prevent such impacts. An example of a mitigation measure would be the creation
of wetlands in
a nearby location to mitigate the filling in of wetlands necessary for a road
development if it is not possible to reroute the road.
In the United States, the practice of environmental
assessment was formally initiated on January 1, 1970, the effective date of the
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). Since that time, more than 100 developing and developed nations either
have planned specific analogous laws or have adopted procedure used elsewhere.
NEPA is applicable to all federal agencies in the United States.
Water supply and treatment
Engineers and scientists work to secure water supplies for
potable and agricultural use. They evaluate the water balance within a watershed
and determine the available water supply, the water needed for various needs in
that watershed, the seasonal cycles of water movement through the watershed and
they develop systems to store, treat, and convey water for various uses. Water
is treated to achieve water quality objectives for the end uses. In the case of
a potable
water supply, water is treated to minimize the risk of infectious disease transmission, the risk of
non-infectious illness, and to create a palatable water flavor. Water
distribution systems are designed and built to provide adequate water pressure
and flow rates to meet various end-user needs such as domestic use, fire
suppression, and irrigation.
Wastewater treatment
There are numerous wastewater treatment technologies. A
wastewater treatment train can consist of a primary clarifier system to remove
solid and floating materials, a secondary treatment system consisting of an aeration basin
followed by flocculation and sedimentation
or an activated sludge system and a secondary clarifier,
a tertiary biological nitrogen removal system, and a final disinfection
process. The aeration basin/activated sludge system removes organic material by
growing bacteria (activated sludge). The secondary clarifier removes the
activated sludge from the water. The tertiary system, although not always
included due to costs, is becoming more prevalent to remove nitrogen and phosphorus
and to disinfect the water before discharge to a surface water stream or ocean
outfall.
Air pollution management
Scientists have developed air pollution dispersion models to
evaluate the concentration of a pollutant at a receptor or the impact on
overall air quality from vehicle exhausts
and industrial flue gas stack emissions. To some extent, this field
overlaps the desire to decrease carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from combustion processes.
Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is one of the many agencies that work with environmental engineers
to solve key issues. An important component of EPA’s mission is to protect and
improve air, water, and overall environmental quality in order to avoid or
mitigate the consequences of harmful effects.
Education
Courses aimed at developing graduates with specific skills
in environmental systems or environmental technology are becoming more common
and fall into broad classes:
- Mechanical engineering courses oriented towards designing machines and mechanical systems for environmental use such as water treatment facilities, pumping stations, garbage segregation plants and other mechanical facilities;
- Environmental engineering or environmental systems courses oriented towards a civil engineering approach in which structures and the landscape are constructed to blend with or protect the environment;
- Environmental chemistry, sustainable chemistry or environmental chemical engineering courses oriented towards understanding the effects (good and bad) of chemicals in the environment. Focus on mining processes, pollutants and commonly also cover biochemical processes;
- Environmental technology courses oriented towards producing electronic or electrical graduates capable of developing devices and artifacts able to monitor, measure, model and control environmental impact, including monitoring and managing energy generation from renewable sources.
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