What is Environmental Engineering?
Environmental
engineering is the use of scientific principles to help improve
the Earth’s environment by providing healthier land, water and air for
human use, and to find ways of eliminating or reducing environmental pollution. It uses the
principles of biology and chemistry to develop solutions to
environmental problems. The goal of environmental engineering is to
integrate scientific and engineering principles to minimize
air pollution and waste discharge from industries, clean up polluted sites, set up appropriate mechanism for
waste disposal resulting from human activity and study the impact of proposed construction sites on environment.
Apart from this, environmental engineering promotes energy
conservation and is also concerned with finding solutions in areas of
public health such as implementing adequate sanitation facilities.
Topics involving environmental engineering include waste management,
water supply, waste water treatment, air pollution, recycling, and
disposal of wastes, protection from radiation, public health,
environmental engineering law, and the effects of man-made projects on
the environment.
Who are Environmental Engineers and What They do
Environmental engineers are specialists who study and perform
environmental engineering. To this end, they take doctrines of
engineering, science, biology and chemistry to formulate solutions to
public health issues and environmental problems. Essentially, they study
the effects technology has on the environment. They must also be
leaders in protecting the future of the environment from climate change
and availability of resources, dealing with toxic wastes, helping
oceanic areas recover from
oil spills, developing new methods of
recycling, monitoring air pollution levels, protecting wildlife from environmental hazards, and to eliminate solid, hazardous, and
radioactive wastes and
contamination of the environment.
Environmental engineers also conduct research on waste management
studies in which they evaluate the significance of hazard, advise on its
treatment and develop regulations to prevent or mitigate mishaps. They
also address local and global environmental issues such as climate
change, global warming, waste management,
acid rain, improving recycling, raising pollution levels,
ozone depletion,
deforestation and landfills.
The two major areas of interest of environmental engineers include
enhancing the availability of high quality water supplies and
investigate the fate and transport of contaminants and their by-products
emerging from air, water and soil.
Scope of Environmental Engineering
The scope of environmental engineering is actually larger than one
might think and largely deals with the topics that were listed above. It
is broad and scope and deals with major issues such as the treatment of
water and
air pollution to smaller but still completely relevant issues like recycling everyday items and storing solid wastes in landfills.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is the primary agency that
works with environmental engineers to evaluate on these topics.
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Environment Impact and Mitigation
Engineers and scientists apply scientific and engineering principles
to evaluate if there are likely to be an adverse impact on water, air,
soil, land quality,
flora and fauna,
ecological impact, noise impact or visual impact. The overall goal of
environmental engineers is to identify, assess and evaluate the
environmental impacts of man made plans, projects and laws to see if
there are any affects whatsoever on water, air, habitat, agriculture,
plants and animals, and the ecosystem. In this sense, environmental
engineering encompasses the protection of human health and preserving
the natural environment using scientific and engineering processes.
Solid waste management deals with solid waste materials produced by
human activity, whether straightforwardly or obliquely. Solid waste
management also focuses on the recovery of resources to delay the human
consumption of natural resources. Different methods are used to limit
the harmful solids that are released into the environment. The objective
of solid waste management is to reduce the harmful effects of solid,
liquid or gaseous substances on the environment.
Solid waste management also encompasses reuse and recycling of
everyday materials, the minimization of waste, the storage and transfer
of wastes, disposing of solid wastes at landfills, and policies and
regulations regarding the above.
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Water Supply and Treatment
Environmental engineers work to portable and agricultural use. It is
their job to assess water within a water basin and determine supply of
available water, the cycles of water movement throughout the seasons,
and the treatment of water for various uses. This is done to severely
minimize the risk of diseases that can be caught from the drinking
and/or contact of water. This is why water distribution systems are
built to meet irrigation standards for civilian use.
Water pollution
is closely tied to water supply and treatment. It essentially deals
with the waste put into water from sewer systems, outhouses and septics
in both rural and urban areas. Environmental engineers design specific
systems to carry the polluted water away from civilized areas and
release the waste into the environment, most often into the ocean, and
in more landlocked areas, rivers and lakes.
Environmental engineers design manufacturing and combustion processes
to ensure the air pollutants are at acceptable levels in the atmosphere
where the toxins can have minimal effects on people. These include
emissions from automobile exhausts, No2, So2, organic compounds, and
organic acids.
Environmental engineers work variety of environments because of the
nature of tasks. The employment of environment engineers is expected to
grow from 15% to 22% by 2022. Apart from social and ecological impact,
environmental engineers are also involved in protection of wildlife.
They also work as consultants and provide their services to clients to
protect our environment from various environmental hazards, and clean up
hazardous sites.
