CHAPTER 1
ENVIRONMENTALENGINEERING
David Burstein, P.E.*
THE ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER
Environmental engineering is essential for development of facilities for protection of the environment and for the proper management of natural resources. The environmental engineer places special attention on the biological, chemical, and physical reactions in the air, land, and water environments and on improved tech-nology for integrated management systems, including reuse, recycling, and recovery measures.Environmental engineering began with society’s need for safe drinking water and management of liquid and solid wastes. Urbanization and industrialization significantly contributed to the formation of unsanitaryconditions in many areas. The terms “public health” and “sanitary” were first applied to those engineersseeking solutions to the elimination of waterborne disease in the 1800s. More recently, abatement of air and land contamination became new challenges for the environmental engineer. Today, management of toxic and hazardous wastes are additional focus areas.Traditionally, environmental engineers drew their basic education and training from civil engineering programs. In order to broaden their perspective and capabilities, contemporary environmental engineers pur-sue course work and postgraduate training in professional areas including biology, chemical engineering,chemistry, and hydrology. Since the environmental engineer is now dealing with sensitive public issues,training in public education, public policy, and other social sciences is desirable.The principal environmental engineering specialties are well established: air quality control, water supplymanagement, wastewater disposal, storm water management, solid waste management, and hazardous wastemanagement. Other specialties include industrial hygiene, noise control, oceanography, and radiology.Principal areas of employment for practicing environmental engineers include consulting, industry, and government. Other environmental engineers work in the academic community or direct the development and production of equipment.After satisfying experience and testing requirements, the environmental engineer obtains professional en-gineering registration. Professional associations of interest to the environmental engineer include the Amer-ican Academy of Environmental Engineers, the Air and Waste Management Association, the American Wa-ter Works Association, the Water Environment Federation, and the Solid Waste Association of NorthAmerica.
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*Contributors to this chapter were Gary D. Bates, P.E.; W. Gary Christopher, P.E.; Mark S. Dennison; Melvin R. Hockenbury,P.E.; Robert A. Mannebach, P.E.; Roger E. Mayfield, P.E.; Brian D. Moreth; and Thomas N. Sargent, P.E.
Source: STANDARD HANDBOOK OF ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERINGDownloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com)Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved.Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website.
Consulting
Consulting engineers are professionals experienced in applying their knowledge and experience to the bene-fit of those who have retained their services. The services to be provided by an environmental engineeringconsultant may range from studies to preliminary design, final design, construction, and operation and man-agement services. Additional major areas of service include site evaluations, environmental impact studiesand assessments, assistance in obtaining permits, and expert witness services. Consulting environmental en-gineers typically work for local, state, and regional government, the federal government, industry, and tradeand professional organizations.
Industry
The industrial sector of the economy has a substantial demand for environmental engineering professionalsdue to the requirement to comply with statutes and regulations of federal, regional, and state pollution con-trol agencies. Typically, industry may employ environmental engineers at their headquarter, division, and plant levels, as well as in liaison roles directly with legislative and executive agencies.Typical of responsibilities of environmental engineers at all levels are assistance in planning and develop-ment. For example, wetlands may exhibit environmental impacts from industrial expansion, which could slow or halt necessary construction. Other typical environmental engineering activities are preparation and negotiation of permits from regulatory agencies, responsibility for operation of and reporting associated with existing pollution control systems, and development of modifications to existing pollution control sys-tems consistent with production changes.
Government
Environmental engineers in public service provide technical expertise in all levels of government.
Local Government.
The environmental engineer’s role in local government may include such tasks as as-sistance in the development of local ordinances; administration of a pretreatment program, including inspec-tion and compliance monitoring; responsibility for the municipal or local wastewater treatment plant opera-tion; responsibility for the operation and administration of the solid waste collection and disposaloperations; administration of the local air pollution ordinances; and interfacing with state and federal offi-cials as required on environmental matters.
State Government.
Considering the current trend in government, it is reasonable to expect that the envi-ronmental engineering staff at the state level will increase, in some cases dramatically. This is due primarilyto the federal government’s stated intent to have the states perform the primary role in executing the environ-mental laws of the nation. This will increase the employment of environmental engineers in a variety of roles, including field inspectors, regional/divisional engineers, and administrative staff.A tabulation of addresses and telephone numbers for state and territorial environmental protection agen-cies is presented in Table 1.1.
Regional Government.
The role of the environmental engineer in regional agencies is similar to that of thestate’s role except that there may also be significant interactions with other states. A list of major interstateenvironmental agencies is presented in Table 1.2.
Federal Government.
The environmental engineer in the federal government is involved primarily with re-search and development, development of regulations, and enforcement of regulations. The most widelyknown agency that affects environmental engineers is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The
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CHAPTER 1
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERINGDownloaded from Digital Engineering Library @ McGraw-Hill (www.digitalengineeringlibrary.com)Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved.Any use is subject to the Terms of Use as given at the website.
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Standard Handbook of Environmental Engineering
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