Environmental Engineering

Issues Facing the World Today

• We, as global citizens, at receiving end of
environmental impacts high priority to
conserve

• Many global and regional problems: air, water

and sea pollution, vanishing wildlife, full landfill,
acid rain, global warming, ozone depletion etc.

• Challenge to Environmental Movement 

Sustainable Development and Management of
Resources, Energy and Materials
 Overpopulation
• Overpopulation
– Too many people with too few resources
– World Population continually rising
– Perpetuates problems of poverty, hunger,
pollution, economic disparity etc.
– Struggle for resources and better quality of
life
Global Population Trends

Developing European
Countries Countries
 Population vs. Resources

Developing European
Countries Countries
* MBOE: Million Bales of Oil Equivalent
What are
environmental issues?

• Three areas:
– air quality
– land quality
– water quality
The Major Environmental Problems
 Who does it affect?
• Everyone & Everything!
– plants
– insects
– animals
– humans
– ecosystems
– our planet
What is Environmental Engineering?
ASCE Definition:

Environmental engineering is manifest by sound engineering

thought and practice in the solution of problems of
environmental sanitation, notably in the provision of safe,
palatable, and ample public water supplies; the proper disposal
of or recycle of wastewater and solid wastes; the adequate
drainage of urban and rural areas for proper sanitation; and the
control of water, soil, and atmospheric pollution, and the social
and environmental impact of these solutions.
Furthermore, it is concerned with engineering
problems in the field of public health, such as
control of arthropod-borne diseases, the
elimination of industrial health hazards, and the
provision of adequate sanitation in urban, rural,
and recreational areas, and the effect of
technological advances on the environment
(ASCE, 1977).
Environmental Engineering
Branch of Civil Engineering concerned with:
 Protecting the environment from potentially deleterious effects of human
activity
 Protecting human populations from the effects of adverse environmental
activities
 Improving environmental quality for human health and well-being

The environment we speak of is the biosphere. i.e.

1 Abiotic Components: Atmosphere, Hydrosphere and Lithosphere.
2 Biotic Components: Life

Equilibrium in the Biosphere

The biotic and abiotic components
exist in a state of equilibrium.
E.g.CO2, organic waste converted to fertilizers.
The number and type of living systems in
the biosphere is proportional to the
resources available.
What is Environmental Engineering?

Definition: The application of science and

engineering knowledge and concepts to care
for and/or restore our natural environment
and/or solve environmental problems.
Environmental Engineering-A Global
Perspective
 Environmental Engineering
• Air pollution
– Control devices
– Permitting
– Modeling
• Water (surface and groundwater):
– Treatment & disinfection
– Storage and distribution
– Dispersion
– Quality
• Wastewater
• Solid Wastes
• Hazardous Wastes
• Radioactive Wastes
• Integrated Systems
• Pollution Prevention
• Other – noise and light pollution
Environmental Engineering -Influence of Man on
the Biosphere
• Accumulation of resources in excess of our needs
and beyond our own boundaries
• Conversion of resources to more versatile forms-
produces complex wastes
• Compete with other organisms for resources-
insecticides, pesticides etc.

Man damages the environment. The interval taken for

the environment to react is defines the Carrying
Capacity of the Environment.
If Pollution Load, PL > CC environmental damage
 Environmental Engineering – Its Role
When pollutants enter biosphere natural processes as dilution, biological
conversion and chemical reactions convert them to more acceptable
forms.
If PL >CC natural processes cannot keep up

Environmental Engineers amplifies and optimize the natural processes in

nature.
e.g.
 Wastewater Treatment Plants using microorganisms to remove
organics from WW
 Construction of tall smoke stacks to disperse and dilute air pollutants
 Chemicals to ppt iron and manganese from potable water
 Construction of landfills to isolate toxic waste
END