ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
MODULE 1
Environmental Science
• “provides an integrated, quantitative, and
interdisciplinary approach to the study of
environmental systems.”
• branch of biology concerned with the
interconnectivity among organisms and their
environment,
• study of how our role as humans affect our
natural surroundings.
Environmental Engineering
• a field of study that utilizes existing principles of
engineering to develop and implement
solutions to environmental issues
Environmental Science and Engineering
• an interdisciplinary program with the common
goal of understanding, predicting and
responding to human-induced environmental
change.
Unit 1. HISTORY
• Mid-1800s
o SANITARY ENGINEERING emerged as a
separate engineering field from CIVIL
ENGINEERING
o WHY THE NEED? the importance of drinking
water treatment and wastewater treatment
was recognized
• Middle third of 20th century
o ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING is born from
SANITARY ENGINEERING
o WHY THE NEED? Public concern about
environmental quality issues lead to the
development of environmental engineering
as a separate discipline that deals with air
pollution control, hazardous waste
management and industrial hygiene as well
as the traditional sanitary engineering fields of
water supply and waste water treatment.
• 1500 – First Aqueduct was built in Rome. These
aqueducts are used to transport spring water to
the population.
• 1550 – Sewer System built in Paris under King
Henry II
• 1652 – First Tuberies. First wooden pipes charred
with metal rigs are installed.
• 1700 – First Urban Drainage System was built in
Boston.
• 1776 – First aqueduct system with carbonized
wood pipes in Winston-Salem.
• 1804 – First successful filter of water supply in
Paisley, Scotland
• 1885 – Alum, as proposed in 1757, was
demonstrated this year to be an effective water
purifier
• 1902 – Start of chlorine disinfection in Belgium
• 2007 – Environmental engineering as an
established fundamental profession to care and
protect the environment.
Different Areas in Environmental Engineering
Unit 2: COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
1. Physical Components – non-living components
• Biosphere – anywhere in the planet where living
things exists
• Lithosphere – act as a unit that exhibits rigid
behavior. Oceanic lithosphere and continental
lithosphere.
• Hydrosphere – mass of water
• Atmosphere is the life-giving gaseous envelop of
the Earth.

2. Biological Components – non-living

components of an environment.
o Fauna – animal life
o Flora – plant life ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS VIEWED AT DIFFERENT
o Others – microbes, fungi, etc. PERSPECTIVES

1. Corporate Environmental Ethics

a. Valdez Principles
Unit 3: ROLES OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER
• guide and evaluate corporate conduct
1. Collaborate towards the environment
2. Provide technical-level support 1. protection of the biosphere is one of its
3. Inspect industrial and municipal facilities objectives
4. Assess the existing or potential environmental 2. encourages industries to minimize or
impact eliminate the emission of pollutants.
5. Develop site-specific health and safety b. ISO 14000 (International Standard
protocols Organization)
6. Design systems, processes, and equipment • certification for environmental management
7. Environmental compliance training • a family of standards to environmental
8. Serve on teams management to help organizations (a)
9. Monitor progress minimize how their operations negatively
10. Provide administrative support affect the environment; (b) comply with
applicable laws, regulations, and other
environmentally oriented requirements
2. Societal Environmental Ethics
Unit 4: ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
• societies exploit resources
• continue to consume natural resources as if
the supplies were never ending
• Growth, expansion and domination as the
central socio-cultural objectives of most
advance societies
• Economic growth and exploitation –
attitudes share by developing societies
3. Individual Environmental Ethics
• each of us is individually responsible
• Environmental Movements – influencing
public opinion in moving the business
community towards environmental ethics
4. Global Environmental Ethics
• environmental crisis caused by widening gap
between rich and poor nations
 • Industrialized countries contain only 23% of b. Ammonification
the world’s population and yet they control c. Nitrification
80% of the world’s goods and are responsible d. Denitrification
for a majority of its pollution 4. Phosphorus Cycle – “locked up” in rocks that is
• Developing countries struggle to catch up released by weathering (physical, chemical,
resulting to destruction and depletion biological)
• top 4 reservoirs for Phosphorus are:
International Protocols – international
- sediment (lithosphere)
conventions to solve common environmental
- soil (lithosphere)
problems
- oceans
1. The Montreal Protocol on Substances That - mineable rock (lithosphere)
Deplete the Ozone Layer – a landmark 5. Sulfur Cycle – result of volcanic eruptions and
international agreement designed to protect the through emissions from hot springs
stratospheric ozone layer. • carried back to Earth's surface as acid
2. The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the deposition when it rains or snows
Ozone Layer (1985) – outlines states'
responsibilities for protecting human health and
the environment against the adverse effects of
ozone depletion
3. Kyoto Protocol – convention on the global
climate change – sets a target reduction of GHG
emissions for 37 industrialized countries and
European communities starting from 2008 to
2012.
• Participating countries to of the Kyoto
Protocol have committed to cut emissions of
not only carbon dioxide, but of also other
greenhouse gases, being:
- Methane (CH4)
- Nitrous oxide (N2O)
- Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
- Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
- Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
• Legislations require us to produce an
environmental report (EIS) prior to the design
stage of a process

Unit 5: ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATIONS IN THE

PHILIPPINES

Unit 6: BASIC ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS

Unit 7: BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES

Material cycle/ Biogeochemical cycle/ nutrient

cycle – describe the flow of matter from the
nonliving to the living world and back again.

1. Carbon Cycle
2. Oxygen Cycle – photosynthesis
3. Nitrogen Cycle
a. Nitrogen fixation – biological, industrial,
combustion of fossil fuels, lightning (photons)