We are concerned with the

quality and availability of

environmental resources
and with the waste streams
that impact them

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Top 10 Environmental Issues
1. Population
2. Climate Change
3. Loss of Biodiversity
4. The Phosphorus and Nitrogen Cycles
5. Water
6. Ocean Acidification
7. Pollution
8. Ozone Depletion
9. Over Fishing
10. Deforestation
http://planetearthherald.com/top-10-environmental-issues/

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

• Science…improve our understanding of
natural processes
• Engineering…use this understanding to
develop and apply technologies that will
maintain or improve environmental quality

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Environmental Engineering
• It is the application of science and engineering
principles to minimize the adverse effects of
human activity on the environment

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 What is an engineer?
• Problem solver.
– Specifically, one who uses science to solve
real world problems.
• SO, what about an environmental
engineer?
– Solves environmental problems using
scientific tools

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Although it is impossible to
eliminate negative impacts, human
effects can be diminished and
brought under control through…..
• Public education
• Conservation
• Regulation
• The application of good engineering practice

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Factors Affecting the Environment
1. Increasing number of humans on earth
(population growth)
2. The rising standard of living (advances in
agriculture, urbanization, industrialization)

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Man exerts a tremendous impact
on the environment through…..

• Extraction of resources
• Modification and manipulation of the
environment
• Pollution resulting from deposition of wastes

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Ecological Impact on
Environment
• On the productivity of the ecosystem (green
plants, atmospheric oxygen)
• On other organism (microorganism, insects,
animals)
• On climate (global warming, ozone hole, acid
rain)

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Health Impact

• Due to microbiological
pollution
• Due to microchemical
pollution

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 WATER QUALITY Engineering
• Water treatment - take water from a source and
subject it to treatment processes to make the
water suitable for its intended use
• Waste water treatment - after water is used, it
is collected and treated to make it suitable to
be returned to the environment

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

A first Water Quality Engineering
Problem
• 1854, outbreak of
cholera in London
• 10,000 deaths
• John Snow mapped
victims addresses
• Convinced city official
to remove pump handle

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Boulder’s Raw Water System
40
City's Annual
35 Water Supply
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Barker Silver Lake Boulder
Reservoir Watershed Reservoir

Barker Reservoir Spillway

 Water Treatment Plants

Thorton, CO

Boulder, CO

Polino Pass, CA

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

How the Waste Water Treatment
Plant Works

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 17

 A few problems that we need to
solve!
• RUN-OFF: Contamination of aquatic
environments by fertilizers and pesticides in
agricultural runoff
• GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION:
Contamination of groundwater resources,
especially by hazardous wastes
• REUSE: Treating wastewater for reuse

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 18

 AIR QUALITY Engineering
• Apply science and technology to control adverse
effects of air pollution on human health and welfare,
on other organisms, on materials, or on ecosystems
• Most efforts focus on emission sources since once
pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere, there are
no practical engineering techniques for
removing them

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 19

 Denver, CO
http://www.raqc.org/more/slides.htm

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 20

Rocky Mountain National Park

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 21

Yosemite Valley National Park

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 22

Metal foundry refining in early industrial Germany, 1870s

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 23

Air Pollution

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 24

Early
1900s,
NY City

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 25

Downtown Los Angeles, December 31, 1993

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 26

 Kuwait, August 1990

Kuwait, February 1991

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 27

 Pollution doesn’t have boundaries

This dust plume

passed over urban
areas in China, Korea
and Japan, cruised
over the Pacific Ocean
and eventually made
its way to Alaska.

3 April 2002

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 28

 WHY DO WE CARE??

Some air pollutants cause adverse health effects, and we

don’t like feeling bad or dying young.

Two examples of particle collectors in southern

California
www.aqmd.gov/news1/50th_photos.htm

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 29

 Human welfare…

Melon leaves damaged by ozone

Statue damaged by acid rain

Feedlot

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 30

 A few problems that we need to solve!

• ACID RAIN: Deposition of contaminants emitted

into the atmosphere that have been converted to
acidic species
• OZONE HOLE: Depletion of stratospheric ozone by
chlorine from CFCs
• HAPS: Reduction of hazardous air pollutant
emissions (carcinogens, teratogens, etc.)
• BIOMASS COMBUSTION: Exposure of women and
children to emissions from biomass cook stoves in
rural areas in developing countries

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 31

 Warm-up Exercises

Exhausting fossil fuel resources

At the 1980 global petroleum consumption rate of
135 x 1018 J per year, how long will it take to use up
the estimated worldwide resource of this fuel? (In
1980, it was estimated that the earth’s petroleum
resource amounted to 10 x 1021 J.)

Your Assignment: Find out what is the most recent

estimate of the earth’s petroleum resource and the
most recent petroleum consumption rate.

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 32

HAZARDOUS WASTE Management

• Creation, growth of
the chemical industry
during the 20th
century established
need

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 33

 • Hazardous if…corrosive,
ignitable, reactive, toxic,
radioactive, infectious…

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 34

 • Hazardous
if…corrosive, ignitable,
reactive, toxic,
radioactive, infectious…

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 35

• What needs to be done?
– Develop, apply methods for proper use, treatment and
disposal
– Identify and remediate contaminated waste sites

Engr. Yvonne Ligaya F. Musico 36

 Sustainable Development
• Sustainable development refers to a mode
of human development in which resource use
aims to meet human needs while ensuring the
sustainability of natural systems and
the environment, so that these needs can be
met not only in the present, but also for
generations to come.

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Sustainable Development
• "Sustainable development is development
that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs."

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

Sustainable Engineering

© 2011 Cengage Learning Engineering. All Rights Reserved.

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO

 Case Study
1. Given what you know about chromium,
Jersey City Chromium what qualms might you have in taking a
chrome supplement along with your
vitamins?
2. Suppose you are a resident of Jersey City.
What three research questions would you
want answered? Make sure these are
reasonable questions for which answers
can be found through chemical, biological,
or epidemiological research.
3. Is it possible for something to be
beneficial to human health at low doses
but detrimental at high doses? Name at
least three chemicals that might be good
© 2011 Cengage Learning Engineering. All Rights Reserved.
and bad, depending on the dose. Can
something be good at high doses and
detrimental at low dose?
ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO
Thank You

ENGR. YVONNE LIGAYA F. MUSICO