Environmental Engineering and Management - Essay Example

?Environmental Engineering and Management Lack of proper care of the environment has led to the creation of an environment that is harsh to life on this planet. The poor sanitation and pollution in urban, rural and recreational centres is the main cause of spread of diseases in these areas. The creation of this study was purposely to understand the effects of various human activities on the environment, and how to control the detrimental effects of these activities. There has emerged the need for a way to deal with the increased production of waste by the anthropic development of human societies with special care not to impact negatively on the biosphere of Earth. Creative problem solving is a core component in finding solutions to the vast wastes by human growth and development that are compatible with the environment. Half of the current world population lives in urban centres and the rapid urbanisation has been a major challenge to scientists on how to maintain this population’s health without affecting the environment (Morrison & Rauch 2007). In a forum for research on the management and the effect that transportation has on the environment, some of the issues addressed included the traffic management, treatment, sustainable transport strategies, and increase on vehicle emissions, reduced air quality, and the quality of water (Morrison & Rauch 2007). 1. Introduction Environmental engineering is defined as the consolidation of engineering and science principles to better the natural environment with the aim of decontaminating polluted sites, and providing a comfortable habitation by all live organisms with clean healthy air, water and land. It is a vast field with many obligations in the society. It is concerned with finding solutions for public health cases, implementing law, promoting sufficient sanitation in rural, urban and recreational centres, management of waste water, control of air pollution, proper disposal of wastes, recycling of materials and protection from radiation, industrial hygiene, and sustainability of the environment among other fields of application. Aside from this, environmental engineering is involved with public health issues and involves the understanding of environmental engineering law as well as the effect that proposed construction projects have on the environment. In the past, environmental engineering was considered a branch of civil engineering and was called sanitary engineering, but it has spawned from a component based on the development of processes and structures that addressed pollution and waste into a multi-disciplinary science that strikes a balance between different needs. Creative ways of solving problems are employed in the everyday activities of reducing the amount of waste and pollution in the environment without affecting the environment. For example, the creation of fish ladders in dams that allows fish such as salmon to migrate upstream for breeding purposes whose route is blocked by a human-made barrier such as a dam. As an environmental engineer, there is a task and an obligation to study the impact that advances in technology have on the environment by conducting studies on the management of hazardous waste material. These studies are aimed at determining the implications of these hazards, to give advice to relevant bodies on treatment and containment of the hazard and to develop rules to ensure safety of the public. Environment engineers are responsible for the design of municipal water supply and the system management of waste water in industries. Environment issues at both local and international levels such as global warming, the effects of acid rain, ozone depletion, water pollution and air pollution from industrial sources and automobile exhausts (Beychok 2005). Environment engineers work with various environment protection agencies around the world that serve to protect and better the quality of water, air and the environment as a whole in order to prevent or reduce the effects of hazardous wastes on the environment. In universities, environmental engineers under the Civil Engineering Department major on hydrology, bioremediation, water resource management and design of water treatment plants while under the Chemical Engineering Department, major on advanced technologies in water and air treatment, environmental chemistry and separation processes. Engineers who acquire specialized training in law utilize their technical expertise in Environmental Engineering law practices while some go ahead to get board certification (Board Certified Environmental Engineer or BCEE) in their areas of specialty in the field (Salvato, Namerow & Agardy 2003). 2. Development According to Salvato, Namerow & Agardy (2003), “the enjoyment of the highest standard attainable of health is one of the basic rights of every human being without any discrimination of race, political belief, religion, social, or economic condition?” (p.38). For several centuries, mankind has applied creative principles after realising the importance of improving the quality of their environment on their health and general welfare. Utilisation of sewers in cities was practiced by the Harrapan civilization in ancient times; Bavaria, in the 15th century, created laws forbidding degrading human activity in the alpine country which was the region’s sole supply of water; and the Romans built conduits to provide a supply of clean water for the city of Rome and to prevent drought. Widespread concerns for waste water management, pollution and the progressively broad degradation of the quality of the environment in the 20th century due to human activity, led to the isolation of the discipline as an environmental discipline (NSF 2001). Design for major sewerage systems in the 19th century by Joseph Bazalgette in a bid to reduce outbreaks of waterborne diseases like cholera was an early example of environment engineering. Adoption of practices such as treatment of drinking water as well as treatment of sewage in industrialized countries brought down the cases of deaths due to waterborne diseases to rarities. In other instances, human action with short term benefits for the societies at that time had long time detrimental effects on the environment. For example, during the years after the World War II the broad use of the dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) pesticide had outstanding agricultural benefits with increased crop yields, reduced world hunger and better control of malaria. However, it was toxic to animals and humans alike and its impact on the reproductive cycles almost led to the extinction of several species. In an account by Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” in 1962 about DDT and its effects on the environment, modern environment engineering is said to have been developed (Baker, 2006). Societies have for years made laws and conservation movements restricting human action that would be detrimental to the environment. For example, laws ordering the construction of sewerage systems in London and Paris during the 19th century and the creation of a national park system in the United States in the 20th century. Background Assessment and mitigation of environmental impact There has been a development of dispersion models by scientists on air pollution to determine the effect of vehicle exhaust and industrial gas emissions on the quality of air, or the concentration of a pollutant at a receptor. The development of these models coincides to some extent with the desire to eradicate greenhouse gas emissions and especially carbon dioxide from the combustion process. Scientists apply engineering as well as scientific principles to determine the effect these pollutants will have on the quality of air, water and habitat; plant and animal life, capacity of agriculture, social impacts, traffic impacts, bionomic impacts, noise and effects on the landscape (Harrop 2002). If results are positive for the risk of impacts then measures to mitigate the impacts are developed to prevent or limit the impacts. Solid waste management This refers to the collection, freight, treatment or disposal, monitoring and management of solid waste materials and is a practice which concentrates on delaying the rate at which natural resources are consumed. Solid waste is the material produced either through direct or indirect human activity and the process of managing solid wastes is aimed at reducing their impact on health, the environment or the aesthetics of a place. The wastes are all classified into a single class in the management regardless of whether they are radioactive, gaseous, liquid or solid and the main aim is to reduce the harmful effect they have on the environment through different available methods. Waste water management Technologies for the treatment of waste water are plentiful with improved techniques for the classification of wastewaters being developed in the past few decades. A wastewater treatment plant is made up of a primary elucidation system to remove floating solid materials, a secondary treatment system in which the waste water is exposed to air in a basin which is followed either by a secondary clarifier and an activated sludge system or flocculation and sedimentation, a tertiary system where the biological removal of nitrogen takes place and a final system which involves disinfecting the waste water (American Society of Civil Engineers 2000). Activated sludge involves the use of grown bacteria to remove organic material from the waste material in the activated sludge system and this bacterium is removed from the water in the secondary clarifier. The tertiary system is commonly left out of the process citing cost implications but it has become more dominant in the recent past to get rid of nitrogen and phosphorus in the water and to clean the water before it is discharged into a water stream or into the ocean (Tchobanoglous, Burton & Stensel, 2003). Water supply and treatment Securing water supply is an important practice by engineers and scientists as it provides supply for agricultural use as well as portable use. The specialists determine the amount of water supply available in a watershed, the amount of water that will be needed in that watershed for various uses, and the seasonal water movement cycles. With this information, they create systems to collect, store, treat and channel water for the different uses. The use of distribution systems for water provides adequate pressure of water and flow rates to satisfy various needs of the end user like irrigation, firefighting and domestic use. Treatment of water ensures improvement of the quality of water that reaches the end users by reducing the risk of infections through waterborne diseases. It also reduces the risk of non-infectious diseases by improving the quality of health and creating a palatable flavour of water. Environmental Impact Assessment An environmental impact assessment or EIA is one which involves evaluation of probable impacts of a project in the environment on human health, the risk to the ecology, and changes the project might have on services of nature. This ensures developers and decision makers take into consideration the impact their projects have on the environment before making decisions on whether to proceed with the undertaking of these projects. A technology by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) labelled environmental science uses the pathway analysis to determine the probable impact of environmental factors on human health (McMahon 2006). In a report released by the EPA in 2008, potential impacts of climate change on human welfare and health as well as the communities are discussed. The challenges and potential effects of climate change and its possible effects on some communities and individuals like the elderly, children and people with chronic medical conditions (EPA 2008). The development of public health infrastructures and environmental programs to protect water and air are possible ways of reducing these impacts. Contrary to popular belief, reduction in environmental effects does not strain the economy of a country. The gross domestic product and the ecological footprint are products of different parts of the economy. For example, in a typical country’s economy, the ecological footprint is derived from the primary production of energy, wood, fish and crops while the highest value added is obtained from the sale of apartments, public services and profits from retail trade. In a research by the Aalto University in which environment extended input-output models (EEIO) were used to identify the most fundamental economic interactions out of a set of 23000 model parameters on the Finnish economy. EEIO combines the consumption, production and impacts of the environment into a clear scheme of equations in order to examine the origin of the gross domestic product (GDP) and the sectors of the economy which cause the most impact on the environment and loss in biodiversity. It involves the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) to examine raw materials and the methods required to manufacture a product (SYKE 2013). Table 1: Basic data used to build an environmental supply and monetary Supply table (SYKE 2013) Supply table Export table Use table Import table Economic data: flows of products, (products in monetary terms Output by product and by sector Products by exporting sectors (Intermediate) consumption by product and by sector Products by importing sectors Idem but additionally (kg, numbers) Products specified in physical units Products specified in physical units Products specified in physical units Products specified in physical units Environmental data: emissions and extractions (flows of compounds) Emission by compound and by sector Outflow by compound Extraction or reabsorption by compound and by sector Inflow by compound Materials and substance flows (possibly also energy) Materials/substances per product Materials/substances per product Materials/sub-stances per product Materials/sub-stances per product The models evaluated the environmental impacts including loss of biodiversity, Eco toxicity and land use and were used in conjunction with life cycle assessment impact tests to evaluate the footprint of carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions from products and services. The results of these tests showed that out of the thousands of various production paths tested, only a few of them had profound impact on the environment. As such it is only necessary to focus on these few important factors when addressing the issue of environmental impact on the global economy (SYKE 2013). A global model like the Finland model is already being developed to examine the proportion of the value added produced by developed countries and the developing countries and where the work is carried out (SYKE 2013). Drive cycle Emissions from are a big contributor to the overall concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and especially carbon dioxide. As a response to this threat to the environment, major vehicle markets are introducing standards to ensure fuel economy in their countries with the main aim of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases from vehicles. Fuel economy which is measured by the amount of fuel consumed per unit distance by an automotive is enforced by the use of drive cycles. Factors that would result in differing observations in the same vehicle are noted and the vehicle is tested in different environments such as on a highway, an urban region or a combination of both. Several factors that influence the fuel economy of a vehicle include the engine characteristics, gear train characteristics, weight and aerodynamics, rolling resistance, driving cycle and driver habits (GFEI 2013). Environmental degradation and environmental management Increase in human population leads to increased demand for more land for settlement and this has a detrimental effect on the environment. This involves clearance of forest cover to create space and to provide building materials for the expansion of urban centres or settlements. Transport of materials from the site where the raw material is acquired to the site for processing and manufacturing also determines the effect human activity has on degrading the environment. Vehicle emissions and greenhouse gases from industries that transport and process these materials respectively have a huge impact on the environment. Conclusion Management of the environment is usually coordinated poorly at the different levels of government which reduces the effectiveness of efforts applied to improve the quality of the environment. Further engagement of citizens through mechanisms of participation has not been effectively institutionalized in most local governments. As such there is need to institutionalize the management of the environment to ensure sustainable development with minimal effect on the environment and the promote participation as well as training of the communities on the important ways the environment could be sustained. In conclusion, I recommend that we strive to protect the natural environment by engaging in environment friendly activities since by conservation of these resources we do not lose in the economy and the effects of degradation of the environment are avoided. References American Society of Civil Engineers, 2000. Conveyance of residuals from water and wastewater treatment. Reston, Va.: ASCE Publications. Baker, S., 2006. Sustainable development. London: Routledge. Beychok, M. R., 2005. Fundamentals of stack gas dispersion. 4th Ed. Irvine, Calif.: M.R. Beychok. Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), 2013. Sectors damaging the environment are not drivers of economic growth. [Online] Available at: [Accessed on 20th September 2013] GFEI. Auto Fuel Economy. 2013. 2 August 2013. Available from http://www.unep.org/transport/gfei/autotool/understanding_the_problem/About_Fuel_Economy.asp Accessed 19 September 2013. Harrop, D. O., 2002. Air quality assessment and management: a practical guide. London: Spon Press. McMahon, R., 2006. The Environmental Protection Agency: structuring motivation in a green bureaucracy: the conflict between regulatory style and cultural identity. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. Morrison, G. M., & Rauch, S., 2007. Highway and Urban Environment. New York: Springer. NSF Gov., 2001. Funding - Environmental Engineering - US National Science Foundation (NSF) [Online] Available at: [Accessed on 20th September 2013] Tchobanoglous, G., Burton, F. L., & Stensel, H. D., 2003. Wastewater engineering: treatment and reuse. 4th Ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2008. Analyses of the Effects of Global Change on Human Health and Welfare and Human Systems. [Online] Available at: [Accessed on 20th September 2013.] Read More