nvironmental Engineering

Abstract

Humanity is now being forced to investigate the environmental consequences of its development actions, on a local, national and global scale. In the short time span since the industrial revolution. the face of this planet has been changed in many areas, sadly in some, irreversibly. Change was called progress, but now . this generation, who are the beneficiaries of past progress, are also the iriheritors of past environmental mistakes. The gains of the past will be retained and future progress will be attained, not based on the narrow forces of economics or engineering but on sustainable development. Somewhat an overused phrase, sustainable development is defined as 'the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. The latter calls for a balanced use of resources. The evolution of the age of sustainable development will require radical changes for many professional disciplines as they are now known, but most particularly for engineering. Engineering now requires an ecological appreciation and a responsiveness to a public well educated in environmental conservation. The engineering profession must include environmental protection in its brief if it is to retain public credibility. No longer can engineers design and construct projects without assessing their environmental impact on the environment. The onus of 'duty of care' now legislates for the developer or producer to be accountable for materials, waste or otherwise, from 'cradle to grave'. Engineers are now regularly called upon publicly to defend their proposals, sometimes losing, because of inadequate sensitivity of their proposals to impact on humans, flora and fauna. The democratization of the planning process with requirements of Environmental Impact Assessment necessitates that engineers not only be well versed in their own discipline but also be acquainted with and sensitive to the environment in a holistic way. Engineers now work in multidisciplinary teams alongside ecologists, economists, sociologists, planners, environmentalists, lawyers and chemists. Environmental engineering and environmental science are modem disciplines (post Second World War) and have only found their way into general usage in the past few decades. Environmental engineering is defined by Peavy et al. (1985) as 'that branch of engineering that is concerned with protecting the environment from the potentially deletenous effects of human activity, protecting human populations from the effects of adverse environmental factors and improving environmental quality for human health and well being'. Figure Pl.l is a schematic of the author's present concept of the requirements of the academic education of an environmental engineer. Environmental engineering is closely associated with other branches of engineering, e.g. civil and chemical, and with the sciences of chemistry, physics and biology. In addition, environmental engineering is associated with subsets of the above, e.g. hydrology, meteorology and atmospheric science as subsets of physical science; water, air and soil chemistry as a subset of chemical science; microbiology and ecology as a subset of biological science. As such, environmental engineering may seem like 'all things to all men'. This, of course, identifies to some extent the fact that environmental engineering is not yet a mature engineering discipline with well-defined boundaries. It is an evolving branch of engineering and this contributes to its excitement as a profession. There is room in environmental engineering for students and practitioners with backgrounds differing from the traditional engineer.