Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 1.1
Mark Twain. (Image from Library of Congress Ref. No. LC-USZ62-5513.)
are not “perfectly conceived,” such as the Bohr atom and the Schrödinger equations for chemical
reactions used in chemistry and chemical engineering. These laws and theories, while not univer-
sally applicable, are still extremely useful. Newton's laws, for example, still form the basis for much
of engineering mechanics.
It may not be necessary to have a complete understanding of general relativity in order to design
a rocket to send a person to the moon. A knowledge of the physical relationships encompassed in
Newton's laws, which all engineering students are exposed to, may be perfectly adequate. But, how
about predicting the impact of heat on the lows in a lake? Or, how about predicting the impact of
nutrients on phytoplankton concentrations in a lake? These environmental relationships are not
rocket science. They are much more complex! That is, environmental relationships are much more
variable and uncertain than some physical relationships are and the factors impacting those rela-
tionships are not nearly as well known. In addition, while many if not most engineering projects
have some impact on the environment, most engineering students are not exposed to environmental
relationships with nearly the same degree of rigor as they are to physical relationships for them to
estimate the environmental impact of those engineering projects. However, it is often engineers
who either make decisions or provide input to decision makers related to environmental problems.
That may be partly due to one common attribute among engineers, in that they are good at making
decisions and solving problems, and in environmental management usually someone has to come
up with a solution and make a decision. Unfortunately, as will be a recurring theme in this topic,
one generation's solution is often the next generation's problem. Perhaps as a result of incomplete
knowledge of the environmental impacts in the design of past engineering projects (e.g., watershed
or channel alterations), many of today's engineering projects deal with the remediation or mitigation
of those environmental impacts, or the restoration of impacted waterbodies.
This topic is not intended as a substitute for a rigorous curriculum in the environmental sciences,
including limnology, and other “ologies” and it is not intended to provide “everything an engineer
should know.” First, the knowledge base in many areas is enormous, and many professionals spend
their entire careers dealing with only one or a few aspects of the topics discussed. Secondly, in many
cases an adequate knowledge base simply does not exist.
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