Dawei Han, PhD

Concise Environmental Engineering

Concise Environmental Engineering

© 2012 Dawei Han, PhD & bookboon.com

ISBN 978-87-403-0197-7

Contents
Preface1 Introduction

1.1 Environment

1.2 Human and Environment

1.3 Environmental Engineering

1.4 The Topics Covered

2 Ecosystems

2.1 Energy Flow

2.2 Nutrient Cycles

2.3 Eutrophication

2.4 Biodiversity

2.5 Ecosystem Services

3 Sustainability

3.1 What is Sustainability?

3.2 Issues Relevant to Sustainability

3.3 Sustainability Activities

4 Remote Sensing of Environment

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Electromagnetic Radiation

4.3 Interactions with the Atmosphere and Earth Surface

4.4 Sensors

4.5 Remote Sensing Platforms

4.6 Data Processing

4.7 Field Observation

4.8 Applications

5 Environmental Risk

5.1 Hazards

5.2 Environmental Hazards

5.3 Environmental Risks

5.4 Risk Perception

5.5 Risk Assessment

5.6 Risk Management

5.7 Risk Communication

5.8 Environmental Impact Assessment

6 Water Supply

6.1 Water Demand

6.2 Water Availability

6.3 Water Treatment

6.4 Water Distribution

6.5 Wastewater

7 Water Pollution

7.1 Main Pollutants

7.2 Water Pollution Indicators

7.3 Wastewater Treatment

7. 4 Water Quality Modelling

7. 5 Water Quality Standards for Pollution Management

8 Solid Waste Management

8.1 Sources and Composition

8.2 Waste Properties

8.3 Solid Waste System

8.4 Solid Waste Management

9 Air Pollution

9.1 Composition of Air

9.2 Structure of the Atmosphere

9.3 Transport of Air

9.4 Air Pollutants

9.5 Emission Estimation and Control

9.6 Air Quality Modelling and Forecasting

10 Noise Pollution

10.1 Sources of Noise

10.2 Physical Properties of Noise

10.3 Human Perception of Noise

10.4 Noise Measurement

10.5 Health Effects

10.6 Noise Control

11 Climate Change - Impact, Mitigation and Adaptation

11.1 Climate Observation

11.2 Climate Change Mechanisms

11.2.1 Climate Forcing

11.3 Modelling of Climate Change

11.4 Importance of Natural Variability

11.5 Impact

11.6 Mitigation

11.7 Adaptation
Preface
Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering
principles to protect and utilise natural resources, control environmental
pollution, improve environmental quality to enable healthy ecosystems and
comfortable habitation of humans. It is based on multiple disciplines
including geology, hydrology, biology, chemistry, physics, medicine,
engineering, management, economics, law, etc. Environmental engineering
involves water supply, pollution control, recycling, waste (solid and liquid)
disposal, radiation protection, industrial hygiene, environmental
sustainability, and public health. This is an introductory book on
environmental engineering and written for undergraduate students in civil
and environmental engineering, chemical engineering, environmental science
and geography. The aim of this book is to provide a concise and
comprehensive coverage on environmental engineering. The book content
covers the fundamental concepts/theories and their applications in
environmental engineering. The key subjects include environment (natural
and built environments), ecosystems (energy flow, nutrient cycles, biodiversity
and ecosystem services), sustainability (key issues and activities), remote
sensing of environment (electromagnetic radiation, sensors, data process and
applications), environmental risk (hazards, risk perception, risk assessment,
risk management, and environmental impact assessment), water supply
(demand, availability, treatment, distribution and wastewater), water
pollution (pollutants, pollution indicators, wastewater treatment, modelling
and standards), solid waste (sources and waste system), air pollution
(composition, structure, pollutants, emission control, modelling and
forecasting), noise pollution (sources, properties, perception, measurement,
health effects and noise control), climate change (observation, mechanisms,
modelling, impact, mitigation and adaptation).

Dawei Han, PhD

Department of Civil Engineering, the University of Bristol, UK

d.han@bristol.ac.uk
1 Introduction
1.1 Environment
The ‘Environment’ has different meanings in different disciplines. In
environmental engineering, the environment is where we live. It is divided
into two types: natural environment and built environment. The natural
environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally
in the area (Figure 1.1). The built environment refers to the human-made
surroundings that provide the setting for human activity (e.g., buildings,
parks, cities and supporting infrastructure such as transport, water supply and
energy supply) as shown in Figure 1.2. Modern remote sensing technology has
made it easy for us to explore the natural and built environment in our
surrounding areas and online mapping tools such as Google Earth are
convenient facilities for us to view anywhere on the Earth (even to view many
challenging places by foot such as the Everest). It should be noted that
nowadays it is difficult to find absolutely natural environments (i.e., the
wilderness, that has not been modified by human activity), and it is common
that the naturalness varies in a scale, from ideally 100% natural in one
extreme to 0% natural in the other (e.g., intensive farmland).

Figure 1.1 Natural environment, the Peak District national park, England

(Google Earth)
 Figure 1.2 Built environment, Bristol, England (Google Earth)

There are four spheres on the Earth that are of interest to environmental
engineering, which are referred to as the lithosphere (the rigid outermost shell
of the earth), the hydrosphere (water on, under, and over the surface of the
Earth), the atmosphere (a layer of gases surrounding the Earth), and the
biosphere (sum of living organisms on the Earth). They are combined to
become the ecosphere and can be remembered easily as corresponding to
rocks, water, air, and life.