New Directions in Civil Engineering

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Environmental engineering is a branch of civil engineering that focuses on solving environmental problems. Civil engineering encompasses the design and building of structures and dates to ancient civilizations. The Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall of China,
and the Roman Coliseum are all accomplishments in civil engineering. Today’s civil engineers develop roads, bridges, tunnels, buildings, manufacturing and power plants, airports, harbors, rail systems, oil pipelines, and water distribution and wastewater collection systems. To carry out these tasks, civil engineers receive training in computers, modeling and simulation, mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, geography, and biology.

The land and how it moves determine the durability of a structure. Buildings constructed on unstable land or in flood zones would not have a safe, long-term future were it not for civil engineers, who either take these risks into account when developing their plans or decide simply not to build on such a risky site. Environmental engineers consider the surroundings
too, but their planning focuses on the effect human actions have on the environment. Therefore, environmental engineers combine civil engineering with environmental science. Environmental engineering works to improve ecosystem health, manage pollution, and conserve natural resources. In truth, an increasing percentage of today’s civil engineers
emphasize the environment. Some engineering accomplishments of the past have been impressive edifices intended to last for many years, but these same structures gave little benefit to the environment. Universities that teach civil engineering now stress the need to work with and for the environment whenever possible.

Environmental engineers create structures to achieve either one of two goals: to help the environment or to minimize a structure’s impact on the environment. The following traditional specialties in environmental engineering now take these goals into account: water treatment facilities; drinking water supply systems; wastewater and sewage collection systems; wastewater treatment plants; and nuclear power plants. Sanitation engineers play a role in all of these aspects of environmental engineering, except nuclear power, by targeting safe, efficient, and low-cost/low-energy water supply and wastewater treatment.

Recent advances in environmental engineering have created new opportunities in this field: waste-to-energy plants, sustainable housing and office buildings, fuel-efficient transportation systems, nuclear waste storage facilities, and city centers designed for minimizing fuel and energy use. Waste-to-energy operations involve processes such as
incineration that create usable energy as they destroy wastes. Sustainable building is any type of construction that strives to conserve natural resources, both in the type of building materials used and in the final structure’s operation. In the area of transportation, environmental engineers plan for roads and overpasses that reduce total driving mileage,
road surfaces that reduce fuel waste, and transit systems that lessen the need for cars.

Environmental engineers must have knowledge of how landmasses move, the behavior of surface and groundwater, soil characteristics, and erosion. Environmental engineers cannot develop safe structures if they do not also consider the effects of natural events such as flooding, freezing, hurricanes, and seismic activity from earthquakes or volcanoes.