Introduction to Environmental Engineering

Author: Zhang Dianyin / et al.
Editor-in-Chief: Zhu Huaying
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-17
Features:
Content Summary This book is an introductory text on environmental engineering technology. It concisely and clearly elaborates on the fundamental knowledge, basic concepts, and major engineering methods and technologies for controlling pollutants in the environment. Its content includes the scope, origin, and development of environmental engineering, air pollution control engineering, water pollution control engineering, solid waste treatment engineering, noise and vibration engineering, odor control technology, greening engineering, environmental systems engineering, and environmental quality assessment engineering. This book can serve as a reference for environmental protection management personnel in various factories and enterprises, environmental technology workers, scientists and technicians, and students from non-environmental disciplines in higher education institutions. It can also be used as a training textbook for environmental protection personnel.
Excerpt:
Chapter Environmental Engineering Overview Environmental engineering is an important branch of environmental science, a discipline and technology that uses engineering methods to prevent and control pollution and protect the environment. This chapter introduces the relationship between the environment and health, the origin and development of environmental engineering, as well as its tasks and content.
Section Environment and Health The World Health Organization defines health not only as the absence of disease and physical or mental disabilities but also as a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being. The environment is closely related to physical health. What is the environment? China's Environmental Protection Law explicitly states, "For the purposes of this Law, the environment refers to: the atmosphere, water, land, mineral resources, forests, grasslands, wildlife, wild plants, aquatic organisms, scenic and historic sites, tourist areas, hot springs, health resorts, nature reserves, and residential areas, etc." For humans, the environment consists of the aforementioned factors and conditions that sustain and support their survival and development. Human activities affect the environment, and the state of the environment, in turn, affects humans. To ensure people live, work, produce, study, and enjoy a long and healthy life, it is essential to maintain and possess a good environment. However, a good environment is often damaged or even deteriorated. The phenomenon in which the environment changes from its original state due to external influences is known as environmental pollution. In summary, the destruction of the environment, such as polluted air, degraded water quality, waste accumulation, noise, and vibration, are all forms of environmental pollution. The resulting effects, such as reduced sunlight, barren wilderness, damaged landscapes, biological extinction, and ecological destruction, also fall under the category of environmental pollution. Environmental pollution is caused by the discharge of large amounts of pollutants into the environment during human life and production activities, which reduces the environment's self-purification capacity and weakens its functionality. For example, excessive sulfur dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, toxic wastewater discharge into rivers, and the accumulation of large amounts of waste can all lead to environmental pollution. Figure 1-1 illustrates the relationship between health and the environment. The figure shows that when physical, chemical, and biological pollutants in the environment enter the atmosphere, water bodies, and soil and exceed normal levels, they can harm human health. These harms can be acute, chronic, long-term, or short-term, and so on. To maintain a healthy body and mind, it is essential to rely on a good environment. Because human life and health not only require air, sunlight, temperature, and water from the environment but also depend on the environment for abundant plant and animal food. If the air is polluted, the sunlight is dim, the water quality is poor, the noise is deafening, the odor is overwhelming, the food is toxic, the ecology is destroyed, and the land is barren, then human health and existence would be unimaginable. It is clear that a good environment is an indispensable condition for human survival and a primary factor in human health. Environmental engineering is an emerging interdisciplinary discipline and technology. It has gradually formed and developed through humanity's struggle against various forms of pollution and the protection of the living environment. Since the dawn of humanity, natural environments have been polluted to varying degrees by human domestic wastewater, sewage, and other waste. At the same time, humans have adopted a series of measures to prevent and control pollution. For example, China developed well-digging techniques and underground drainage systems as early as 2,300 years ago BC. However, because ancient production scales were small and pollution was minimal, pollution control efforts were also limited, so neither pollution nor its prevention attracted much attention. Later, with population growth, the emergence of cities, and especially the development of industry, human production activities and lifestyles caused increasingly severe pollution to the environment, affecting human life and health. Consequently, people adopted more preventive measures. However, relatively speaking, pollution was not heavy, and the impact was small, with pollution control measures still in a spontaneous stage and not yet forming a relatively complete discipline. Since the 1950s, the world's population surged to over three billion, and with the development of production, especially industry, the population gradually concentrated in certain areas and cities, forming industrial zones and industrial cities.