"Environmental engineering is primarily concerned with the design of contaminant-discharge and remediation systems operating at the interface between humans and the natural environment. To design effective discharge and remediation systems, it is essential that environmental engineers understand and be able to predict the fate and transport of contaminants released into the natural environment. Based on this understanding, environmental impacts are kept within acceptable limits, and contaminated waters are remediated to acceptable levels. Most contaminants generated by human activities are discharged into air, land, and water. Water-quality engineering is a specialty area in environmental engineering that includes the subspecialties of water treatment, wastewater treatment, and water-quality control in natural systems; this textbook is intended to encompass the latter subspecialty. Water-quality management is based on the science of knowing how much waste is too much for a particular water body. To know how much waste can be assimilated by a water body, water-quality managers must know the type of pollutants discharged, the manner in which they affect water quality, and how water quality is affected by natural factors such as the mineral content of the watershed, the geometry of the terrain, and the climate of the region"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.