Department of Civil Engineering

Environment Engineering Assignment

Group members ID No
1- . ..
2- . ..
3- . ..
4- . ..
5- . ..
 INTRODUCTION
As a science, Environmental engineering is the integration of sciences and engineering
principles to improve the natural environment, to provide healthy water, air, and land for human
habitation and for other organisms, and to clean up pollution sites environmental engineering can
also be described as a branch of applied science and technology that addresses the issue of
energy preservation, production asset and control of waste from human and animal activities.
Furthermore, it is concerned with finding plausible solutions in the field of public health. Such as
waterborne diseases, implementing laws which promote adequate sanitation in urban, rural and
recreational areas. It involves waste water management and air pollution control, recycling,
waste disposal, radiation protection, industrial hygiene, environmental sustainability, and public
health issues as well as knowledge of environmental engineering law. It also includes studies on
the environmental impact of proposed construction projects.

Environmental engineers study the effect of technological advances on the environment. To

do so, they conduct studies on hazardous-waste management to evaluate the significance of such
hazards, advice on treatment and containment, and develop regulations to prevent mishaps.
Environmental engineers also design municipal water supply and industrial wastewater treatment
system as well as address local and worldwide environmental issues such as the effects of acid
rain, global warming, ozone depletion, water pollution and air pollution from automobile
exhausts and industrial sources.

At many universities, environmental engineering programs follow either the department of

civil engineering or the department of chemical engineering at engineering faculties.
Environmental "civil" engineers focus on hydrology, water resources management,
bioremediation, and water treatment plant design. Environmental "chemical" engineers on the
other hand, focus on environmental chemistry, advanced air and water treatment. Technologies
and separation processes

Additionally, engineers are more frequently obtaining specialized training in law and they are
utilizing their technical expertise in the practices of environmental engineering law. Most
jurisdictions also impose licensing and registration requirements.
 Its also a multidisciplinary academic field that integrates physical, biological and
information sciences (including but not limited to ecology. biology, physics, chemistry, zoology,
mineralogy, oceanology, limnology, soil science, geology, atmospheric science, and geodesy) to
the study of the environment, and the solution of environmental problems. Environmental
science emerged from the fields of natural history and medicine during the Enlightenment.
Today it provides an integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of
environmental systems.

MAJOR ENVIROMENTAL PROBLEMS

1. Pollution: Pollution of air, water and soil require millions of years to recoup. Industry and
motor vehicle exhaust are the number one pollutants. Heavy metals, nitrates and plastic are
toxins responsible for pollution. While water pollution is caused by oil spill, acid rain, urban
runoff: air pollution is caused by various gases and toxins released by industries and factories
and combustion of fossil fuels: soil pollution is majorly caused by industrial waste that deprives
soil from essential nutrients.

2. Global Warming: Climate changes like global warming is the result of human practices like
emission of Greenhouse gases. Global warming leads to rising temperatures of the oceans and
the earth surface causing melting of polar ice caps, rise in sea levels and also unnatural patterns
of precipitation such as flash floods, excessive snow or desertification.

3. Overpopulation: The population of the planet is reaching unsustainable levels as it faces

shortage of resources like water, fuel and food. Population explosion in less developed and
developing countries is straining the already scarce resources. Intensive agriculture practiced to
produce food damages the environment through use of chemical fertilizer, pesticides and
insecticides. Overpopulation is one of the crucial current environmental problems.

4. Natural Resource Depletion: Natural resource depletion is another crucial current

environmental problems Fossil fuel consumption results in emission of greenhouse gases which
is responsible for global warming and climate change. Globally, people are taking efforts to shin
to renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, biogas and geothermal energy. The cost of
installing the infrastructure and maintaining these sources has plummeted in the recent years.
5. Waste Disposal: The over consumption of resources and creation of plastics are creating
global crisis of waste disposal. Developed countries are notorious for producing an excessive
amount of waste or garbage and dumping their waste in the oceans and, less dew loped countries.
Nuclear waste disposal has tremendous health hazards associated with it. Plastic, fast food,
packaging and cheap electronic wastes threaten the well being of humans. Waste disposal is one
of urgent current environmental problem.

6. Climate Change: Climate change is yet another environmental problem that has surfaced in
last couple of decades. It occurs due to rise in global warming which occurs due to increase in
temperature of atmosphere by burning of fossil fuels and release of harmful gases by industries.
Climate change has various harmful effects but not limited to melting of polar ice, change in
seasons occurrence of new diseases, frequent occurrence of floods and change in overall
scenario.

7. Loss of Biodiversity: Human activity is leading to the extinction of species and habitats and
loss of bio-diversity. Eco systems, which took millions of years to perfect, are in danger when
any species population is decimating. Balance of natural processes like pollination is crucial to
the survival of the eco-system and human activity threatens the same. Another example is the
destruction of coral reefs in the various oceans, which support the rich marine life.

ENVIROMNETAL POLLUTION, ITS SOURCES AND EFFECTS

Environmental pollution had been a fact of life for many centuries but it became a real
problem since the start of the industrial revolution. Environmental pollution is the contamination
of the physical and biological components of earth atmosphere system to such an extent that
normal environmental processes are adversely affected.

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the environment that cause harm or
discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or that damage the environment which can
come in the form of chemical substances, or energy such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants can be
naturally occurring substances or energies, but are considered contaminants when in excess of
natural levels.
 It can also define as is the addition of any substance or form of energy (e.g., heat. Sound
.radio activity) to the environment at a rate faster than the environment can accommodate it by
dispersion, breakdown, recycling, or storage in some harmless form, perhaps the overriding
theme of these definitions is the ability of the environment absorb and adapt to changes brought
about by human activities in one word.

Environmental pollution takes place when the environment cannot process and neutralize
harmful by-products of human activities (for example, poisonous gas emissions) in due course
without any structural or functional damage to its system. In fact, "the due course" itself may last
many years during which the nature will attempt to decompose the pollutants; in one of the worst
cases that of radioactive pollutant it may take as long as thousands of years for the
decomposition of such pollutants to be completed.

Pollution occurs, on the one hand, because the natural environment does not know how to
decompose the unnaturally generated elements (i.e., anthropogenic pollutants), and, on the other,
there is a lack of knowledge on the part of humans on how to decompose these pollutants
artificially.

HERE ARE SOME MAJOR TYPES OF ENVIROMENTAL POLLUTIONS

Air Pollution

According to the dictionary, air pollution is the contamination of air by smoke and harmful
gases, mainly oxides of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen. Some examples of air pollution include

Exhaust fumes from vehicles

The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil or gas

 Harmful off gassing from things such as paint, plastic production, and so on

Radiation spills or nuclear accidents

Air pollution is linked to asthma, allergies and other respiratory illnesses.

Land Pollution

Land pollution is the degradation of the Earth's surface caused by a misuse of resources and
improper disposal of waste. Some examples of land pollution include:

Litter found on the side of the road

Illegal dumping in natural habitats

Oil spills that happen inland

The use of pesticides and other farming chemicals

Damage and debris caused from unsustainable mining and logging practices

Radiation spills or nuclear accidents

Land pollution is responsible for damage done to natural habitat of animals, deforestation and
damage done to natural resources, and the general ugly-ing up of our communities.
 Light Pollution

Light pollution is the brightening of the night sky inhibiting the visibility of stars and planets by
the use of improper lighting of communities.

Some examples of what causes light pollution:-

Street lamps that shine light in all directions, instead of with a hood to point light downward
toward the street.

Extra and unnecessary lights around the home

Cities that run lights all night long

Light pollution uses more energy (by shining more light up instead of down, meaning you need
brighter bulbs for the same amount of light), may affect human health and our sleep cycles, and
most importantly, corrupts our kids telescopes and their curiosity.
 Noise Pollution

Noise pollution is any loud sounds that are either harmful or annoying to humans and animals.

Some examples of noise pollution:

Airplanes, helicopters, and motor vehicles

Construction or demolition noise

Human activities such as sporting events or concerts

Noise pollution can be disruptive to humans' stress levels, may be harmful to unborn babies, and
drives animals away by causing nervousness and decreasing their ability to hear prey or
predators.
 Thermal Pollution
Thermal pollution is the increase of temperature caused by human activity. A few examples
of this include:

Warmer lake water from nearby manufacturing (using cool water to cool the plant and then
pump it back into the lake)

Included in thermal pollution should also be the increase in temperatures in areas with lots of
concrete or vehicles, generally in cities

These kinds of environmental pollution can cause aquatic life to suffer or die due to the increased
temperature, can cause discomfort to communities dealing with higher temperatures and will
affect plant-life in and around the area.

Visual Pollution
Visual pollution is what you would call anything unattractive or visualizing damaging to the
nearby landscape. This tends to be a highly subjective topic. Some examples of visual pollution:

Skyscrapers that blocks a natural view

Graffiti or carving on trees, rocks, or other natural landscapes

Billboards, litter, abandoned homes, and junkyards could also be considered among three kinds
of environmental pollution

Water Pollution
Water pollution is the contamination of any body of water (lakes, groundwater, oceans, etc).
Some examples of water pollution

Raw sewage running into lake or streams

Industrial waste spills contaminating groundwater

Radiation spills or nuclear accidents

Illegal dumping of substances or items within bodies of water

Biological contamination, such as bacteria growth

Farm runoff into nearby bodies of water

These kinds of environmental pollution are linked to health issues in humans, animals and plant-
life.

Environmental Pollutants
-What Are They & How Do They Decompose?

Environmental pollutants are constituent parts of the pollution process. They are the actual
executing agents of environmental pollution. They come in gaseous, solid or liquid form. It' is
interesting to note that, as of 1990, there were around 65,000 different chemicals in the market
place, i.e. potential environmental pollutants that were to be released into air, water and land on a
regular basis.

CASE STUDY (ORGANIZATION)-

HANSOM GLASS FACTORY

As an example to the topic, I chose Hansom Glass Factory. Hansom Glass Factory is a
glassmaking company which is located in Addis Ababa Ethiopia around jomo area. Its primary
goal is to produce sufficient amount of glass for the Ethiopian market. It is invested by CGC
overseas construction co.ltd.

Ethiopian Hansom Glass Factory is the first project invested by China-Africa Fund after its
foundation. This project started construction on 2007 and completed on March 2009. In early
August 2012 the overall technological upgrading work was finished and began to production
again.
Benefits of the company and its Socioeconomic Impacts

Hansom adopted the same technology as the China mainland (i.e. its a china controlled
org.).So there is no worry about quality. In addition, in order to meet the needs of market
Hansom will produce brown flat glass, blue flat glass and green flat glass besides clear glass.
Then the customer can have more choices. Covering an area of 114,607 square meters, the
factory, which has already started all types of glass production, has the capacity to produce
42,000 tons of glass a year. This is a very sufficient amount for a construction oriented
developing nation. And the main benefit of the company from a developing nation perspective is
the job opportunity to the overall society.

Many Ethiopians today from a guard level to highly educated individuals perform many tasks
in the company. As they are helping the organization reach its goal, they are also fulfilling their
day to day life. As we know, In many cases, socioeconomics focus on the social impact of some
sort of economic change. So a glass factory in such a capacity is a great deal of economic
change.

Disadvantages/Limitations of the company

The major disadvantage of the company is the negative environmental impact, which are air
pollution during glass fabrication and land pollution due to throwing away of broken glass during
fabrication (wastage).Two types of air emissions are generated: those from the combustion of
fuel for operating the glass-melting furnaces, and fine particulates from the vaporization and re-
crystallization of materials in the melt.

The main emissions are sulfur oxides (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NO2), and particulates, which
can contain heavy metals such as arsenic and lead. Particulates from lead crystal manufacture
can have a lead content of 20-60% and an arsenic content of 0.5-2%.Certain specialty glasses can
produce releases of hydrogen chloride (HCL), Hydrogen fluoride (HF), arsenic, boron and lead
from raw materials. Container, pressing. and blowing operations produce a periodic mist when
the hot gob comes into contact with the release agent used on the molds. These emissions have
an obvious negative environmental impact and are environmental hazards.
 Other environmental issues are water pollution, the use of non renewable natural raw
materials such as sand and minerals, production of solid waste and emission of volatile organic
compounds (used in production of mirrors and coatings). The combustion of natural gas/fuel oil
and the decomposition of raw materials during the melting lead to the emission of C02. This is
the only greenhouse gas emitted during the production of glass. Sulfur dioxide (S02) from the
fuel and or from decomposition of sulfate in the batch materials can contribute to acidification
and formation of SMOG nitrogen oxides (NO2) due to the high melting temperatures and in
some cases due to decomposition of nitrogen compounds in the batch materials also contribute to
acidification. Evaporation from the molten glass and raw materials can cause release of particles
in the atmosphere.

RECOMMENDA TION

My recommendations to combat those problems described above are:-

-For the air pollution problem:-

High input of sulfates or potassium nitrate may increase emissions of sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides, respectively. Where nitrate is used, more than two thirds of the introduced
nitrogen may be emitted as nitrogen oxides. So decreasing the amount of sulfates and nitrates on
the input will minimize the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, and will be a great
major in environmental perspective.

The use of heavy metals as coloring or discoloring agents will increase emissions of these
metals. So decreasing or replacing the use of heavy metals will also surely reduces the amount of
pollutant emission.

-For the land pollution problem:-

Recycling glass is one of the many ways we can help reduce pollution and waste. Every day
we throw away tones of rubbish and glass is a significant part of it. Instead of letting landfills
pile up with glass objects that are a threat to safety and the environment, we can use it again.

This has the following advantages:-

-The cost savings of recycling is in the use of energy. Compared to making glass from raw
materials for the first time, cullet melts at a lower temperature. So we can save on energy needed
to melt the glass.

-Glass produced from recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20% and related water
pollution by 50%.

-Recycling glass reduces the space in landfills that would otherwise be taken up by used bottles
and jars.

-Using glass for recycling means there are less glass objects lying around in the landfill or bin.

-Constant recycling effort reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill.

A glass furnace runs 7/24 and cannot be stopped and cooled down during its lifetime (15-
18Years). The case is not any different to Hansom Glass Factory. Most technologies can
therefore only be installed during a furnace rebuild. At that moment we have to "Look Beyond"
and make decisions for a long period.

ENVIROMENTAL PROTECTION STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

The environment of our planet is degrading at an alarming rate because of non sustainable
urbanization, industrialization and agriculture. Unsustainable trends in relation to climate change
and energy use, threats to public health, poverty and social exclusion, demographic pressure and
ageing, management of natural resources, biodiversity loss, land use and 'transport still persist
and new challenges are arising. Since these negative trends bring about a sense of urgency, short
term action is required, whilst maintaining a longer term perspective. The main challenge is to
gradually change our current unsustainable consumption and production patterns and the
nonintegrated approach to policy-making.

The carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere has already
exceeded 400 parts per million (with total long-term" GHG exceeding 455 parts per million).
This level is considered a tipping point. The amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is
already above the threshold that can potentially cause dangerous climate change. We are already
yat risk of many areas of pollution. It's not next year or next decade, it's now.

Climate disasters are on the rise. Around 70 percent of disasters are now climate related up
from around 50 percent from two decades ago. These disasters take a heavier human toll and
come with a higher price tag. In the last decade, 2.4 billion people were affected by climate
related disasters, compared to 1.7 billion in the previous decade. The cost of responding to
disasters has risen tenfold between 1992 and2008. Destructive sudden heavy rains, intense
tropical storms, repeated flooding and drought san: likely to increase, as will the vulnerability of
local communities in the absence of strong concerted action. Climate change is not just a distant
future threat. It is the main driver behind rising humanitarian needs and we are seeing its impact.
The number of people affected and the damages inflicted by extreme weather has been
unprecedented.

CIVIL ENGINEERING AND ENVIRONMENT

Civil engineers need the mathematical, scientific and computational tools to solve problems
associated with developing and sustaining a community regarding environment.

Some key terms:-

Environmental Adaptation

Adaptation is a process of deliberate change in anticipation of or in reaction to external stimuli

and stress.

Environmental Issue

On the other hand, Environmental issues are harmful effects of human activity on the biophysical
environment. Environmentalism, a social and environmental movement, addresses
environmental issues through advocacy, education and activism.

Environmental Policies

Environmental policy refers to the commitment of an organization to the laws regulations, and
other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air
and water pollution, solid waste management, biodiversity, ecosystem management, maintenance
of biodiversity, the protection of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species. Policies
concerning energy or regulation of toxic substances including pesticides and many types of
industrial waste are part of the topic of environmental policy. This policy can be deliberately
taken to direct and oversee human activities and thereby prevent harmful effects on the
biophysical environment and natural resources. As well as to make sure that changes in the
environment do not have harmful effects on humans.

Environmental legislation

Environmental legislation is a form of environmental regulation and development where a

company can voluntarily choose to comply with predefined processes or objectives set forth by
the certification service. Most certification services have a logo (commonly known as an eco
label) which can be applied to products certified under their standards. This is seen as a form of
corporate social responsibility allowing companies to address their obligation to minimize the
harmful impacts to the environment by voluntarily following a set of externally set and measured
objectives,

CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECTS AND ENVIRONMENT

Development is a key factor of any nation's well being economy. But there is also the need of
sustainable and green development in order to make the world a better place to live by keeping
our environment healthy civil engineers as stakeholders of the construction firm. they need to
address these issues without any contemplation. This can be done for example, by waterproofing
of civil engineering structures.

Waterproofing is preferable regarding environmental aspects. Its high performance and its
adaptability to all types of terrain mean that it can be used in numerous ways: for the protection
of the environment (the storage of solid and liquid waste, platforms for bottom ash stabilization
or composting of green waste) for water resource management (dams. reservoirs containment
basins canals) and for transportation (motor way ditches, protection of railway ballasts)
 SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ITS

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

Socio-economic development is a process that seeks to identify both the social and the
economic needs within a community, and seek to create strategies that will address those needs
within ways that are practical and in the best interests of the community over the long run. The
general idea is to find ways to improve the standard of living within the area while also making
sure the local economy is healthy and capable of sustaining the population present in the area.
Socio-economic development occurs in neighborhoods in metropolitan areas, sections of smaller
cities and to and even in rural setting.

There are a number of factors that must be considered as part of any socio-economic
development effort. Understanding the current circumstances that prevail in the area is the first
step toward regional development. By assessing the potential of human capital in the area,
allowing for the current unemployment rate and when laws and regulations are currently in place
that may be impeding the introduction of new industry into the area, it is possible to begin
developing a plan that will ultimately mean more jobs, stable employment for more households
and more money flowing through the local economy conservation decision-making processes are
influenced by local, national and international socio-economic factors associated with the
contexts where they take place. Conversely, conservation can also significantly affect socio-
economic development and lead to improvements in people's lives.

Conservation of material heritage may revitalize intangible aspects of cultural traditions

embodied in material fabric. The practice of conservation can promote economic prosperity,
support disaster recovery, and foster social cohesion among different groups. At the same time,
however, conservation may be used to shape political and economic development following
agendas that may not correspond to the needs or desires of the local communities where it is
implemented. Conservators need to be aware of these underlying processes so as to be able to
make informed and engaged decisions.