USMA Library Homepage: Geography and Environmental Engineering: Environmental Engineering

Welcome to Environmental Engineering

Environmental Engineering develop the concepts, methodologies, and processes that protect human health and the natural environment. Historically environmental engineers have created systems and strategies to treat waste streams; produce safe drinking water; control storm water; manage solid waste, hazardous waste, and radioactive waste; clean up environmental contamination; and, control noise. In the future, environmental engineers must also react to and mitigate changes in climate and resource availability and be a leader in implementing actions that enhance sustainability. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that environmental engineering will have “faster than average growth” over the next 10 years.

Books

Drinking Water Disinfection Techniques by A. B. Pandit; K. K. Jyioti
Call Number: TD430 .P36 2013
ISBN: 9781439877401
Publication Date: 2012
Far from being pure, modern drinking water around the world contains many undesirable chemical and bacterial contaminants. The existing techniques employed for the disinfection of water are either energy-intensive or have by-products harmful to human health. The book reviews these processes while it explores novel, more efficient technologies for water disinfection synergistic with existing techniques.

Databases

GeoRef This link opens in a new window
Index to geoscience literature. Contains citations and abstracts (some with links to full text) to journal articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports and theses. Covers North America from 1669 and the rest of the world from 1933.
Compendex [via Engineering Village] This link opens in a new window
Bibliographic citations and abstracts from thousands of engineering journals and conference proceedings from 1969 onward. This indexing database does not provide full-text articles, but can lead you to them.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Collection of periodicals and books in science, social sciences, technology and medicine.
ASCE Research Library This link opens in a new window
Portal to American Society of Civil Engineers publications. Includes journals and conference proceedings. E-Books not included.
EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
Provides access to a wide range of databases, many with full text. Chose database or search all.

Websites

American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists
The American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists is a group of highly-qualified environmental engineers and environmental scientists who take an active part in the accreditation of environmental engineering curricula. Through this process, the Academy ensures that educational standards are responsive to the needs of the professional and that tomorrow's engineers will meet the needs of the profession.
AEG - Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists
The Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists (AEG) contributes to its members’ professional success and the public welfare by providing leadership, advocacy, and applied research in environmental and engineering geology. AEG is the acknowledged international leader in the field, and offers information on environmental and engineering geology useful to practitioners, scientists, students, and the public.

ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering RSS Feed

Articles

Underlying Yucca Mountain: The Interplay of Geology and Policy in Nuclear Waste Disposal
Nuclear waste disposal in the USA is a difficult policy issue infused with science, technology, and politics. This issue provides an example of the co-production of scientific knowledge and politics through public policy. The proponents of a repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, argue that their decision to go ahead with the site is based on 'sound science', but the science they use to uphold their decision is influenced by politics. In turn, the politics of site selection has been altered by the scientific knowledge produced, and changes in the scientific understanding of the site have forced policy-makers to look elsewhere for solutions. In the case of Yucca Mountain, they turned to engineering solutions that have, ironically, rendered any benefits of the site location superfluous.