Environmental Engineering $ cof whom accumulated a heap. In some cases, each ofthese heaps is pled up separately in the ‘court, witha general receptacle inthe middle for drunage, Inothers, a potisdugin the middle ofthe court forthe general use of al the cecupans. In some the whole cours up to the very doors ofthe houses were covered with ts, ‘The great rivers in urbanized areas were in effect open sewers. The River Cam, ig Trinity College at Cambridge, and saying to the Master, as she looked over the bridge abutment, “What are all those pieces of paper floating down the river?” ‘To which, with great presence of mind, he replied, “Those, ma'am, are notices that bathing is forbidden’ (Raverat 1969). During the middle of the nineteenth century, public health measures were inad- equate and often counterproductive. The germ theory of disease was not as yet fully appreciated, and epidemics swept periodically over the major cities ofthe world. Some intuitive public health measures did, however, have a positive effect. Removal of corpses during epidemics, and appeals for cleanliness, undoubtedly helped the public health. ‘The 1850s have come to be known as the “Great Sanitary Awakening.” Led by tireless public health advocates like Sir Edwin Chadwick in England and Ludwig ‘Semmelweiss in Austria, proper and effective measures began to evolve. John Snow's classic epidemiological study of the 1849 cholera epidemic in London stands as seminally important investigation ofa public health problem. By using a map of the area and identifying the residences of those who contracted the disease, Snow was able to pinpoint the source of the epidemic as the water from a public pump on Broad Street. Removal of the handle from the Broad Street pump eliminated the source of the ‘cholera pathogen, and the epidemic subsided.? Waterborne diseases have become one of the major concems of the public health. The control of such diseases by providing safe and pleesing water to the public has been one of the dramatic successes of the public health profession. ‘Today the concerns of public health encompass not only water butall aspects of civ- ilized life, including food, ir, toxic materials, noise, and other environmental insults. ‘The work of the environmental engineer has been made more difficult by the current tendency to ascribe many ailments, including psychological stress, to environmental origins, whether or not there is any evidence linking ceuse and effect. The environ- ‘mental engineer faces the rather daunting task of elucidating such evidence relating ‘causes and effects that often are connected through years and decades as human health and the environment respond to environmental pollutants. ECOLOGY ‘The science of ecology defines “ecosystems” as interdependent populations of organ- isms interacting with their physical and chemical environment. The populations of the gersingly, twas not unl 1684 that Robert Koch proved tht bio comma was the microorganism respoosible fr the cholera6 ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 1 1 g ra Fie = wo a) 3 0 2 wes Tees Team ers Toms —i0as Tans steed ae Tine in yours Figure 1-2. The here and lynx homeostasis (source: D.A. MacLurich, “Fluctuations in the Numbers of Varying Hare,” University of Toronto Studies, Biological Sciences No. 43, Reproduced in $, Odum, Fundamentals of Ecology, 3rd ed, WB. Saunders, Philadelphia, 1971). species in an ecosystem do not vary independently but rather fluctuate in an approx- imate steady state in response to self-regulating or negative feedback (homeostasis). Homeostatic equilibrium is dynamic, however, because the populations are also gov- cemed by positive feedback mechanisms that result from changes in the physical, chemical, and biological environment (homeorhesis) Homeostatic mechanisms can be illustrated by a simple interaction between two ‘populations, such as the hare and the lynx populations pictured in Fig. 1-2. When the ‘hare population is high the lynx have an abundant food supply and procreate. The lynx ‘Population increases until the lynx outstrip the available hare population. Deprived of, adequate food, the lynx population then decreases, while the hare population increases because there are fewer predators. This increase, in turn, provides more food for the lynx population, andthe cycle repeats. The numbers of each population are contina- ally changing, making the system dynamic. When studied over a period of time, the presence of this type of self-regulating feedback makes the system appear to be in & steady state, which we call homeostasis. In reality, populations rarely achieve steady state for any extended period of ime. Instead, populations respond to physical, chemical, and biological changes in the ‘nvironment along a positive feedback trajectory that will eventually sete into a new, but again temporary, homeostasis. Some ofthese changes are natural (e.g. voleanic ‘eruption that covers the lynx and hare habitat with ash or molten rock); many are ‘caused by humans (¢.g., destruction or alteration of habitat, introduction of competing species, trapping or hunting). Ecosystem interactions obviously can also include more than two species; con- sider, for example, the sea otter, the sea urchin, and Kelp in a homeostatic interaction. ‘The kelp forests along the Pacific coast consist of 60-m (200-f) streamers fastened toEnvironmental Engineering 7 the ocezn floor. Kelp can be economically valuable, since iti the source of alginvsed in foods, paints, and cosmetics. Inthe late 1900s kelp began to disappear mysteriously, Jeaving a barren ocean floor. The mystery was solved when it was recognized that urchins foed on the kelp, weaken the stems, and cause them to detach and float away. ‘The sea urchin population had increased because the population of the predators, the sea otters, had been reduced drastically. The solution was protection ofthe sea otter and increase in its popelation, resulting in a reduction of the sea urchin population and maintenance ofthe kelp forests. Some ecosystems are fragile, easily damaged, and slow to recover, some are resistant to change and are abe 10 withstand even serious perturbations; and others ae remarkably resilient and able to recover from perturbation if given the chance. ‘Engineers must consider that threats to ecosystems may differ markedly from threats to public health; for example, acid rain poses a considerable hazard to some lake ‘ecosystems and agricultural products, but virtually no direct hazard to human health. ‘Acconverse example is that carcinogens dispersed in the atmospheric environment can ‘enter the human food chain and be inhaled, pring human health at risk, but they could ‘pose no threat to the ecosystems in which they ae dispersed. Engineers must appreciate the fundamental principles of ecology and design in consonance with these principles in order to reduce the adverse impacts on frag- ile ecosystems. For example, since the deep oceans are among the most fragile of all ecosystems this fragility must be part of any cousideration of ocean disposal of ‘waste. The engineer's ob is made even harder whem he or she must balance ecosystem damage against potential human health damage. The inclusion of ecological princi- ples in engineering decisions is a major component of the environmental engineering profession. ETHICS Historically the engineering profession in general and environmental engineering in particular did not consider the ethical implications of solutions to problems. Ethics as a framework for making decisions appeared to be irrelevant to engineering since the engineer generally did precisely what the employer or client required. ‘Today, however, the engineer is no longer free from concer for ethical questions. Scientists and engineers look at the world objectively with technical tools, but often, face questions that demand responses for which technical tools may be insufficient. In some cases ll the alternatives to a particular engineering solution include “unethical” elements. Engineers engaged in pollution control, or in any activity that impinges ‘on the natural environment, interface with environmental ethics.> An environmental ethic concems itself withthe attitude of people toward other living things and toward the natural environment, as well as with their atitudes toward each other. The search see, for example, Environmental Ethic, «profesional journal published quarterly by the University of Georgi, Athens, GA,