Introduction to environmental engineering

Summary

This introduction to Enviromental Engineering is meant to show the students how upcoming courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and other areas will be used to gain a scientific understanding of environmental problems and then help to solve them.

Content

Keywords

Water pollution, wastewater treatment, groundwater pollution, remediation, wells, exponential growth, logistic model, water resources, air pollution, climate, climate change

Learning Prerequisites

Important concepts to start the course

Basic knowledge (high school level) in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Identify correct and wrong statements and argue why
• Solve simple problems on water pollution and wastewater treatment
• Describe steady groundwater flow using Darcy's Law
• Recognize different mechanisms controlling fate of contaminants in groundwater
• Derive rates of change in environmental and human systems
• Explain the physical, chemical and microbial processes that influence the security of nuclear waste disposal
• Recognize important chemical actors in air pollution and their impacts on public health and the environment
• Explain the main drivers of past, present and future climate

Teaching methods

Lecture ex cathedra and exercises

Expected student activities

(i) prepare the lectures by reading the parts of the textbook indicated on Moodle, (ii) work on the problems before coming to the exercice sessions

Assessment methods

During the semester, three written tests, each counting for 1/3 grade and lasting 90 min.

Resources

Bibliography

Masters G.M. & Ela W.P. Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science, 3rd edition, 2008, Prentice Hall.

Ressources en bibliothèque

• Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Science / Masters

Moodle Link

• https://go.epfl.ch/ENV-167