Complex environmental problems are often reduced to an inappropriate level of simplicity. While this book does not seek to present a comprehensive scientific and technical coverage of all aspects of the subject matter, it makes the issues, ideas, and language of environmental engineering accessible and understandable to the nontechnical reader.Improvements introduced in the fourth edition include a complete rewrite of the chapters dealing with risk assessment and ethics, the introduction of new theories of radiation damage, inclusion of environmental disasters like Chernobyl and Bhopal, and general updating of all the content, specifically that on radioactive waste.Since this book was first published in 1972, several generations of students have become environmentally aware and conscious of their responsibilities to the planet earth. Many of these environmental pioneers are now teaching in colleges and universities, and have in their classes students with the same sense of dedication and resolve that they themselves brought to the discipline. In those days, it was sometimes difficult to explain what indeed environmental science or engineering was, and why the development of these fields was so important to the future of the earth and to human civilization. Today there is no question that the human species has the capability of destroying its collective home, and that we have indeed taken major steps toward doing exactly that.And yet, while, a lot has changed in a generation, much has not. We still have air pollution; we still contaminate our water supplies; we still dispose of hazardous materials improperly; we still destroy natural habitats as if no other species mattered. And worst of all, we still continue to populate the earth at an alarming rate. There is still a need for this book, and for the college and university courses that use it as a text, and perhaps this need is more acute now than it was several decades ago. Although the battle to preserve the environment is still raging, some of the rules have changed. We now must take into account risk to humans, and be able to manipulate concepts of risk management. With increasing population, and fewer alternatives to waste disposal, this problem is intensified. Environmental laws have changed, and will no doubt continue to evolve. Attitudes toward the environment are often couched in what has become known as the environmental ethic. Finally, the environmental movement has become powerful politically, and environmentalism can be made to serve a political agenda.In revising this book, we have attempted to incorporate the evolving nature of environmental sciences and engineering by adding chapters as necessary and eliminating material that is less germane to today's students. We have nevertheless maintained the essential feature of this book -- to package the more important aspects of environmental engineering science and technology in an organized manner and present this mainly technical material to a nonengineering audience.This book has been used as a text in courses which require no prerequisites, although a high school knowledge of chemistry is important. A knowledge of college level algebra is also useful, but calculus is not required for the understanding of the technical and scientific concepts.We do not intend for this book to be scientifically and technically complete. In fact, many complex environmental problems have been simplified to the threshold of pain for many engineers and scientists. Our objective, however, is not to impress nontechnical students with the rigors and complexities of pollution control technology but rather to make some of the language and ideas of environmental engineering and science more understandable.

The Topics Covered In This Book Are: Air Pollution Monitoring; Air Pollution Control; Ganga Action Plan; Waste Water Treatment; Water Supply Management; Industrial Pollution Abatement And Environment Audit.

The book illustrates theories of sustainable development from physical, chemical and biological aspects, and then introduces technologies to prevent pollution of water, air, solid waste and noise, finally concludes with ecological environmental protection and restoration techniques. With interdisciplinary features and abundant case studies, it is an essential reference for researchers and industrial engineers.

Originally published in 1974 this volume brings together contributions from lawyers, a nuclear physicist, a landscape architect, biologist, engineers and a former Inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency. It covers technical and legal information on air, water, sea, land and noise pollution and provides a comprehensive guide, summary and introduction to the journal literature in separate but relevant disciplines. All of the contributors have specialised in studies in pollution control and contributed to the debate on use and management of the environment.

This text covers the environmental spectrum in an attempt to update the reader on new technologies and topics regarding pollution control. It is intended as a reference for technological advances, regulations and pollution control.

This work is written for those who seek effective ways of controlling environmental pollution. Indeed, many developing and East European states look to the experience of the United States and Western Europe. This book does not, however, concentrate on any one system of control or control laws, but succeeds in introducing the exact nature of pollution problems and the variety of ways in which effective control and management have been achieved. Rather than advocate a ready-made system, lessons are drawn for example from the U.K., U.S.A., Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany and New Zealand, and instructive legislative samples are reproduced, the place of international obligations being clearly marked out. The skilful and wide-ranging comparative approach adopted renders this handbook yet more valuable, based as it is on the premise that a control system is better if it is built on existing institutional and legal structures. The book will interest all who advise on environmental matters on a daily basis, particularly senior administrators, policy makers, institutions, legal advisers and researchers.

Holdgate's 1979 book A Perspective of Environmental Pollution was an intensely important volume when it was first published, looking as it did to contextualise and extensively review the effects of pollution throughout the 1970s. As founding director of the Department of the Environment's Central Unit on Environmental Pollution, Dr Holdgate was eminently well qualified to provide this analysis. Holdgate takes an ecological view of pollutants, pathways and environmental change, whilst also looking at international pollution and the way in which patterns of pollution are monitored and costed. Whilst his primary analysis is scientific, he also writes confidently and convincingly on the legal, administrative and economic effects of industrial processes on the environment. This book will continue to be of use to anyone with an interest in the impact and assessment of environmental pollution.

New introductory textbook designed for a one-semester course in environmental technology. Created to appeal to a range of students, it combines lucid presentations of environmental technologies with fascinating stories and biographies illustrating milestones in environmental science and engineering.