Cold Regions Environmental Engineering: Tomorrow's Challenges

Abstract

The challenges of public health protection, natural environment protection, and preservation of aesthetics are changing faster for cold regions than for more temperate regions. The impact of the improved communications systems are very great. In addition, the improvement in public health is very great, due to a combination of efforts by all professional groups concerned. The environmental engineers' job must be accomplished with the boundaries of imposed and natural constraints on their efforts. Technical challenges related to naturally corrosive water stabilization; lack of reaeration of ice‐covered rivers, microbial contamination, and storm and breakup water runoff are discussed. The need for more training in the form of more extensive undergraduate curriculum and an expanded continuing education program are identified.