Environmental Issues for 21st Century Engineers

Abstract

The 21st century is believed to offer unlimited opportunities to civil engineers together with professionals of the other disciplines with whom engineers work. Approaches to these opportunities include (1) Matching capacity to demand with staged approaches, technologies, and incremental design periods that conform to periods consistent with political time scales such as election frequencies, with correspondingly reduced costs, and with reduced accountability and liability for unforeseen consequences of a program or project; (2) basing priorities for investments in health and other environmental projects and programs on marginal rather than average benefits; (3) early identification and resolution of potential environmental conflicts, particularly in the water resources sector; and (4) postaudits of environmental and other civil engineering programs and projects.