Environmental Engineering—Historical, Current, and Future Perspectives

Abstract

This paper traces environmental engineering from its limited beginning in water‐ and vector‐borne disease control to its current level of professional involvement. Environmental engineering has changed from a profession concerned primarily with the resolution of sanitation problems to a complex multidisciplinary enterprise embodying the complete spectrum of environmental effects on health and ecology. The modern activities of the profession embrace the full implementation of 21st century sciences to solve complex pollution problems and, perhaps equally important, involvement in the development of public policy. As more environmental issues surface, concerns about potential health problems increase. This paper directs attention to the changing characteristics of the profession, the management of the environmental movement, the needs of the environmental engineering profession, the effective application of scientific discoveries, the practice of engineering within a risk‐sensitive society, and the development of a coordinated waste management methodology.