Melchiorre 1

Michael Melchiorre
Mrs. Crist
Block 1
2/18/16
Essential question: Why is environmental engineering is vital for our future?
Working thesis: Environmental engineering is vital for our future.
Refined thesis: By using environmental engineering, it can impact earths ecosystem for the
future.
Annotated Bibliography
Bengtson, Harlan H. "Environmental Engineering." Applied Science. Ed. Donald R.
Franceschetti. Hackensack: Salem, 2012. n. pag. Salem Online. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.
<http://online.salempress.com>.
Harlan H. Bengston discusses in his article the science and treatments needed to design,
build, operate, and maintain the facilities needed to manage the environmental problems at hand.
Environmental engineering split off from civil engineering as the importance and awareness of
the growing environmental concerns were recognized. Initially, the field involved the water
supply, water treatment, and wastewater collection and treatment, as stated by Bengston. He
furthered to say that the problems became too vast and required more than just water treatment
so as a result, the field began to rapidly change by expanding its scope to include air pollution,
solid- and hazardous-waste management, and industrial hygiene. With the new growing field,
new knowledge came to tackle the growing concerns. This new intelligence includes soil

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mechanics, fluid mechanics, and hydrology. Over time, environmental engineers have designed
and built treatment facilities to lower the amount of hazardous materials in the environment.
Many processes, which comprise of air pollution control, water treatment, waste water treatment,
solid waste management and hazardous-waste management, are run at these facilities. Many
industries have arisen to compensate for the vast amount of problems that will most likely
continue through most of the 21st century. This article provides information on all the processes
and science used to combat environmental concerns.

Libii, Josu Njock and Khler, Karen N. "Environmental engineering." Encyclopedia of

Environmental Issues, Revised Edition. Ed. Craig W. Allin. Hackensack: Salem, 2011. n.
pag. Salem Online. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://online.salempress.com>.
Josu Njock Libii and Karen N. Khler discuss in their article the environmental issues
caused by human interaction with the environment, the many methods used to solve
environmental problems, and the concerns with the quality of the environment if human
activities continue to upset our ecosystem. The environment as a whole is large and complicated.
It has many systems and their qualities are diminishing, as stated by Kahler. The environment is
supposed to naturally sustain itself, but its constantly affected by human activities. Libii further
states that as human civilization continues to require an increasing demand for increasing
amounts of fuel for its machines, chemicals for its industrial plants, fertilizers and pesticides for
its farms, products to satisfy consumer demand, and raw materials from which to manufacture
those products, it puts a stain on the delicate balance of nature. Environmental engineers find
practical ways to help solve the many environmental problems presented by human activity in an
efficient and affordable manner to help sustain its qualities. These methods include water

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treatments, air emission control, ground water remediation, and solid and hazardous waste
management. Concerns have risen that the current methods arent helping enough and it has
pushed environmental engineering to evolve into sub divisions to assist in bettering the
environment. This article provides information about the current environmental issues and
concerns that engineers are trying to fix.