Environmental Engineering

Environmental engineering applies engineering principles to protect human health and the natural environment, designing the systems that supply clean drinking water, treat sewage and industrial waste, and control air and soil pollution. It grew out of nineteenth century sanitary engineering, the public health response to cholera and typhoid outbreaks traced to contaminated water supplies in industrializing cities. The field broadened through the twentieth century from sanitation alone to the full range of pollution control, hazardous waste management and environmental regulation that followed the rise of the modern environmental movement.