Environmental Engineering
Developing solutions to environmental problems.
If you are fervent about the environment and your surroundings and have a scientific aptitude, then this is certainly the field to choose. A career in environmental engineering can be challenging as you are expected to come up with revolutionary solutions for various environmental issues.
What’s this career about?
Environmental engineers are responsible for the conservation of the environment and reversal of damage already caused to it. They conduct hazardous-waste management studies to evaluate the significance of such hazards, advice on treatment and containment, and develop regulations to prevent mishaps.
They are also in charge of conducting research on proposed projects for the benefit of the environment, analyzing scientific data, and performing quality control checks. Before the construction of any industrial unit, hotel, airport, dams, etc., these engineers study their impact on the environment and suggest necessary changes in the plans. They make sure that a particular manufacturing activity meets standards set by the central and state pollution control boards, ISO standards and environmental laws.
They also design municipal water supply and industrial wastewater treatment systems as well as being concerned with local and worldwide environmental issues such as the effects of acid rain, ozone depletion, water pollution and air pollution from automobile exhausts and industrial sources.
Various state governments, mineral extracting companies and NGOs are looking to hire more environmental engineers so that public health problems can be solved. A large number of environmental engineers are employed as consultants so that their clients can be helped to comply with environmental regulations and to clean up hazardous sites after their manufacturing and production activities.
How do I get there?
Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the environment, i.e., air, water, and land resources for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites.
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Dr Vibha Gupta, a feature writer, is a Ph.D. in Mathematics from IIT Roorkee. Her book Careers: A Pathfinder and articles in various publications are an attempt to guide students in choosing a career according to their natural strengths, talents and skills.