Description
The goal of environmental engineering is to ensure that societal development and the use of water, land and air resources are sustainable. This goal is achieved by managing these resources so that environmental pollution and degradation is minimized.
Environmental engineers study water, soil and air pollution problems, and develop technical solutions needed to solve, attenuate or control these problems in a manner that is compatible with legislative, economic, social and political concerns. Civil engineers are particularly involved in such activities as water supply and sewerage, management of surface water and groundwater quality, remediation of contaminated sites and solid waste management.
The activities of such engineers include, but are not limited to, the planning, design, construction and operation of water and wastewater treatment facilities in municipalities and industries, modelling and analysis of surface water and groundwater quality, design of soil and remediation systems, planning for the disposal and reuse of wastewaters and sludges, and the collection, transport, processing, recovery and disposal of solid wastes according to accepted engineering practices.
Environmental engineers are called upon to play an important role in environmental protection, because engineering solutions are required to meet the environmental standards set by legislation. Consulting firms, municipalities, government agencies, industries and non-governmental organizations and specialized contractors are potential employers for civil engineers with a specialization in environmental engineering.
Recommended courses
In order to achieve a specialization in Environmental Engineering at the undergraduate level, the following courses are:
- Strongly recommended:
CIVE 421
Municipal Systems
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Design of water-related municipal services; sources of water and intake design; estimation of water demand and wastewater production rates; design, construction and maintenance of water distribution, wastewater and stormwater collection systems; pumps and pumping stations; pipe materials, network analysis and optimization; storage; treatment objectives for water and wastewater.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
- Recommended:
CIVE 428
Water Resrces & Hydraulic Eng.
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Application of continuity, energy and momentum concepts to open-channel flow; design of channels considering uniform flow and flow resistance, non-uniform flow and longitudinal profiles; design of channel controls and transitions; unsteady flow and flood routing; river ice engineering.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
- Terms
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
CIVE 430
Water Treatment&Pollut Control
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Principles of water and sewage treatment. Water and sewage characteristics; design of conventional unit operations and processes; laboratory analyses of potable and waste waters.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
CIVE 451
Geoenvironmental Engineering
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Geoenvironmental hazards; land management of waste; regulatory overview, waste characterization; soil-waste interaction; geosynthetics; low permeability clay barriers; contaminant transport; containment systems; collection and removal systems; design aspects; strategies for remediation; rehabilitation technologies.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
- Terms
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
CHEE 471
Course not available
CHEE 472
Course not available
CIVE 526
Course not available
CIVE 550
Water Resources Management
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: State-of-the-art water resources management techniques; case studies of their application to Canadian situations; identification of major issues and problem areas; interprovincial and international river basins; implications of development alternatives; institutional arrangements for planning and development of water resources; and, legal and economic aspects.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
- (3-0-6)
- Prerequisite (Undergraduate): CIVE 323 or equivalent
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2013 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
CIVE 553
Course not available
CIVE 574
Fluid Mech of Water Pollution
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Mixing, dilution and dispersion of pollutants discharged into lakes, rivers, estuaries and oceans; salinity intrusion in estuaries and its effects on dispersion; biochemical oxygen demand and dissolved oxygen as water quality indicators; thermal pollution; oil pollution.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
- (3-0-6)
- Prerequisite: CIVE 327 or equivalent.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2013 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
CIVE 575
Course not available
CIVE 577
River Engineering
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Fluvial geomorphology; sediment properties; river turbulence; mechanics of the entrainment, transportation and deposition of solids by fluids; threshold of movement; bed forms; suspended load, bed load and total load equations; stable channel design and regime rivers; river modelling; river engineering; and river management.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
- (3-0-6)
- Prerequisite (Undergraduate): CIVE 428 or permission of the instructor.
- Corequisite (Graduate): CIVE 428
CIVE 579
Course not available
CIVE 585
Course not available
Students may also choose to specialize in the area of Environmental Engineering by completing a Minor in Environmental Engineering, which is offered through the Faculty of Engineering. Alternatively, students have the opportunity to gain exposure to non-engineering aspects of environment studies by completing a Minor through the McGill School of Environment.
A Master's Degree in Environmental Engineering is also available in the Faculty of Engineering of McGill University. Graduate studies are strongly encouraged in environmental engineering since a graduate degree is often a preferred qualification for the potential employers that were mentioned above.