ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING: A DESIGN APPROACH
INTRODUCTION -- This is a summary of a 1996 college textbook (Sincero & Sincero, 1996), Environmental Engineering: A Design Approach, by Arcadio P. Sincero, Sr. and his wife, Gregoria A. Sincero. Since there is one bibliographic reference, because the authors' surnames are the same and are fairly long, and to save space in this precis of the text, the remaining citations will be formatted either as:(S&S, 1996) or (S&S, 1996, pp. 47-52).
1. Introduction -- The six-page opening defines environmental engineering as "the application of engineering principles, under constraint, to the protection and enhancement of the quality of the environment and to enhancement and protection of public health and welfare," as distinguished from older U. S. and British connotations of sanitary engineering and public health engineering (S&S, 1996, p. 2).
Next, in several sentences each, the 14 chapters of the book are summarized (S&S, 1996, pp. 2-4). At the end, four episodes are recounted of bacterial or chemical onslaught in urban areas of the world, which environmental engineers eventually controlled. These notorious "environmental tragedies" were two air pollution incidents, a hazardous waste fiasco, and a serious bacterial pollution of a drinking water well (S&S, 1996 pp. 4-6).
2. Environmental Chemistry and Biology -- The first technical chapter addresses basic facts, processes, and scientific tenets to describe the chemical and (micro-)biological enemies faced daily by environmental engineers to prevent "tragedies." In the end, similar chemical reactions and microbial activities that can cause environmental damage or human disease are used to design treatments that minimize pollution.
This disjointed chapter describes such diverse topics as: microbial pathogens and their limits in drinking water standards (S&S, 1996, pp. 7-19); "equivalent weights" applied to inorganic chemicals (S&S, 1...