As we all know, the amount of waste water available to the biological life is increasing and growing every single day. Scientists and Engineers have come up with different ways that would get rid of waste water. How does this have to do with Engineering? It is in fact the Engineers that actually design and develop the plants used to treat waste water and put it online to make it usable. While the operators are the individuals who operate/work the plants developed. This blog will indicate the processes involved in treating waste water.

• Primary treatment:

During the primary treatment, the waste water is diverted into tanks where the waste water solids or materials denser than water will settle out. These tanks might be rectangular or triangular. Also, substances which are less dense than water are removed, such as; grease, oils and other floatable substances. The solid sediments which settle are called primary sludge. These primary sludge is removed along with the floating grease and scum and they are transported to anaerobic digesters for further treatment.

• Secondary treatment:

In the secondary stage, the water from the primary stage is mixed with a population of bacteria and a certain amount of  oxygen supply because they digest the suspended and soluble organic substances, removing them from the water treated. Without oxygen these bacteria perish. Pipes are driven under the tank for the production of oxygen, bubbles indicate oxygen is pumped in. The water treated is then transported to the tertiary treatment.

• Tertiary treatment:

This is an additional treatment to remove the dissolve and suspended substances from the secondary treatment. This could be done using a variety of physical, biological and chemical treatments o the targeted pollutants. Other advanced treatments may be used in this process to remove unusual things like color, metals, organic chemicals and nutrients like nitrogen.

• Disinfection:

This process is very important as it kills pathogenic diseases like typhoid, cholera, dysentery e.t.c.  an effective way of doing this is by using a chlorine based disinfectant such as Sodiumhipochloride. This is a cheap disinfectant and it usually takes about thirty minutes to an hour for contact. Another is the Ultra violet light, this disinfects better than the previous but it uses a lot of electricity.

In waste pollution, the process is just about making pollutants float of sink and the removing them thoroughly. Therefore we can safely say that treatment of waste water undergo three steps, the primary step, the secondary step, the tertiary step and the disinfection.

In the 1920’s and 1970’s the United States government took acres of land, usually far away from the normal population carry out experiments and test various equipments. After the war was over, and with no immediate use of weapons and the properties/lands acquired the properties languished and was abandoned. This is mainly because the Department of Defense do not necessarily like the spending of money without a mission.

During a presentation I had on Environmental pollution for the United States Navy from a profound engineer, I learned some additional and useful information that will be very much put into play after my college schooling. This information was titled “Career opportunities and disciplines”.

In other to develop soundly during ones career in engineering you have to be ready to be dynamic, that is, you should be able to switch to different fields at any given time. One has to be dynamic because after graduation, you may not really go on to partake in what you think you will do. This is because jobs changes frequently due to political changes, social and technological changes.

For career development, you need to have some certain points to guide you, these are:

• Finding a path
• Flexibility
• Find your core strengths
• Determine your weakness and figure how to compensate them
• Keep training after graduation
• Get certification
• Market your skills
• Be a team player
• Develop “the brand called you”

With these guidelines known to you, there are various career opportunities which are available to engineers and I shall name a few and further state the expertise needed.

• Flood Management;
• Ground water treatment – Geology, Hydro geology,soil science, engineering.
• Ports and Harbor – G.P.S instrumentation mapping, chemistry and toxicology.

• Site Investigation – Geologists, Hydro geology, engineer, chemist.
• Restoration and water management – engineering, regulatory permitting, hydrology.
• Mines and Minerals;

• Marketing and business management – engineering, business development, marketing, business management.
• Monitoring and compliance – Vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, regulatory permits.
• Sustainability – Planning, design and construction management.
• Policy and Law – Team building skills, policy and regulatory programs, infinite patience.

• Construction management – Design planning, construction management.

Switching attentions back to the Navy installation restoration program done in New England, the government took lands in the 1920’s and 1970’s for the Department of Defense. At that particular period, military bases put away all useless materials, be it toxic or not into river and were not subject to environmental law until the 1980’s when the “right to know” act and CERCLA was enabled.