Introduction to Environmental Engineering and Problem Solving

This flashcard set covers the historical development, significant environmental events, and major federal statutes related to environmental engineering as presented in Chapter 1.

Biblical Stewardship

The concept from the Old Testament (Lev. 25:23-24) suggesting God expects humans to be the stewards of nature, viewing the land as belonging to God while humans are tenants.

Lead Smelting Chemical Process

A two-step process where lead sulfide is heated to produce lead oxide and sulfur dioxide: $2PbS + 3O_2 \rightarrow 2PbO + 2SO_2$, and the ore is reduced with carbon: $PbO + C \rightarrow Pb + CO$.

Fumifugium

A 1661 pamphlet written by John Evelyn proposing a solution to London's air pollution caused by the 'immoderate use' of sea-coal.

Water Closet

An invention by Sir John Harrington in 1589 England, described in his book 'The Metamorphosis of Ajax', which was largely ignored until the 1690s.

Joseph Army

A Frenchman who in 1746 created a water filter consisting of a perforated box filled with sponges.

John Snow

Known as the father of modern epidemiology, he traced a 1854 cholera epidemic to a contaminated water pump on Broad Street in London's Soho district.

Darcy's Law

A law proposed by Henri-Philibert-Gaspard Darcy that describes the flow of fluid through a porous medium.

Svante August Arrhenius

A Swedish chemist who in 1896 predicted a global temperature increase of $8-9^\circ \text{F}$ for a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Greenhouse Effect

A term coined by Glen Thomas Trewartha in his book 'An Introduction to Weather and Climate'.

Love Canal

A neighborhood in Niagara Falls, NY, built on top of a leaking chemical waste dump, which led Lois Gibbs to initiate a community battle and influenced the creation of CERCLA.

NIMBY

An acronym for 'Not In My Back Yard', describing community resistance to local neighborhood projects like nuclear waste repositories or incinerators.

Infrastructure Grade (ASCE 2013)

The overall grade of D+ awarded to America's infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers, with a required investment of $3.6 trillion by 2020.

TSCA

The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, which grants the EPA authority to regulate and control risks associated with chemicals throughout their life cycle.

FIFRA

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which establishes registration and labeling procedures for pesticides.

NAAQS

National Ambient Air Quality Standards established by the EPA for six criteria pollutants: nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide, and lead.

Clean Water Act (CWA) Objective

To 'restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters' ($101(a)$).

TRIC

The four characteristics used by RCRA to define hazardous waste: Toxicity, Reactivity, Ignitability, and Corrosivity.

RCRA Subtitle C vs. Subtitle D

Subtitle C manages hazardous waste using a 'cradle to grave' tracking system, while Subtitle D manages municipal solid waste.

CERCLA (Superfund)

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, designed to clean up abandoned toxic waste sites and establish liability for responsible parties.

Hazard Ranking System (HRS)

A numerical scoring system used to determine if a site qualifies as a Superfund site based on release probability, waste characteristics, and affected population.

EPCRA

The Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986, motivated by the Bhopal disaster, requiring industries to report hazardous chemical inventories.

Toxic Release Inventory (TRI)

An annual EPA report summarizing the release of toxic chemicals to air, land, or water by reporting facilities.

Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) of 1990

Legislation focused on source reduction (P2) rather than end-of-pipe technologies to reduce the generation of pollutants at the source.

Hazen-Williams Equation

An empirical equation used to calculate the volumetric flow rate of water in a pipe: $Q = 0.279 C_{HW} D^{2.63} S^{0.54}$.