Real-Life Communication
Environmental engineers are concerned about the impact of human
activity on the environment. To keep up with new information, they read many
reports and research papers.
They also must let others know about their
own findings. "We are in the business of communicating our knowledge," says
environmental engineer Dan Degley. "Letting people know about our findings
is a pretty important part of our work."
The city of Grandville is
extremely concerned about its landfill. The city is growing and the landfill
is due to be closed. They need to know what impact the landfill is having
on the surrounding area, how they can close it, and how and where they could
find a suitable site for a new landfill.
It's your job as an environmental
engineer to come up with some solutions. You don't know Grandville too
well, so you read the city's initial report of the problem.
Initial
landfill report from the city waste department
Grandville's
landfill is on the side of a mountain that is covered by grassland and ponderosa
pine trees. The city owns an area of 10 acres for the landfill, and serves
30,000 people.
The landfill was scheduled to close five years ago,
but a new suitable site has not yet been found. This is because of citizen
protests at each of the proposed sites. Also, no one knows how to close the
original site.
Three creeks flow close to the landfill. A water reservoir
for human water consumption is located 10 miles from the site. The landfill
area now covers about 15 acres, spilling over into uninhabited forest area.
This
is a solid waste landfill, but the city has been shipping sludge from a water
treatment plant up to the site. The water treatment plant is too small to
deal with the population, and had to find a quick solution to get rid of the
waste.
Wow! There is a lot of work to be done. You will
need to research this problem more. These are the initial questions you ask:
- How many years ago was the landfill supposed to close?
- Why hasn't it been closed?
- Why is sludge being transported up to the landfill?