Civil vs. Environmental Engineering

<p>Hello everyone! I'm sure this topic has been covered before, but I'd like to have some fresh intake on it to help me. </p>

<p>What is the difference between civil and environmental engineering? (I've seen some schools group them together as one major while others separate them.)</p>

<p>Secondly, on a side note, would structural engineering be considered a different type of engineering or a subset of civil?</p>

<p>Thanks everyone for helping me try to muck through this!</p>

<p>Hey, last time I posted on this forum was several months ago & I go to University of Illinois so maybe I can help out. I entered as a Civil, and selected Environmental Engineering as my focus within it.</p>

<p>The difference is actually pretty big. Environmental Engineers use stuff in Civil Engineering (structural, water resources, geotechnical) as side-knowledge to their main focus. We optimize the best way to use water storage tanks, understand components of the ecosystem as to not damage it in the process of construction, and most of all the chemistry behind water sanitation or soil cleaning. So we calculate how much a chemical attaches itself to soil, and we find the best way to sanitize contaminated water via biological or through chlorine, etc. Note the difference between us and “environmental scientists” - we actually have the license to design all this.</p>

<p>Structural? It’s the most popular form of Civil Engineering and is what comes to most peoples’ minds - designing columns, understanding the characteristics/properties between steel & concrete, and lots of free-body diagrams. When you search for jobs, structural engineers are what pop up most to be honest…</p>

<p>I graduated in Environmental Engineering from Cal Poly SLO with an emphasis in water and wastewater treatment and control. That major has since been absorbed by the Civil Engineering Dept. with an emphasis in Environmental Engineering. Cyrone has pretty much hit the nail on the head so to speak. Env. Engr. usually requires higher level chemistry, both organic and inorganic, bacteriology, as well as some specialized classes in water and wastewater purification processes, etc. You will still get some structural design, etc. but not as much as, say, a structural engineer. As a graduate, I worked in monitoring industries that dumped industrial waste, design of wastewater treatment plants, pipeline design, and monitoring of groundwater systems.</p>