<p>Can someone please explain what environmental engineering is?</p>
<p>Sure thing.</p>
<p>Environmental engineering involves a whole ton of things. It's sort of a co-discipline with civil engineering. Basically, Envi deals with pollutants in the environment. There's a lot of chemistry involved, heavy on water chemistry and air chemistry, transport phenomena, stuff like that. Envi's design water treatment processes, smokestacks, and even the design of landfills. They also deal with underground water tables and plumes of soil pollutants. Environmental engineering professors are apt to treat their students to a viewing of "Erin Brockovich".</p>
<p>If you're looking for a tree-huggy sort of field, might want to try forestry... There's definitely environmental protection measures involved, but the places environmental engineers go, there are typically very few trees to hug.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you're intrigued by practical chemistry and you've always enjoyed using the little testing kits to figure out how chlorinated your home swimming pool is, then you might want to check it out. I've done a couple of Environmental Site Assessments for jobs I've worked, and I especially enjoyed the fieldwork involved in it. I doubt you get to tromp around in grassy fields by bayous that much if you're a chemical engineer.</p>
<p>In a very brief nutshell, there are basically two types of Env. E. One involves process engineering and the other is more oriented toward soil/ground remediation. </p>
<p>The process engineering type are processes either in municipal systems, such as your local water treatment plant. Alternatively, certain chemical processes, such as pulp and paper, have processes to treat and neutralize toxic effluent. </p>
<p>The site remediation usually involves treating and cleaning soil from old spillage. Also, this can involve soil testing and reporting before buildings and structures are built. </p>
<p>Most Environmental Engineers are either civil or chemical engineers by training.</p>
<p>i heard that the demand for En E is excellent.</p>
<p>this is frm BLS
Environmental engineers should have favorable job opportunities. Employment of environmental engineers is expected to increase much faster than the average for all occupations through 2014. More environmental engineers will be needed to comply with environmental regulations and to develop methods of cleaning up existing hazards. A shift in emphasis toward preventing problems rather than controlling those that already exist, as well as increasing public health concerns, also will spur demand for environmental engineers. Even though employment of environmental engineers should be less affected by economic conditions than that of most other types of engineers, a significant economic downturn could reduce the emphasis on environmental protection, reducing environmental engineers job opportunities.</p>
<p>a lot of chem E go into the envir. eng. field</p>