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My sense is that a lot of new students think that they are interested in environmental engineering, because they just assume that it has do with cool issues like global warming, carbon sequestration, electric cars, renewable energy sources, etc.</p>
<p>Then many of them lose interest when they realize that environmental engineering is more about less sexy concerns like water purification, sewage treatment, building ventilation, landfill design, smokestack emissions, etc. </p>
<p>I don’t see any signs that US society is relaxing its standards for, say, tap water or waste disposal. Americans take it for granted that their tap water is clean and safe, that their poop vanishes forever down toilets, and that their garbage gets taken away and is never seen again. Nobody, regardless of political leanings, wants this to change. </p>
<p>That means plenty of work for EnvEs. For example, how old are the water treatment and sewage treatment plants in your community? Many were built in the postwar boom years of the 1950s and 1960s – with 50-year design life expectancies.</p>