Men and material for the cause of Earth

Updated on: Monday, October 24, 2011

One of our grave concerns today is the impact of environmental degradation on the survival of mankind. The need for environmental protection caught the public eye in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Serious debates on the impact of ecological disturbances came to the fore in the 1970s. Today, there is hardly anyone who does not appreciate the conflict between environment and development.

We may have to pay a heavy price if we are indifferent to environmental issues. David Suzuki, a Canadian environmentalist, once warned, though with an element of exaggeration, “We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone is arguing over where they're going to sit.”

Steps for environmental protection have to be organised at the individual and the governmental levels. Automobile emissions, industrial effluents, waste management, pollution control, biodiversity, genetically modified organisms, public health, sustainable development, habitat, conservation, ozone depletion, and global warming are some of the issues to be addressed.

To maintain clean air and water, we have to apply the gifts of science and technology appropriately. This precisely is the area of environmental engineering. In many institutions, this subject is taken as a higher study option in civil or chemical engineering. Environment impact assessment and mitigation, water treatment, conveyance and treatment of waste, air quality management, and noise pollution control are some of the elements of environmental engineering. For the right enforcement of the regulations, environmental law has been evolved in most countries. But further legislation may be necessary, consequent on emerging environmental problems.

Environmental science and environmental engineering have become distinct disciplines in which there is need for continuing research. Scholars can use this opportunity. New forms and techniques have to be found out for more efficient and effective methods of arresting environmental degradation and promoting public health.

NEERI

An institution that offers leadership in research and development (R&D) in environmental science and engineering for sustainable development is the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nehru Marg, Nagpur – 440 020, Website: www.neeri.res.in. It is a constituent of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

NEERI is committed to providing innovative and effective solutions to environmental and natural resource problems. It has five zonal laboratories in Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai.

NEERI was established in 1958 as the Central Public Health Engineering Research Institute (CPHERI), when environmental concerns were limited to human health. At that time, its focus was confined to water supply, sewage disposal, communicable diseases, industrial pollution, and occupational diseases. Public awareness of contamination of environment gradually developed; the institute was appropriately renamed NEERI in 1974.

The institute regularly attempts to find ways and means to solve a range of problems posed by industry, government, and people. It has a clear mandate covering specific areas of activities, which include conducting research and development studies in environmental science and engineering, rendering assistance by S&T intervention to industries, local bodies and so on in solving problems of environmental pollution, and collaborating with academic and research institutions for promoting R&D in environmental science and engineering.

Environmental engineering is basically multidisciplinary in content and approach. NEERI naturally uses the services of scientists well-versed in chemical engineering, environmental chemistry, environmental biology, and more than a dozen other science and engineering disciplines.

The work undertaken may involve diverse activities. Ensuring environmental quality in terms of physical, chemical, and biological parameters is a matter of prime concern. Appropriate technologies have to be identified for prevention and control of air pollution. Management of wastewater and solid waste entails their reduction, reuse, recycle, and finally safe disposal.

Thrust areas

NEERI maintains a futuristic perspective of a formal knowledge organisation. It aims at providing reliable data and modelling efforts. The major areas of thrust are the following: environmental monitoring; environmental modelling; environmental biotechnology and genomics; environmental system design and optimisation; environmental impact and risk assessment; and environmental policy.

Let us now look into some of the areas of focus in some detail, so that prospective research scholars can develop plans for their study and research in environment and related domains.

Air pollution control division

Air pollution monitoring

Air quality modelling and management

Air pollution control systems design and development

Applied aquatic ecosystem

Eco-restoration

Environmental health division: studies on occupational and environmental health risks from exposure of xenobiotics (A xenobiotic is chemical compound, such as a drug, pesticide, or carcinogen, that is foreign to a living organism).

Environmental biotechnology division: Multidisciplinary R&D and biotechnology-based solutions for environmental problems and sustainable development. Developing eco-friendly biotechnological processes to address issues related to restoration of environmental quality, bio-remediation, waste treatment, waste to wealth, climate change mitigation, and so on. Also, plant tissue culture for ecological capital build-up.

Environmental genomics division: An extension of microbial genome projects. It studies the existence, interaction, and survival of different gene pools with reference to each other in complex ecosystems. The energy flow and carbon transport in environmental systems driven by microbial power, whose information is stored in DNA sequences. Environmental factors that influence life forms, including humans, plants, animals, and microorganisms.

Environmental impact and risk assessment studies for developmental activities: The areas of study in this division include seismic survey for hydrocarbons drilling of oil and gas wells, exploration and recovery of methane from coal bed, development of oil and gas fields, refinery and petrochemicals, storage of liquefied natural gas, pipelines of hydrocarbon, fertilizer plants, power plants: thermal and nuclear, and port and harbour.

Environmental materials division: Material synthesis and characterisation, environmental and energy-related applications of materials, cleaner energy production systems, vehicular emission control, innovative monitoring and control systems for non-conventional pollutants, carbon capture sequestration technologies, and soil remediation

Environmental system design and modelling division: development and application of numerical models for prediction of environmental quality, development and application of Geographical Information System and remote sensing, development and application of environmental systems design, detailed engineering, costing and drawings for the design of water supply and sewerage systems, and water and wastewater treatment systems.

Wastewater technology division: Treatment technologies for colour and COD removal and induction and enhancement in biodegradation through UV photocatalysis, detoxification and biodegradation, electro-coagulation, etc., modelling of wastewater treatment processes, removal of dissolved solids and nutrients from was

Men and material for the cause of Earth

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