The past 30 years have seen the emergence of a growing desire worldwide
that positive actions be taken to restore and protect the environment
from the degrading effects of all forms of pollution--air, water, soil,
and noise. Because pollution is a direct or indirect consequence of
waste, the seemingly idealistic demand for "zero discharge" can be
construed as an unrealistic demand for zero waste. However, as long as
waste continues to exist, we can only attempt to abate the subsequent
pollution by converting it to a less noxious form. Three major questions
usually arise when a particular type of pollution has been identi?ed:
(1) How serious is the pollution? (2) Is the technology to abate it
available? and (3) Do the costs of abatement justify the degree of
abatement achieved? This book is one of the volumes of the Handbook of
Environmental Engineering series. The principal intention of this series
is to help readers formulate answers to the last two questions above.
The traditional approach of applying tried-and-true solutions to speci?c
pollution problems has been a major contributing factor to the success
of environmental en- neering, and has accounted in large measure for the
establishment of a "methodology of pollution control. " However, the
realization of the ever-increasing complexity and interrelated nature of
current environmental problems renders it imperative that intelligent
planning of pollution abatement systems be undertaken.
