Review of Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering by James R. Mihelcic: Wiley, New York, 1999; ISBN 0-471-24313-2; 352 pp. Price: $78.95.

The book is not new but was recently brought to my attention. As the field of environmental hydraulics becomes increasingly popular, how can we educate our hydraulic engineers to gain basic knowledge in environmental engineering? Can we combine knowledge from various sciences like chemistry and biology with the knowledge of physics and mathematics that is also required in the traditional civil engineering curriculum?

This book provides a reasonable answer to these questions. It is the outgrowth of team teaching for a course required of all civil and environmental engineering students at Michigan Technological University. Several coauthors share partial credit for this text besides the primary author. The faculty members from MTU include M. T. Auer, D. W. Hand, R. E. Honrath, J. A. Perlinger, and N. R. Urban. M. R. Penn at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville also contributed to the biology chapter.

The course is intended to provide a bridge between basic sciences and math courses and upper-level engineering courses. The material is divided into four main chapters: concentrations in air, water, and soils; chemistry; physical processes; and biology. The brief preface uses practical examples to illustrate the need for a strong command of the fundamentals in chemistry, biology, and physical processes. The examples of municipal wastewater treatment, acid rain, and fate of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons in groundwater clearly state the need for an integrated multidisciplinary approach to environmental problems. Chapter 2 delves into the nitty-gritty details of unit conversions and sets the tone for the quantitative approach of the authors. The reader is exposed to all possible units used in measuring contaminant levels in soils, water, and the atmosphere. Chapter 3 covers about 100 pages and explains the chemistry of pollutants in a variety of engineered and natural systems. This chapter includes a nice and detailed presentation of chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, equilibrium processes, oxidation/reduction processes, and photochemistry. Chapter 4 provides a 60-page discussion of mass and energy balances. There is also a brief presentation of advection and dispersion, along with a review of the movement of particles in fluids and water through soils. Chapter 5 introduces the reader to the fundamentals of biological principles governing the ecosystems of the world. This very nice chapter begins with a discussion of ecosystem structure and function, including a description of population dynamics, organism growth, and resource consumption. The chapter continues with a focus on biogeochemical cycles such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus. The role of nutrients in lakes and reservoirs is then covered. Additional materials include photosynthesis, aerobic and anaerobic respiration, toxicity, bioconcentration, and pathogenic organisms.

For readers with a background in hydraulic engineering, the most interesting chapters will likely deal with chemistry and biology. The preface prepares readers to gain new knowledge outside their own discipline. Important processes are very well explained, and this text has been carefully developed for use in the classroom at the sophomore/junior level for civil and chemical engineering students. Although the title and emphasis is on fundamentals, there is nothing trivial about this book, and serious readers will enjoy spending time digesting all the concepts that are presented. The worked-out problems and examples are very useful to the reader. A large selection of homework problems and answers is also available.

As possible improvements, a second edition could include more details on the processes of advection and dispersion, conservation of mass, momentum, and resistance to flow in open channels. The treatment of settling velocity could be easily expanded to any size particle. The references could be placed at the end of the entire text rather than sorted by chapter. The second chapter requires 40 pages to cover all possible cases of unit conversions for the concentration of contaminants in soils, water, and air. This tedious chapter may discourage many readers from probing into the following chapters. Perhaps this material could be shortened or placed in an appendix. A sixth chapter could expand on the preface and demonstrate how the concepts learned in chapters three through five can be integrated to solve complex real-world problems.

In summary, this book broadens the traditional view of hydraulic engineering and provides the fundamentals of chemistry and biology that are essential in environmental hydraulics. This textbook is highly recommended to students in environmental engineering as well as professionals in civil and chemical engineering. This book’s most appealing features are that it is compact, easy to use, informative, and quantitative. On the other hand, it may be a little expensive for undergraduate students.