Environmental Pollution and Management - A Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning

This Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) on the broad subject of Environmental Pollution and Management is being carried out by Indian Institute of Technology’s and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as a collaborative project supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India) to enhance the quality of engineering education in the country, by developing curriculum based video and web courses. In these web based lectures, the authors have developed the subject in detail and in stages in a student-friendly manner. The broad group of Environmental Pollution and Management is structured into modules on the following topics:

Aquatic Biodiversity and Environmental Pollution

This course by IISc Bangalore focuses on how biodiversity represents the very foundation of human existence and how its loss has serious economic and social costs. The genes, species, ecosystems and human knowledge which are being lost represent a living library of options available for adapting to local and global change. This course focuses on conservation and management of biodiversity, remedial options and rejuvenation of lakes. It does a systematic examination of the full array of organisms and a study of the methods by which diversity can be maintained and used. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

Environment Management

The course by IISc Bangalore discusses the fundamentals of environment management and ecosystem and, subsequently, the various environmental policies, legislations and international treaties. It deals with the concept of environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the preparation of EIA report apart from covering the methodology and processes of environmental auditing. An introduction is provided to life cycle assessment (LCA) in the context of environmental management. The various environment management system standards and the issues & techniques are discussed. Environmental design and economics are discussed thereafter. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

Physico-chemical Processes in Aquatic Environments

The course by IIT Kanpur imparts an in-depth knowledge of the common physico-chemical processes occurring in natural freshwater environments, i.e., in rivers, lakes, aquifers, etc. and ultimately demonstrates how the same processes are utilized in engineered systems (e.g., water treatment plants) for alteration or improvement of water quality. It then briefly covers the transport processes of contaminants in natural water bodies such as rivers, lakes and aquifers, and a brief description of contaminant transformations in engineered systems, i.e., in various types of reactors.

It concludes with a brief description of several unit processes commonly used in water treatment. The objective here is to draw parallels between physico-chemical processes in natural systems and those used in engineered systems for improvement or alteration of water quality. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

Environmental Management and Impact Assessment

The course by IIT Guwahati deals with the potential environmental risks of infrastructure projects. Their nature, methods of qualitative and quantitative assessments, environmental risk evaluation, risk management, remediation techniques and development of predictive models are covered. Emphasis is given on quantitative evaluation systems for more tangible risk evaluation through direct measurement of environmental indicators and by development of environmental indices system.

While the different technical aspects of EIA as a pre-project tool and technique are discussed through critical analysis, the component of environmental management covers predominantly post-project risk management options. The system approach to environmental management including methods of standardization and certification are discussed. The emerging aspects of environmental management including techniques of ecological foot-printing and carbon trading are illustrated. The examples and case studies of some mega-projects are included. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

Environmental Quality and Pollution Monitoring Techniques

This course by IIT Kanpur deals with the experimental methods commonly used for monitoring air and water quality parameters such as pH, ORP, Solids, Alkalinity, DO, COD, BOD, MPN, Hardness, NO2, SO2, PM10, PM2.5, Toluene soluble fraction in particulates, etc. It also provides an introduction to advanced instrumental analysis. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here

Environmental Air Pollution

This course by IIT Delhi deals with environmental air pollution and pathways. The life cycle of air pollution helps identify the pollutants and their sources and the transport mechanisms of the pollutants followed by the affected population and respective controls. The course covers the history of air pollution, its definition and various types of sources and classification of air pollutants. Introduction is also provided to recent problems like global warming, ozone hole, acid rains and smog formation. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here