Geo-environmental engineering is a relatively new field in civil engineering.  As indicated by the name, geo-environmental engineering is a hybrid of the geotechnical and environmental engineering disciplines.  In the early 90's geo-environmental engineering was the fastest growing segment of civil engineering, with an annual growth rate as high as 30%.  Recently, this growth has tapered off, although there are still many opportunities for careers in this area.

The growth of geo-environmental engineering was largely due to new federal laws relating to landfills and previously contaminated sites.  These laws require that much more effort and engineering be utilized on landfill design and they require that any contaminated sites must be cleaned up.

We will be covering the following topics in this course:

I. Landfill Design
II. Dealing with Contaminated Sites

A. Characterization
B. Containment
C. Remediation

The first topic, landfill design, relates to the problem of techniques for preventing groundwater contamination.  The second topic, relates to the problem of dealing with the consequences of failing to prevent contamination.  The discussion of contaminated sites will be divided into three sections: characterization (determining how bad the problem is), containment (preventing the problem from getting worse), and remediation (fixing the problem).

Some of the homework assignments for this course will be involve the use of the Groundwater Modeling System (GMS).  GMS is available on the CAEDM network.   If you wish to use GMS on your home computer, you may download a PC version of GMS from EMS-I. You can also download an electronic version of the GMS documentation from this site. After you have downloaded and installed GMS, launch GMS and select the Register command in the File menu. E-mail the security string to me and I will give you a temporary password that will enable GMS.

For most lectures, I will provide you with a copy of the lecture notes on the day of the lecture. Periodically, I will provide other documents as well. Since this will result in a large amount of copying, I will ask you to reimburse the CE En Dept. for the photocopying expense at the end of the semester. This fee is typically about $10-15. If you miss a lecture or if you lose your lecture notes, electronic copies of the lecture notes are available by clicking on the hot link in the "Topic" area of the Schedule section of this web site. Please note that not all of the lecture notes are available in electronic form. In addition, if you need an extra copy of a homework assignment, you can get an electronic version by clicking on the hot links in the Schedule.