What would we do without Civil Engineers?

If you have an acumen for maths and science, and have been considering a career in Civil Engineering, you are probably headed in the right direction. Why not dig in deeper and take a look at what a crucial role civil engineers have been playing in the world?

If you have already begun researching, you must know that Civil Engineering has many sub-disciplines, each varying in either landscape or function.

In this article, let’s look at 5 crucial areas in which a civil engineer applies scientific principles to solve problems that affect world populations.

1. Environmental Engineering: Our health is directly related to the quality of our environment, which is why, an environmental engineer worries about the possible adverse effects of natural disasters on human settlements, and is equally proactive in protecting the environment from infrastructure construction and human activities. Some striking examples are maintenance of industrial hygiene, protection from waterborne diseases, recycling, etc.

2. Hydraulic Engineering: Thanks to hydraulic engineers, we have been able to channelise water for human use with the design and construction of dams, canals and bridges. With the application of fluid mechanics principles, hydraulic civil engineers plan and execute the proper collection, storage, control, transportation, regulation, measurement and usage of water.

3. Municipal or Urban Engineering: Life is undeniably comfortable when you receive water in the taps, electricity at home, if you have streetlights and sidewalks, and a proper sewage system in your residential community. Well, if that’s the kind of value you wish to add to people’s lives, Urban Planning may be your cup of tea. Interestingly, it was Industrial Revolution hat gave birth to modern Municipal Engineering. It was in the 19th Century in UK where large industrial waste brought about the fatal threat of cholera that led to the planning, design and construction of the first Sewage

4. Transportation EngineeringImagine a world without roads and railways, it would simply delete from our lives the fluid movement of goods and people. A factor today that doesn’t need a second thought. Imagine not being able to order books, rare clothing brands and gadgets that are only available overseas and cannot be delivered to your doorstep…luckily that doesn’t happen anymore. The world has been traveling, exploring new places, transporting handmade to machine made products, all because of civil engineers who apply scientific principles to the planning, functional design, construction and management of facilities for any mode of transportation. They also ensure that it is safe, fast, economical, convenient, comfortable and environmentally compatible. This skill is divided across aerospace, roads and highway; pipelines, waterways, port, coastal and ocean.

5. Geotechnical Engineering: These guys are off-beat, so to say. They study and analyse the behaviour of earth materials. A geotechnical engineer applies the principles of soil and rock mechanics in mining, petroleum and military related and other such constructions on the surface or within the ground to assess the risk to humans, property and the environment from natural hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, debris flows and rockfalls. By the virtue of their job, geotechnical engineers are responsible for the safety of large populations.