The core principles of environmental engineering are understanding and management of environmental risk. Risk is inherent in every human activity, or in the words of US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “Life is about risk, and it ends badly”[1]. Quantifying risk facilitates better decision-making. Environmental engineering, assessment and risk management have become the backbone of environmental approvals processes.
Figure 1: Discharging treated waste is a common process. Properly selected and designed treatment mechanisms are crucial to minimise risk of adverse impacts.
Synergetics are expert engineers who can assess environmental impacts and design environmental engineering controls to minimise risk. Synergetics environmental services include:
- multidisciplinary teams that ensure all important aspects of the problem have been identified and resolved, including air quality, odour, soil health, wastewater, etc;
- liaising with EPA, and planning departments at Federal, State and Local Government to ensure that regulatory requirements are met;
- managing development applications to facilitate rapid approval consent and the issuing of an operating license;
- developing specialised exposure assessment models for characterisation of exposures in micro-environments;
- determination of designated development status;
- use and development of specialised monitoring instruments and data logging systems for exposure measurement;
- specification and design of controls and mitigation measures, including air pollution control devices (APCD), filtration and sedimentation systems, to minimise the risk of adverse environmental impacts;
- identifying environmental assessment criteria that are appropriate to the location and scale of a particular site/facility;
- air quality dispersion modelling for toxic gas and odour reports;
- preparation of environmental impact statements (EIS) / environmental impact assessments (EIA), statement of environmental effects (SEE), as well as other compliance reports; and
- effective communication of issues to addressing employee and community concerns.
Figure 2: Synergetics can use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) as a part of a suite of tools to comprehend processes and assess your risks. This image shows mixing in waste water downstream of a stepped weir.
[1] Paustenbach, Dennis J (editor). “Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: Theory and Practice.” Wiley, (2002) xi (quote from foreword by William K. Reilly).