Relevance: GS-3: Infrastructure, Science and Technology, developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Phrases: Public Health Engineering, environmental engineers, wastewater treatment systems, solid waste, Public Works Department.

Context:

• Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
• This can pose a significant environmental and health threat. In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.

What is Public Health Engineering?

• Water processing, purification, transmission, and distribution are all handled by the Public Health Engineering industry. Thus “Sanitary Engineering” is now referred to as “Public Health Engineering.”
• Engineers and technical specialists in the fields of water, sanitation, electricity, and other related fields are critical in meeting the challenges and rising demands. They are known as public health engineers.
• A clean and balanced Earth is a good place where everyone owns and bears responsibility for ensuring a good quality of life. It can be made possible in several ways.

Why there is a need for Public Health Engineering in India?

1. Lack of skills:
   • Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems and public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
2. Large Demand:
   • India aims to supply 55 liters of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
   • Given the population growth, diminishing resources and risky exploitation of natural resources, various State governments, and not-for-profit organizations are looking to hire environmental engineers through whom public health problems can be addressed.
3. Wide Range of Opportunities:
   • These fields offer a wide range of opportunities for the development of advanced wastewater treatment systems.
     • For understanding complex quality and monitoring processes, designing and managing septic tank systems,
     • Supplying good quality water in adequate quantities, maintaining hygiene and access to water,
     • And ensuring that water supply is sustainable, including the study of relevant industry standards and codes of practices.
4. Achieve Sustainable Development Goals:
   • For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
5. Robust Understanding of Processes:
   • By promoting a robust understanding of processes, trends, and the latest technology in water and wastewater quality monitoring, treatment, and management, public health engineering can help decision/policymakers explore the available options.
6. Controlling Diseases:
   • Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Hence public health engineering becomes very important.
7. Contextualised Decision-Making:
   • Public health engineering’s combination of engineering and public health skills can also enable contextualised decision-making regarding water management in India.
8. Identification of Health Risk:
   • A public health engineer can identify a health risk, and work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialized equipment, in order to correct the safety concern.

   

Way Forwards

1. Training Young Minds:
   • Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step. Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
2. Specialized Cadre of Public Health Engineers:
   • The specialized cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and manage solid waste and wastewater.
3. Developed as An Interdisciplinary field:
   • Public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field.
   • Public health professionals can contribute to engineering through a well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks, and how course correction can be initiated.
4. Availability of Systemic Information and Programmes:
   • The availability of systemic information and programmes focusing on teaching, training, and capacity building for this specialty cadre is needed.
5. Role of Engineers:
   • Engineers can significantly contribute to public health by defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
6. Design based on hydro-geological data:
   • Wastewater management systems, especially decentralised and onsite systems, have to be designed based on hydro-geological data and observations of climate patterns.
7. Following International Trends:
   • In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
   • This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialize in wastewater engineering.

Conclusion:

• The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.

Sources:  The Hindu

Mains Question:

Q. What is Public Health Engineering? How it will help India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation? (250 words).