| CODE | EMP5021 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Environmental Pollution - Theory and Concepts | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Environmental Management and Planning | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit focuses on the theoretical and conceptual aspects related to emissions to the three main environmental compartments (air, water and soil) and resultant pollution phenomena. It deals with the Theoretical and Practical aspects of pollution of the three environmental compartments. and enables the students to receive tuition related to the practical, real world issues associated with regulating, monitoring and controlling/remediating pollution. Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit is dedicated to 'Environmental Pollution – Theory and Concepts' will provide students with an overview of the way in which anthropogenic emissions change within the respective environmental compartments, as well as their impact on human health and the environment. The students will also be exposed to the standard methods currently in use for the measurement of the amount of pollution humans are exposed to in urban areas. Additionally, students will be introduced to the basic notions of environmental data analysis required in order to describe better the effect of these emissions on the urban environment. This unit should provide the students with theoretical and conceptual framework required in for the solution of problems in the real world. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify the main drivers and pressures resulting in changes to the state of the main environmental compartments; - Apply physical/chemical principles to understand the main changes undergone by the pollutants once they are mobilised into the respective environmental compartment; - Appraise the standardised methods used to monitor the ambient levels of these pollutants in the environmental compartment of interest and their main limitations of these methods; - Use different data analysis techniques to model the spatial and/or temporal distribution of these pollutants. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Evaluate the role of anthropogenic activity as the main causative factor for the degradation in the quality of the different environmental media; - Apply their scientific knowledge to the identification of the mechanisms through which pollutants are exchanged between the three main environmental compartments; - Plan an effective environmental quality monitoring campaign keeping in mind practical constraints (such as financial, logistical and technical); - Analyse and interpret environmental monitoring data through the judicious use of a variety of statistical techniques; - Disseminate results related to the state of a particular environmental medium; - Solve practical problems related to pollution. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Vallero, D. (2014). Fundamentals of Air Pollution. Academic Press. - Tiwary, A. & Williams, I. (2018). Air Pollution: Measurement, Modelling and Mitigation, Fourth Edition. Productivity Press. - Carslaw, D.C. (2015). The openair manual: open-source tools for analysing air pollution data. King's College London. Available from http://www.openair-project.org/PDF/OpenAir_Manual.pdf. - Murphy, E. & King, E.A. (2014). Environmental Noise Pollution: Noise Mapping, Public Health and Policy. Elsevier Science Publishing. - Beiras, R. (2018). Marine Pollution: Sources, Fate and Effects of Pollutants in Coastal Ecosystems. Elsevier Science Publishing. - Duarte, A.C., Cachada, A. and Rocha-Santos, T., Eds.(2017). Soil Pollution : From Monitoring to Remediation. Elsevier Science Publishing. - Mirsal, I. A. (2008). Soil Pollution Origin, Monitoring & Remediation. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. - Saha et al., (2017). Soil Pollution - An Emerging Threat to Agriculture. Springer. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-requisite Qualifications: EMP3016 or equivalent Pre-requisite Study-units: EMP5003, EMP5004, LIN5063, EMP5006, EMP5007, EMP5019 |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lectures, Seminars and Placement | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Colette Pace Anthony Sacco Mark Scerri (Co-ord.) |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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