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environmental infrastructure
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water purification plant Aerial view of a wastewater treatment plant with large circular settling tanks and rectangular aeration basins surrounded by greenery and small buildings.
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environmental infrastructure

Written by
Jerry A. Nathanson
Professor of Engineering, Union County College, Cranford, New Jersey. Author of Basic Environmental Technology: Water Supply, Waste Disposal, and Pollution Control.
Jerry A. Nathanson
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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environmental infrastructure, infrastructure that provides cities and towns with water supply, waste disposal, and pollution control services. They include extensive networks of aqueducts, reservoirs, water distribution pipes, sewer pipes, and pumping stations; treatment systems such as sedimentation tanks and aeration tanks, filters, septic tanks, desalination plants, and incinerators; and waste disposal facilities such as sanitary landfills and secure hazardous-waste storage impoundments. These municipal works serve two important purposes: they protect human health and safeguard environmental...

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