Environmental Engineering

Environmental Engineering

Why Environmental Engineering?

Environmental engineers apply fundamental science (chemistry, physics, thermodynamics, mass and energy balance, multiphase flow etc.) and engineering design principles to solve some of the most pressing environmental problems of our time, including problems related to climate change, renewable energy, water scarcity and water and air quality.

We face global crises in climate and biodiversity, and grand challenges in delivering sustainable, resilient and safe infrastructure. In the environmental engineering program, we prepare students to design systems that improve our well-being and protect the natural world. This includes mastering traditional methods to deliver clean air and drinking water, treat wastes and prevent flooding as well as innovating new environmental systems to meet new challenges (like extreme weather, micro-plastics, renewable energy supply and energy from wastes), and planning for a future unlike the past.

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Courses in Environmental Engineering

You’ll take a mix of foundational engineering and mathematics courses in first year. After first year, most of your classes will be Environmental Engineering courses covering topics such as environmental chemistry, air quality, biological processes, environmental modelling, water resources and design of water, waste and soil treatment systems.

Sample first-year courses

This is a sample schedule. Courses are subject to change.

Fall Term (September to December) Spring Term (May to August)

CHE 102 – Chemistry for Engineers

ENVE 100 – Environmental and Geological Engineering Concepts

CIVE 104 – Mechanics 1

ENVE 115 – Linear Algebra

MATH 116 – Calculus 1 for Engineering

ENGL 191 – Communication in the Engineering Profession

CIVE 105 – Mechanics 2

ENVE 121 – Computational Methods

ENVE 153 – Earth Engineering

GENE 123 – Electrical Circuits and Instrumentation

MATH 118 – Calculus 2 for Engineering

Upper year courses

For information about courses past your first year, check out the Undergraduate Academic Calendar.

New curriculum set to launch in Fall 2025

We’ve recently re-imagined our Environmental Engineering program to better prepare students for the challenges of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss as technology advances and our world evolves. Here’s what’s coming in Fall 2025:

  • More connected science courses that show how chemistry, microbiology, and physics interact in real-world environmental systems.
  • Hands-on design courses that build key skills in software, data analysis, and sustainable solutions.
  • Greater flexibility with fewer required courses, giving you more freedom to shape your degree around your interests.

These updates aren’t reflected in our academic calendar just yet, but if you have questions about the future of our Environmental Engineering program, feel free to reach out at engrecruitment@uwaterloo.ca 

Customize your degree with specializations and options

Specializations

A specialization is recognition of selected elective courses within your degree. Specialization offerings are unique to your engineering program and are listed on your diploma. Specializations that are available to Environmental Engineering students include:

Renewed and new specializations for Fall 2025

With our reimagined curriculum, we’ve enhanced existing specializations and introduced two brand-new ones to help you tackle real-world environmental challenges. Starting Fall 2025, you can choose from:

Energy and Climate Change

Icon of a sun with an energy bolt inside it

Develop expertise in climate change, atmospheric processes, energy systems, sustainable buildings and the environmental and social impacts of energy solutions.

This specialization addresses the challenges of mitigating climate change through energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring sustainable, resilient infrastructure. It focuses on providing affordable, reliable energy, improving air quality and designing systems that adapt to environmental, economic and social factors.

Water Resources

Icon of water tap with water dripping out

Explore the physical science of water, its role in human and natural environments, water quantity analysis, GIS and remote sensing and conflict resolution for scarce resources.

This specialization addresses the challenges of water scarcity, climate change, and extreme weather events, such as floods and droughts, that impact water availability and infrastructure. It focuses on ensuring sustainable water distribution, resilient infrastructure, and effective management of water resources in the face of changing environmental conditions.

Pollution and Restoration

Icon of Earth with a cloud and arrows circling around

Focus on chemical and biological processes for air and water management, treatment strategies and nature-based solutions for ecosystem resilience.

This specialization addresses the challenges of pollution, waste management, and resource depletion by promoting sustainable practices and eco-efficient systems. It focuses on ensuring clean water access, reducing harmful chemicals, and developing resilient solutions for pollution control and resource recovery in the face of climate change.

Modelling and Data Analytics

Icon of a data chart

Build skills in coding, big data, optimization, machine learning and image processing for environmental applications.

This specialization addresses the challenges of managing and analyzing complex environmental data to understand processes and design sustainable systems. It focuses on improving infrastructure resilience, energy efficiency, water management, and urban sustainability through advanced data analytics and modeling techniques.

Sustainable Cities

Icon of various city buildings

Study urban infrastructure, transportation, and civil engineering systems, with cross-disciplinary training in urban planning, landscape design and decision-making for sustainable cities.

This specialization addresses the challenges of creating sustainable, resilient cities in the face of climate change, focusing on urban infrastructure, transportation, and environmental systems. It aims to improve land-use planning, manage resources like water and waste, and promote sustainable energy and transport systems to create safe, inclusive urban environments.

Options

Options are a way to provide you with a path to expand your degree and get a secondary emphasis in another subject or area. Options often require taking extra courses beyond your degree's minimum requirements, and may require an extra term of study or overloading semesters. Students should decide if they are interested in taking options as they enter second year. Some available options are:

Co-op for Environmental Engineering students

You’ll have an unrivalled opportunity to gain paid work experience before you even graduate. We’ll help you navigate job applications, résumés, and interviews; you’ll have the added benefit of trying out different roles and/or industries to find the one that fits you while building your work experience and reinforcing your in-class learning out in the real world. It all adds up to a competitive advantage after graduation.

Starting in first year, you'll normally alternate between school and work every four months, integrating your classroom learning with real-world experience. You can return to the same employer for a couple of work terms to gain greater knowledge and responsibility or work for different employers to get a broad range of experience.

Year September to December (Fall) January to April (Winter) May to August (Spring)
First Study Co-op Study
Second Co-op Study Co-op
Third Study Co-op Study
Fourth Co-op Study Co-op
Fifth Study Study -


Your first work term will be halfway through first year. Learn more about co-op.

Example co-op positions for Environmental Engineering students

  • Drainage design engineering assistant
  • Environmental engineering assistant
  • Technical writer
  • Tides and water levels assistant
  • Field engineering/project coordination
  • Industrial wastewater engineer
  • Program developer

2023 Engineering co-op student of the year

Frances Hallen, Environmental Engineering student

By combining her strong analytical skills and desire to solve social issues, Frances was able to make an impact while continuing her learning. As a junior renewable energy developer, Frances demonstrated exceptional collaborative, design and research skills in raising awareness about renewable energy. Her accomplishments include:

  • Organizing a solar site visit that included more than 20 employees from across Canada and United States to increase partner support.
  • Designing research on the dispersion of acres occupied by corn ethanol, resulting in more than $7000 in social value savings.
  • Preparing environmental review presentations to gain political support for EDF’s projects.
Frances Hallen, Engineering Co-op student of the year 2023

Example careers for Environmental Engineering graduates

  • Bioremediation expert
  • Water resource engineer
  • Water project management
  • Green building engineer
  • Air pollution control system design
  • Environmental consultant
  • Environmental specialist
  • Geomatics analyst

Capstone design projects in Environmental Engineering

Capstone Design is the culmination of the engineering undergraduate student experience, creating a blueprint for innovation in engineering design.

Supported by numerous awards, Capstone Design provides Waterloo Engineering students with the unique opportunity to conceptualize and design a project related to their chosen discipline.

A requirement for completion of their degrees, Capstone Design challenges students teams to push their own boundaries, and apply the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom and on co-op work terms.  It reinforces the concepts of teamwork, project management, research and development. 

For a full list of previous capstone design projects, see our Capstone Design website.

Greene Planet International (Capstone 2023)

Greene Planet International capstone team

Matthew Linehan, Rudy Krysakowski, Kyle Macdonald, Luke Vandenberg

The design team, Greene Planet International, worked with the International Support Network for African Development to support the organization’s plans to develop a new office space and community library in Ibadan, Nigeria. The client sought to reduce the building’s life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. The design team worked with the client on an integrated design process related to impacts of the building envelope, construction and material selection, mechanical and electrical systems, water supply, energy supply, and energy storage. 

Wildfire Warriors (Capstone 2024)

Wildfire Warriors Capstone Design Team

Savita Das, Anna Van Der Heide, Harvir Sidhu, Jaida Wilson

The severity and frequency of wildfires in British Columbia have increased dramatically, putting communities within the province at heightened risk. To address this, our team Wildfire Warriors is creating a tool that will assess a property's fire risk level, propose a series of fire mitigation measures and determine the environmental, economic and social impacts of those measures. This helps to make fire safety more accessible to homeowners as it educates them on the benefit of fire mitigation measures and improves the ease of implementation.

Student design teams

The Sedra Student Design Centre consists of over 20,000 square feet of space dedicated to design teams and student projects. There are more than two dozen design teams, all of which are student-led, and many of which represent Waterloo internationally.

Some examples include:

Warrior Home

Warrior Home

Warrior Home is a multidisciplinary student team that designs and builds high-performing, net-zero energy, affordable, and sustainable homes for community housing organizations. 

Midnight Sun

Midnight sun

The Midnight Sun Solar Car Team designs, manufactures, and races solar-electric cars capable of travelling on public highways. Their mission is to educate the public and promote innovation in sustainable energy technologies.

UWAFT

uwaft

UWAFT (University of Waterloo Alternative Fuel Team) continuously breaks new ground in the field of sustainable transportation through innovation, technology, and student engagement. 

Environmental Engineering alumni

Iolanda Montagnese

Alumni Iolanda Montagnese

Iolanda (class of 2017), "I enjoyed bouncing between courses and co-op placements every four months as it was a nice balance of both life experience and knowledge."
Read more about Iolanda's time in Environmental Engineering.

Michael Wong

Alumni Michael Wong

Michael (class of 2019), "I liked working with numbers but wanted to combine that with my passion about the environment and resource management."
Hear more about Michael's time in Environmental Engineering

Janice Stonebridge

Alumni Janice Stonebridge

Janice (class of 2015), "I reached out to the team from my last co-op term at the end of my Master's program to see if they would be hiring. And the rest is history!"
Hear more about Janice's time in Environmental Engineering.  

Philip Schmidt

Philip Schmidt

Philip (class of 2005), "Waterloo gave me opportunities I never considered, particularly to get involved in really interesting research starting in second year."
Hear more about Philip's time in Environmental Engineering

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What's the difference between Environmental Engineering and Environmental Science?

Environmental engineering and environmental science are both vital fields that focus on understanding and addressing environmental issues, but they have different approaches and areas of expertise. 

Environmental science is the study of the natural environment and how it is affected by human activity. It focuses on understanding the complex interactions within ecosystems. Environmental scientists gather data, conduct experiments and develop models to understand environmental systems. Best for those interested in understanding the natural environment and conducting research to inform conservation and policy. It requires a strong foundation in natural sciences and analytical skills for studying ecosystems and environmental processes.

Environmental engineering is the application of engineering principles to improve and protect the environment. It focuses on designing and implementing solutions to environmental problems. Environmental engineers use engineering principles, technology and scientific knowledge to design systems and processes that address environmental challenges. Best for those interested in applying engineering and technology to solve environmental problems. It requires strong analytical skills and a focus on designing practical solutions for environmental protection.

What's the difference between Geological Engineering and Environmental Engineering?

Both fields play critical roles in addressing the challenges of resource management and environmental protection but do so from different perspectives and with different technical emphases.

Geological engineering applies engineering principles to the exploration, extraction, and utilization of geological resources. It deals with the assessment and management of geological hazards and the design of structures that interact with the Earth. The curriculum includes courses in geology, geophysics, soil mechanics, rock mechanics, hydrology and environmental geology, along with engineering fundamentals such as materials science, structural analysis and fluid mechanics.

In contrast, environmental engineering centers on developing technologies and systems to protect and improve the environment by addressing issues like pollution control, waste management and sustainable resource use. The curriculum covers water and wastewater treatment, air quality management, solid and hazardous waste management, environmental impact assessment and sustainable design, with courses in chemistry, biology and environmental science being integral. Emphasis is placed on understanding and mitigating the impacts of human activities on the environment, developing sustainable solutions and ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.

Civil, Architectural, Environmental and Geological Engineering programs comparison chart

  Civil Engineering Architectural Engineering Environmental Engineering Geological Engineering
Ideal for students who...

Want to design and maintain the massive infrastructure on which society depends.

Would like to pursue a flexible degree with numerous subfields.

Want to learn about the built components that make up our urban environments (roads, transit, buildings, bridges).

Want to learn about many aspects behind good building design (structural aspects, energy efficiency, sustainable building design, smart/green building design).

Are interested in building design from a structural engineer’s perspective as well as an architect’s perspective.

Are interested in physics, chemistry, biology, and geology.

Want the technical rigour of an engineering degree combined with scientific know-how and environmental insights.

Are interested in cleaning up existing pollution from our water and soils, developing technological solutions to reduce pollutants from future human activities.

Want a career that allows to frequently work outdoors.

Are interested in strengthening Civil Engineering infrastructure using Earth Sciences knowledge.

Are interested in combining laser/GIS/seismic technology and the outdoors.

Are interested in designing foundations for all kind of structures on Earth or Mars.

Examples of projects in Canada

ION light rail transit in Waterloo, Ontario

Confederation bridge in Prince Edward Island

THE MUSEUM in Waterloo, Ontario

CN tower in Toronto, Ontario

Columbia Lake in Waterloo, Ontario

Southern rockies watershed project in Alberta

Sustainable nickel mining in Sudbury, Ontario
Examples of projects globally

Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates

Goldate gate bridge in the United States

Eiffel tower in France

The Colosseum in Italy

Drinking water treatment in developing countries.

Three gorges dam in China

English Channel tunnel in the United Kingdom