| Saltwater intrusion | (Environmental Engineering) The gradual replacement of freshwater by saltwater in coastal areas where excessive pumping of groundwater occurs. |
| Secondary treatment | (Environmental Engineering) In wastewater treatment, the conversion of the suspended, colloidal and dissolved organics remaining after primary treatment into a microbial mass with is then removed in a second sedimentation process. Secondary treatment included both the biological process and the associated sedimentation process. |
| Secured landfill | (Environmental Engineering) A landfill which has containment measures such as liners and a leachate collection system so that materials placed in the landfill will not migrate into the surrounding soil, air and water. |
| Shock load | (Environmental Engineering) Influent wastewater entering the plant which has an unusually high organic content and/or high flow rate. |
| Site remediation | (Environmental Engineering) The process of cleaning up a hazardous waste disposal site that has either been abandoned or that those responsible either refuse to cleanup or are financially unable to cleanup. |
| Siting | (Environmental Engineering) Obtaining government (federal, state, and local) permission to construct an environmental processing, treatment, or disposal facility at a given site. |
| Softening | (Environmental Engineering) The removal of divalent cations by precipitation or ion exchange. |
| Source reduction | (Environmental Engineering) The elimination or reduction of the waste at the source by modification of the actual process which produces the waste. |
| Sterilization | (Environmental Engineering) The destruction or inactivation of all microorganisms. See Disinfection. |
| Stratosphere | (Environmental Engineering) The atmosphere from approximately 12 km to 70 km. The temperature of the atmosphere increases in this region.Strong acid |