[Role of the sanitary engineer in public health].

This role is exemplified through four cases: the Zermatt typhoid epidemics of 1963, a sanitary survey in Ouagadougou, the bioaccumulation of pollutants in the burbots of Swiss waters and the damages of earthwork in developing countries (roads and dams). The dynamic feature of the concept of "environmental health" is underlined and justifies the inclusion of public health subjects in the training curricula of sanitary engineers.