Summary

Sponsored by the Technical Committee on Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of ASCE.

This volume reports on anthropogenic chemicals, a new category of environmental contaminant that is predominantly unregulated and human-made. Occurring in air, soil, water, food, and human and animal tissues in trace concentrations, these chemical compounds persist in the environment and are capable of altering the physiology of target receptors.

This report considers specific pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, antimicrobials and antibiotics, hormones, plasticizers, surfactants, fire retardants, pesticides, and nanoparticles. It also summarizes the analytical methods used for separation and quantification of emerging contaminants and describes molecular biology approaches to identify organisms capable of degrading these chemicals. The report contains extensive illustrations and tables with current references.

This book is a must-have for both undergraduate and graduate students in environmental engineering and resources; teachers; researchers; and practicing environmental engineers.

Choice Review

This work is an extremely thorough, well-organized, and valuable resource that all environmental scientists and engineers should have on their desks. Bhandari (Iowa State) and colleagues, all environmental engineers and experts in their field, have arranged the book in such a manner that there is easy access to a complete description of the properties, occurrences, fate, and transport of the contaminants in both natural and engineered systems. The book contains 12 chapters, with 9 of these addressing a category of "anthropogenic chemical," e.g., "Pharmaceuticals," "Pesticides," and "Surfactants." For example, chapter 6, "Hormones," provides detailed information on topics that include the following: "Sources of Androgens and Estrogens," "Fate and Behavior in Natural Systems," "Fate of Livestock Waste Estrogens in Engineered Systems," and "Fate of Estrogens in Municipal Sewage Treatment Systems." The work concludes with a review of techniques for degrading these contaminants. All the data included and discussions of the various topics are well documented and referenced. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students through professionals/practitioners. R. P. Carnahan formerly, University of South Florida