The environmental science of drinking water

In today's chemically dependent society, environmental studies demonstrate that drinking water in developed countries contains numerous industrial chemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and chemicals from water treatment processes. This poses a real threat. As a result of the ever-expanding list of chemical and biochemical products industry, current drinking water standards that serve to preserve our drinking water quality are grossly out of date. Environmental Science of Drinking Water demonstrates why we need to make a fundamental change in our approach toward protecting our drinking water. Factual and circumstantial evidence showing the failure of current drinking water standards to adequately protect human health is presented along with analysis of the extent of pollution in our water resources and drinking water. The authors also present detail of the currently available state-of-the-art technologies which, if fully employed, can move us toward a healthier future.

Author Notes

Principal Geochemist, Komex #65533; H2O #65533; Science, Inc.

Reviews 1

Choice Review

The first 140 pages of this book contain a qualitative survey of drinking water, including sources, contaminants, standards, and treatment technologies. The following 90 pages survey toxicology and risk assessment. These sections are written at a low technical level, suitable for introductory purposes. The last 135 pages consist of appendixes including lists of pollutants regulated under various regimes and data on occurrences of contaminants. Two of the authors are with an environmental-litigation consulting firm; these would not distinguish this book. What does is stated in the guest-authored foreword: ". . . the current approach to water quality management ... is not sustainable, and cannot achieve its avowed goals because of an intractable complexity." The book seizes on the uncertainties in risk assessment and regulatory inertia to suggest that current protections are inadequate. As an alternative, they propose replacing water quality standards with "treatment techniques (TT)-based standards." It is not clear exactly what is meant by this, as no concrete examples are given. ^BSumming Up: Optional. General readers; professionals. D. A. Vaccari Stevens Institute of Technology

Excerpts

"The Environmental Science of Drinking Water illustrates the need for fundamental changes in our approach towards protecting drinking water, and proves the extent to which our water resources are polluted. The authors present factual and circumstantial evidence to explain how current drinking water standards fail to adequately protect human health, and outline the available technologies which, if properly employed, can move us towards a healthier future." "This book provides a basis for understanding the threat posed by man-made chemicals in water sources and the available solutions for minimizing the potential health risks associated with the abuse of our natural assets."--BOOK JACKET.

Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
1 The Water We Drink	p. 1
Natural Water	p. 2
Water and the Public Health	p. 17
References	p. 28
2 Water Pollution	p. 29
Human Waste and Pollution	p. 29
Industrial Pollution	p. 31
Wastewater Control and Treatment	p. 37
Nonpoint Sources of Water Pollution	p. 67
Pollution Sources and Water Quality	p. 81
Summary	p. 83
References	p. 84
3 Water Protection	p. 89
The Basics of Water Supply	p. 90
Basic Water Treatment	p. 93
Beyond Basic Water Treatment	p. 99
An Issue of Equality	p. 102
Chemical Monitoring and Warnings for Regulated Pollutants	p. 103
The National Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence Database	p. 109
Unregulated Pollutants and Monitoring Regulations	p. 110
Setting New Drinking Water Standards	p. 111
Why Consumers Should Be Concerned	p. 114
Approaches to Mitigate Chemical Exposure	p. 122
Water Pollution and Risk	p. 139
References	p. 140
4 Living with the Risk of Polluted Water	p. 143
The Burden of Proof	p. 144
Permissible Pollution	p. 146
The Dose Makes the Poison	p. 148
Basic Concepts of Dose	p. 149
Mechanism of Toxicity	p. 154
Biotransformation and Detoxification	p. 157
Toxicity and Defining Standards	p. 159
Timing Is Everything	p. 163
Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals	p. 167
Pharmaceutical Pollutants	p. 169
Pharmaceuticals Detected in the Environment	p. 175
Living with Risk	p. 179
Population, Pollution, Risk, and Precaution	p. 182
The Risk Assessment Process	p. 184
Summary	p. 193
References	p. 194
5 Managing Risk and Drinking Water Quality	p. 197
Learning from the Past and Present	p. 198
Risk and Economics	p. 201
An Alternative Approach	p. 206
Consumer-Based Protection	p. 208
Potential Action by the Water Industry	p. 214
Potential Governmental Actions	p. 221
An Alternative Risk Management Program	p. 227
References	p. 229
Appendix 1-1 Average Elemental Abundance in the Earth's Crust	p. 231
Appendix 1-2 Chemical Compounds with Established Water Quality Criteria-1952	p. 233
Appendix 1-3 USEPA National Recommended Water Quality Criteria for Freshwater and Human Consumption of Water + Organism: 2002	p. 237
Appendix 2-1 Dow Industrial Chemicals, Solvents and Dyes in 1938	p. 241
Appendix 2-2 USEPA List of Priority Pollutants	p. 243
Appendix 2-4 Summary of Shallow Groundwater Data	p. 249
Appendix 2-5 Organic Chemicals Found in Landfill Leachate and Gas	p. 251
Appendix 2-6 Unregulated Pollutants Discharged to or Identified in Water Resources	p. 255
Appendix 2-7 Chemicals Known to the State of California to Cause Cancer or Reproductive Toxicity	p. 257
Appendix 2-8 Regulated Pesticides in Food with Residue Tolerances	p. 267
Appendix 2-9 Comparison of Chemicals Required to be Monitored in Groundwater by RCRA	p. 275
Appendix 3-1 General Drinking Water Monitoring and Warning Requirements (as of 2002)	p. 281
Appendix 3-2 National Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence Database Data on Primary Water Quality Standards (May 18, 2001)	p. 285
Appendix 3-3 National Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence Database: Data on Unregulated Compounds	p. 293
Appendix 3-4 Examples of Bottled Mineral Water Chemistry	p. 297
Appendix 3-5 Examples of Bottled Water Chemistry	p. 315
Appendix 3-6 Trace Element Analysis of Mineral Waters (ppb) That Appear in Either Appendix 3-4 or Appendix 3-5	p. 337
Appendix 4-1 Glossary of Terms Adapted from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) (1993)	p. 339
Appendix 4-2 Chemical Examples on the Toxicology of Drinking Water Standards	p. 343
Appendix 4-3 Suspected Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals	p. 353
Appendix 4-4 U.S. Geological Survey Target Compounds, National Reconnaissance of Emerging Contaminants in U.S. Streams (2000)	p. 357
Glossary	p. 361
Index	p. 365

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