Organic Carcinogens in Drinking Water

Progress has been made since the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 towards indentifying the major organic contaminants in drinking water and in assessing their hygienic significance. However, basic questions remain with respect to the possible occurence of waterborne organic contaminants not identified to date, their fundamental processes and conditions related to their formation and persistance and their removal by treatment technology. These complex issues require expertise in a variety of disciplines including chemistry engineering, epidemiology, toxicology and environmental law. In this book, a knowledge of these disciplines is brought to bear on the chemical phenomena affecting the formation and identification of these contaminants, the health considerations arising from the presence of such substances in our drinking water and the treatment and regulatory approaches in use under consideration.