Download or read book State of Knowledge of Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water written by Shane A. Snyder and published by American Water Works Association. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book State of Knowledge of Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water written by S. Snyder and published by International Water Assn. This book was released on 2009 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objective of this project was to develop a con

Download or read book The Endocrine Disruptors written by Maria Marino and published by . This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, it has become evident that many chemicals present in the environment can mimic, antagonize or alter the physiological actions of endogenous hormones. These compounds have been termed endocrine disrupters (EDs) and defined as exogenous substances that cause adverse health effects in an intact organism or in its progeny, consequent to changes in endocrine function [1]. EDs, even when present in minute amounts (part per trillion), could interfere with the synthesis, secretion, transport, metabolism, binding, action, or elimination of natural hormones responsible for homeostasis maintenance, reproduction, and developmental processes [2]. Currently more than 100 chemicals have been identified as EDs. Within this heterogeneous group of molecules we find: (a) synthetic chemicals used in industry, agriculture, and consumer products; (b) synthetic chemicals used as pharmaceutical drugs; and (c) natural chemicals found in human and animal food. About half of these compounds are substituted with halogen groups, mostly chlorine and bromine, and include dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, methoxychlor, dieldrin, and hexachlorocyclohexane. EDs have long environmental half-life resulting in a continue increase of their global concentration in the environment and can be detected and may concentrate at great distances from where they are produced, used or released. EDs have very low water solubility and extremely high lipid solubility, leading to their bioaccumulation in adipose tissue. Exposure to EDs can occur from a number of different sources: humans and animals can be exposed involuntarily by drinking contaminated polluted water, breathing contaminated air, ingesting food, contacting contaminated soil or even in the workplace. Although endocrine disruption has only received high-profile attention for just over a decade [2], the phenomenon does have a longer historical background. In the early 1900s, pig farmers in the USA complained of fertility problems in swine herds fed on moldy grain [3], and concern was stimulated in the 1940s by reports of infertility in sheep grazing on certain clovers in Western Australia [4]. Over the following two decades, estrogenic actions were evidenced in birds [5] and in mammals [6] owing to the dissemination of the agrochemical orto-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), at the same time masculinization of bivalves and gastropods[7], with concomitant declines in population, was found in the 1970s with the introduction of tributyltin into antifouling paints for the boats, while feminization of fishes was observed in UK rivers in the presence of estrogenic components in sewage effluent [8]. Also the occurrence of genital abnormalities in both male and female alligators in Lake Apopka (FL, USA) were observed as effect of a spill of the pesticide difocol in 1980. After these first observations the scientific community increased the awareness of the consequences of exposure to chemicals which can interfere with reproductive functions [9]. Endocrine disruption in wildlife is now acknowledged to be a widespread problem, much resulting from environmental pollution, and, in the case of aquatic forms of wildlife, from the continuous exposure to these chemicals in the water. Extrapolation of the results of these researches on wildlife resulted in concern that the same compounds could interfere with hormone action in humans. Handling hazardous substances and the risk of exposure to chemicals are a painful part of modern life, as technology and science progress. Moreover, exposure to chemicals present in foods, at home, and at work is an important risk factor for human health, especially since our scientific knowledge is still not sufficient to ensure proper prevention. Nowadays there is justifiable concern that endocrine disruption could be the underlying cause of increasing female and male reproductive problems, thus endocrine disruption is one of the topics receiving much attention throughout all sectors of the society, and the debate between pharmaceutical companies and public health organisms is increasing. Both parts will call for urgent need of more research. The scientific challenge for the future is to identify the relevant real-life sources of exposure of the human population to endocrine-disrupting compounds and to find the appropriate remediation actions. This can be done: (a) by assessing the impact on human health of long-term, low-dose exposure to such chemicals; (b) by understanding the synergistic effects of the copious number of chemicals to which humans and animals are exposed; (c) by defining the variety of underlying mechanisms at molecular, cellular and physiological level, (d) by exploiting new technologies addressed to the remediation of the environment polluted by the presence of EDs, and (e) by designing and developing new sensors or biosensors capable of determining their concentration in traces. The review presented in this book has been written under the sponsorship of the Interuniversitary Consortium National Institute of Biostructures and Biosystems (INBB) , constituted by 26 Public Italian Universities. INBB is stimulating the research on endocrine disruptors, by encouraging and coordinating joint research projects between its members and those of other Italian public scientific institutions. This book represents one of the results of the meeting The biological and clinical research on endocrine disruptors: current status and perspectives , held in Rome during 2005 from October 27 to 28 and organized by INBB and ISPESL (Istituto Superiore Prevenzione e Sicurezza del Lavoro). The first three chapters of this book review the EDs effects on natural population living in aquatic ecosystems where EDs, due to their lipophilicity, tend to concentrate in sediments and in food webs. The edible mussel Mytilus (Chapter 1), a marine bivalve that can accumulate large amounts of organic contaminants, represents a species of economical, ecological and public health-related interest. Amphibians (Chapter 2) are favourite models for studying various aspects of reproduction, development of the central nervous system and metamorphosis. Moreover, there is great concern about the EDs and the dramatic decline of wild amphibian populations. In Chapter 3 different species of fishes are considered as experimental models to analyze, by both genomic and proteomic approaches, the expression of key molecules involved in reproduction and in detoxification processes. The following two chapters focus on the EDs effects on thyroid functions and on the development of central mechanisms controlling reproduction. Wildlife observations in polluted areas clearly demonstrate a significant incidence of thyroid imbalance in several species. Several EDs are now known or suspected to be thyroid disruptors altering thyroid economy at multiple levels. These compounds may interfere with thyroid homeostasis through many mechanisms of action, at receptor level, in binding to transport proteins, in cellular uptake mechanisms or in modifying the metabolism of thyroid hormones. Chapter 4 offers a focus on endocrine disrupting activity of chemical compounds on thyroid function. The dimorphic control of reproductive functions depends on the ability of the central nervous system, particularly the hypothalamus, to respond properly to circulating reproductive hormones. This ability is acquired during a perinatal critical period, when the presence of different levels of sex steroid hormones in male and female fetuses/neonates induces a sex-specific morpho-functional development of the neuronal networks controlling reproduction. The perinatal stage is thus particularly sensitive to endogenous or exogenous substances that interfere with the activities of sex steroid hormones. Chapter 5 summarizes the current knowledge on the neuro-endocrine disrupting potential of the perinatal exposure to the major classes of EDs focusing the attention on animal studies aimed to identify the EDs action mechanisms and the resulting impairment of the reproductive behavior. Flavonoids are defined as naturally occurring molecules of plant origin, capable of acting as hormone mimetics or antagonists, but also as endocrine disruptors. Many of them have been marketed as dietary supplements or nutraceuticals with health claims, thus leading to significant increase in flavonoid consumption levels in the Western population. Even though several reports suggest for these compounds health-promoting effects in preventing age-related diseases such as atherosclerosis, hormone-dependent cancers, and osteoporosis, the mechanistic aspects of their activity have not been fully clarified and a wide consensus of the pros and cons of their use in humans has not been reached by the scientific community. Chapter 6 presents an overview of the state of the art of the knowledge on the molecular mechanisms underlying flavonoids estrogen-like activity. Feed additives represent a major issue for the safety of foods of animal origin, as they constitute the bulk of chemicals used in animal production. Feeds can also be a major vehicle for human dietary intake of persistent EDs (Chapter 7). Farm animals ingest these substances with food and drinking water and it is likely that the range of ingestion will increase in the future as growing amounts of sewage sludges are recycled onto agricultural land with an overall increase of environmental contamination exerting adverse effects on human health. Research on how the exposure to EDs affects human health in the work environment (Chapter 8) attracts increasing attention among international scientists. Certain workplaces pose particular problems as regards the potential risk connected to processes involving the use, manufacture and handling of these chemicals, and the type of job that puts workers at greatest risk of contact with them. Some EDCs represent occupational risk factors credibly capable of inducing hormone-dependent tumors. Occupational exposure to EDs is a highly complicated question: risk factors in the workplace must be identified; how they penetrate the body has to be established; confounding factors in everyday environments are numerous, and it is hard to make a definite diagnosis of their effects on human health. Owing to the harmful health effects of EDs, the attention of many scientists has been attracted towards the remediation of environment polluted by their presence and the design and development of sensors or biosensors capable of determining their concentration in traces. In Chapter 9 the experimental results concerning the enzymatic remediation of waters polluted by Bisphenol A (BPA), taken as a model of endocrine disruptors, is discussed in view of the potential application of the technology of non-isothermal bioreactors to the treatment of polluted waters. Also the functioning of a tyrosinase-based sensor able to measure the BPA concentration in traces is presented in the same chapter. These reviews emphasize that many environmental chemicals possess endocrine-disrupting properties, and that exposure to such chemicals can have adverse effects on health and reproduction even at very low concentrations. Great care should be used when attempting to apply these data to other species or real life situations. Indeed only a paucity of information is available on the metabolism and tissue distribution of these chemicals which may vary according to species physiology as well as to levels and duration of exposure. Furthermore, the possible interactions between single contaminants of the complex mixtures present in the environment may induce completely unpredictable effects, due to synergies or reciprocal inhibition effects, suggesting great caution in drawing conclusions. It is hoped that these reviews will serve to stimulate further research on EDs and human health. References 1.Report of the proceedings of the European workshop on the impact of endocrine disrupters on human health and wildlife. 1996, Weybridge, UK, report EUR17549 of the environment and climate change research programme of DGXII of the European commission. 2.Colborn T, vom Saal FS & Soto AM. Environ Health Perspectiv 1993, 101, 378 384. 3.McNutt SH, Purwin P & Murray C. J Amer Veterinary Medical Ass 1928, 73, 484. 4.Bennets H, Underwood EJ & Shier FL. Australian Veterinary Journal 1946, 22, 2 12. 5.Burlington H & Linderman VF. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 1950, 74, 48 51. 6.Bitman J, Cecil HC, Harris SJ & Fries GF. Science 1968, 162, 371 372. 7.Matthiessen P. Pure and Applied Chemistry 2003, 75, 2197 2206. 8.Jobling S, Nolan M, Tyler CR et al. Environmental Science and Technology 1998, 32, 2498 2506. 9.Guillette Jr. LJ & Gunderson MP. Reproduction 2001, 122, 857 864.

Download or read book Pharmaceutical Residues in Freshwater Hazards and Policy Responses written by Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2020-07-15 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report calls for a better understanding of the effects of pharmaceutical residues in the environment, greater international collaboration and accountability distribution, and policy actions to prevent and remedy emerging concerns. Laboratory and field tests show traces of oral contraceptives causing the feminisation of fish and amphibians, and residues of psychiatric drugs altering fish behaviour. Antimicrobial resistance, linked to the overuse of antibiotics, has rapidly escalated into a global health crisis. Unless adequate measures are taken to manage the risks, pharmaceutical residues will increasingly be released into the environment as ageing populations, advances in healthcare, and intensification of meat and fish production spur the demand for pharmaceuticals worldwide. The report outlines a collective, life‑cycle approach to managing pharmaceuticals in the environment. A policy mix of source‑directed, use‑orientated and end‑of‑pipe measures, involving several policy sectors, can help to improve health and protect the environment.

Download or read book Earth Materials and Health written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-05-09 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A range of natural earth materials, like arsenic or fluoride, have long been linked to significant human health effects. Improved understanding of the pervasive and complex interactions between earth materials and human health will require creative collaborations between earth scientists and public health professionals. At the request of the National Science Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, this National Research Council book assesses the current state of knowledge at the interface between the earth sciences and public health disciplines. The book identifies high-priority areas for collaborative research, including understanding the transport and bioavailability of potentially hazardous earth materials, using risk-based scenarios to mitigate the public health effects of natural hazards under current and future climate regimes, and understanding the health risks that result from disturbance of earth systems. Geospatial information - geological maps for earth scientists and epidemiological data for public health professionals - is identified as one of the essential integrative tools that is fundamental to the activities of both communities. The book also calls for increased data sharing between agencies to promote interdisciplinary research without compromising privacy.

Download or read book Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water written by Peter Weyer and published by American Water Works Association. This book was released on 2001 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the potential implications of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) for drinking water and wastewater utilities. Based on an April 2000 workshop held in Chicago, the report overviews various perspectives on identifying and measuring compounds of interest, possible public health impacts, water treatment options, and risk perception and communication issues. The resulting research needs are outlined. An appendix provides abstracts of the lectures delivered. No index. c. Book News Inc.

Download or read book Human Pharmaceuticals in the Environment written by Bryan W. Brooks and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-06-08 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human interaction with the environment remains one of the most pervasive facets of modern society. In a world characterized by rapid population growth, unprecedented global trade and digital communications, energy security, natural resource scarcities, climatic changes and environmental quality, emerging diseases and public health, biodiversity and habitat modifications are routinely touted by the popular press as they canvas global political agendas and scholarly endeavors.

Download or read book Comprehensive Water Quality and Purification written by and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 1537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comprehensive Water Quality and Purification, Four Volume Set provides a rich source of methods for analyzing water to assure its safety from natural and deliberate contaminants, including those that are added because of carelessness of human endeavors. Human development has great impact on water quality, and new contaminants are emerging every day. The issues of sampling for water analysis, regulatory considerations, and forensics in water quality and purity investigations are covered in detail. Microbial as well as chemical contaminations from inorganic compounds, radionuclides, volatile and semivolatile compounds, disinfectants, herbicides, and pharmaceuticals, including endocrine disruptors, are treated extensively. Researchers must be aware of all sources of contamination and know how to prescribe techniques for removing them from our water supply. Unlike other works published to date that concentrate on issues of water supply, water resource management, hydrology, and water use by industry, this work is more tightly focused on the monitoring and improvement of the quality of existing water supplies and the recovery of wastewater via new and standard separation techniques Using analytical chemistry methods, offers remediation advice on pollutants and contaminants in addition to providing the critical identification perspective The players in the global boom of water purification are numerous and varied. Having worked extensively in academia and industry, the Editor-in-Chief has been careful about constructing a work for a shared audience and cause

Download or read book Endocrine Disruptors in the Environment written by Sushil K. Khetan and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Endocrine Disruptors in the Environment A concise and engaging overview of endocrine disruption phenomena that brings complex concepts within the reach of non-specialists For most of the last decade, the science of endocrine disruption has evolved with more definitive evidence of its damaging potential to health and environment. This book lists the major environmental chemicals of concern and their mechanism of endocrine disruption including remedial measures for them. Divided into three parts, Endocrine Disruptors in the Environment begins with an overview of the endocrine system and endocrine disruptors, discussing their salient features and presenting a historical perspective of endocrine disruption phenomena. It then goes on to cover hormone- signaling mechanisms, followed by various broad classes of putative endocrine disruptors, before introducing readers to environmental epigenetic modifications. Part two of the book focuses on removal processes of various EDCs by biotic and abiotic transformation/degradation. The last section consists of four chapters embracing themes on finding solutions to environmental EDCs—including their detection, regulation, replacement, and remediation. Endocrine Disruptors in the Environment is the first book to detail the endocrine effects of several known environmental contaminants and their mechanism of endocrine disruption. Additionally, it: Covers both the chemistry and biology of endocrine disruption and compiles almost all the known endocrine disrupting environmental chemicals and their mechanisms of toxicity Addresses policy and regulatory issues relevant to EDCs including scientific uncertainty and precautionary policy Brings forth the use of Green Chemistry principles in avoiding endocrine disruption in the designing and screening for safer chemicals and remediation of the EDCs in aquatic environment Includes a useful glossary of technical terms, a list of acronyms, topical references, and a subject index Endocrine Disruptors in the Environment is an ideal book for environmental chemists and endocrine toxicologists, developmental biologists, endocrinologists, epidemiologists, environmental health scientists and advocates, and regulatory officials tasked with risk assessment in environment and health areas.

Download or read book Handbook of Water Analysis Third Edition written by Leo M.L. Nollet and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2013-07-29 with total page 999 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extensively revised and updated, Handbook of Water Analysis, Third Edition provides current analytical techniques for detecting various compounds in water samples. Maintaining the detailed and accessible style of the previous editions, this third edition demonstrates water sampling and preservation methods by enumerating different ways to measure chemical and radiological characteristics. It gives step-by-step descriptions of separation, residue determination, and clean-up techniques. See What’s New in the Second Edition: Includes five new chapters covering ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, and petroleum hydrocarbons, as well as organoleptical and algal analysis methodology Compares older methods still frequently used with recently developed protocols, and examines future trends Features a new section regarding organoleptical analysis of water acknowledging that ultimately the consumers of drinking water have the final vote over its quality with respect to odor, flavor, and color The book covers the physical, chemical, and other relevant properties of various substances found in water. It then describes the sampling, cleanup, extraction, and derivatization procedures, and concludes with detection methods. Illustrated with procedure flow charts and schematics, the text includes numerous tables categorizing methods according to type of component, origin of the water sample, parameters and procedures used, and application range. With contributions from international experts, the book guides you through the entire scientific investigation starting with a sampling strategy designed to capture the real-world situation as closely as possible, and ending with an adequate chemometrical and statistical treatment of the acquired data. By organizing data into more than 300 tables, graphs, and charts, and supplementing the text with equations and illustrations, the editors distill a wealth of knowledge into a single accessible reference.

Download or read book Human Pharmaceuticals Hormones and Fragrances written by Thomas Ternes and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2007-01-30 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The observed concentrations of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in raw wastewater confirm that municipal wastewater represents the main disposal pathway for the PPCPs consumed in households, hospitals and industry. In sewage treatment plant effluents most PPCPs are still present, since many of these polar and persistent compounds are being removed only partially or, in some cases, not at all. Treated wastewater therefore represents an important point source for PPCPs into the environment. After passing a sewage treatment plant the treated wastewater is mostly discharged into rivers and streams or sometimes used to irrigate fields. If drinking water is produced using resources containing a substantial proportion of treated wastewater (e.g. from river water downstream of communities) the water cycle is closed and indirect potable reuse occurs. Human Pharmaceuticals, Hormones and Fragrances provides an overview of the occurrence, analytics, removal and environmental risk of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in wastewater, surface water and drinking water. The book covers all aspects of the fate and removal of PPCPs in the whole water cycle: consumption and occurrence, analytical methods, the legal background, environmental risk assessment, human and animal toxicology, source control options, wastewater and drinking water treatment as well as indirect reuse. The book presents a summary of the results obtained during the EU project "Poseidon", combined with further expert knowledge on the field, and is written at a level appropriate for professionals involved in management of water resource quality. Professionals in the field including decision makers, engineers and scientists, as well as students entering the field, will find this an invaluable source of information. First comprehensive study on the assessment, fate and removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in wastewater and drinking water treatment. Emphasises the importance of micropollutants in the water cycle, provides methods for quantifying their fate and technologies for their removal.

Download or read book Pharmaceuticals in the Environment written by Klaus Kümmerer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-10-10 with total page 531 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the success of the first edition, this pioneering study of pharmaceuticals in the environment has been updated and greatly extended. It includes the status of research on pharmaceuticals in soil, with attention to terrestrial and aquatic environments as well as new substance categories such as tetracylines and chinolones and the latest results concerning contamination of the environment and risk reduction.

Download or read book Guidelines for Drinking water Quality written by World Health Organization and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 1993 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume describes the methods used in the surveillance of drinking water quality in the light of the special problems of small-community supplies, particularly in developing countries, and outlines the strategies necessary to ensure that surveillance is effective.

Download or read book Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk written by Suzanne H. Reuben and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-10 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though overall cancer incidence and mortality have continued to decline in recent years, cancer continues to devastate the lives of far too many Americans. In 2009 alone, 1.5 million American men, women, and children were diagnosed with cancer, and 562,000 died from the disease. There is a growing body of evidence linking environmental exposures to cancer. The Pres. Cancer Panel dedicated its 2008¿2009 activities to examining the impact of environmental factors on cancer risk. The Panel considered industrial, occupational, and agricultural exposures as well as exposures related to medical practice, military activities, modern lifestyles, and natural sources. This report presents the Panel¿s recommend. to mitigate or eliminate these barriers. Illus.

Download or read book Water Quality for Ecosystem and Human Health written by Geneviève M. Carr and published by UNEP/Earthprint. This book was released on 2008 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This document is intended to provide an overview of the major components of surface and ground water quality and how these relate to ecosystem and human health. Local, regional and global assessments of water quality monitoring data are used to illustrate key features of aquatic environments, and to demonstrate how human activities on the landscape can influence water quality in both positive and negative ways. Clear and concise background knowledge on water quality can serve to support other water assessments.

Download or read book Biophysico Chemical Processes of Anthropogenic Organic Compounds in Environmental Systems written by Baoshan Xing and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-05-16 with total page 922 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In contrast to the classical books which largely focus on separate, individual physicochemical and biological aspects, this book aims to integrate the frontiers of knowledge on the fundamentals and the impact of physicochemical and biological interactions and processes of AOCs in soil, sediment, water and air. The specific objectives of this book are to address: (1) fundamental biophysico-chemical processes of AOCs in the environment, (2) occurrence and distribution of AOCs in air, water, and soil, and their global cycling, (3) the state-of-the-art analytical techniques of AOCs, and (4) restoration of natural environments contaminated by AOCs. The book also identifies the gaps in knowledge on the subject matter and as such provides future directions to stimulate scientific research to advance the chemical science on biophysico-chemical interfacial reactions in natural habitats. By virtue of complex nature of the interactions of AOCs with different environmental components and matrixes, no single available technique and instrument is satisfactory yet for determining their fate, transport, availability, and risk in the environment. In order to fully understand the biophysico-chemical interactions and processes of AOCs in the environment, it is critical to know chemical, physical and biological properties of AOCs and their analytical techniques. The book is unique because of its multidisciplinary approach as it provides a comprehensive and integrated coverage of biophysico-chemical reactions and processes of AOCs in various environments, associated analytical techniques, and restoration of natural environments contaminated by AOCs.

Download or read book Advances in Water Quality Control written by Gail Krantzberg and published by Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. USA. This book was released on 2010-10-28 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World water resources seem to be abundant; however, only 0.7% of this total amount is usable water. And owing to their nonuniform distribution, some countries have abundant water resources, whereas some others suffer from inadequate water, and even face severe water scarcity problems. Moreover, serious water pollution problems make 1/5 of the world’s population (approximately 1.1 billion people) under the risk of water-related diseases. In order to give a guideline to maintain the required quality of water according to the intended use, a group of international experts have come together to write this book. Authors target to pass recent available knowledge and information to the readers, who will vary from academicians, professional engineers and scientists, to undergraduate and graduate engineering students concerned with water quality problems all over the world. This book covers the main fields of Wastewater Treatment with 12 chapters, and uses knowledges in economic, information technologies, biology, etc. to make comprehensive analyses and applications.