Assessment and Control of Hazardous Substances in Water : Selected Proceedings of the 4th IWA Specialized Conference on Assessment and Control of Hazardous Substances in Water (ECOHAZARD 2003), Held in Aachen, Germany, 14-17 September 2003

The risks of ecohazards have never been more prominent than today; better risk management to minimise the adverse impacts of chemical compounds or their degradation products has become a key objective. The diverse but interlinked array of environmental issues discussed at Ecohazard 2003 encompassed the condition of water in the ecosystem, its fate in wastewater treatment plants, chemical analysis and toxicity testing, natural attenuation in soil, contaminated sediments, monitoring programmes and risk assessment. These topics are being tackled by collaborative efforts by an equally broad range of specialists - academic and non-academic, in the life sciences, engineering, industry as well as politics. Work in life sciences and chemistry highlights the often crucial importance of practical tasks. It exemplifies the interlocking of science with the practical, economic and political realisation of innovation that must underpin the realm of directives and legislation. After a full peer review 51 papers (from over a hundred on the programme) were selected for these proceedings. Topics covered include: wastewater treatment and reuse; special treatment and fate aspects; industrial wastewaters; chemical and biochemical analytical methods and applications; endocrine disruptors; persistent polar pollutants; pharmaceuticals; fate of chemicals in the environment; toxicity; and natural attenuation. The general management of chemical contaminants in the environment continues to broaden its scope and to enforce interdisciplinary co-operation to which the engineers and natural scientists are lending a systemic perspective. These proceedings record the latest findings and summarise the insights of some the world?s leading authorities in this field. They will prove invaluable to anyone seeking to understand both the technological limits and the possibilities facing current and future generations of decision-makers and to become acquainted with recently developed tools for environmental risk assessment and monitoring.