Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book is well-intended. There is a need for accessible introductory material covering the range of chemical fate and transport topics of interest to those who are concerned with policy, or with science in related fields. After a casual look at it and reading the lauditory (but it turns out, misleading) editorial reviews, I adopted it for a graduate intro course for students in Public Health. Big mistake. There are several major flaws, the most pervasive of which is very poor editorial quality control for accuracy. Notational errors abound, which really frustrate a reader trying to develop a basic understanding. Formulae are plagued by typos, omissions, and misplaced exponents, parentheses, etc. Mis-statements are also present, whose nature makes me imagine that that section was written by an undergraduate with little comprehension of the material (for example, substitution of "insulation" for "ensolation" when describing atmospheric stability classification). Even basic data such as tables of chemical properties could not be relied upon to be accurate.
The book provides a DVD containing calculators for integrated mass balance differential equation solutions to some typical transport/decay problems. These were about 50% correct - some of them were simply wrong and gave output that could not be reconciled with a hand calculation (didn't anyone check??). Since the authors use these calculators and the algorithms they reflect as black box resources, and do not bother to derive or even reference the underlying solutions, the novice reader is really stuck.
My other criticisms are really simply a matter of preference. I found the coverage of air issues to be limited to the point of being useless. No discussion of volatilization from water to air or the reverse (other than a treatment of reaeration); no discussion of indoor air quality at all, although that is a natural easy application of the box models provided for lakes. The tilt of the authors toward inorganic contaminants is so pronounced that they make generalizations that are untrue for hydrophobic contaminants (without qualifying them). Personally, I also like to see better coverage of the relationship between chemical structure and environmental (equilibrium) behavior.
Overall, I think the intent and approach behind the book is great and it could have been a wonderful alternative to other options like the Hemond and Fechner-Levy text, or even to Schwarzenbach et al., but the execution is fatally flawed.
Click Here to see more reviews about: A Basic Introduction to Pollutant Fate and Transport : An Integrated Approach with Chemistry, Modeling, Risk Assessment, and Environmental Legislation
A uniquely accessible text on environmental modeling designed for both students and industry personnel
Pollutant fate and modeling are becoming increasingly important in both regulatory and scientific areas. However,the complexity of the software and models often act as an inhibitor to the advancement of water quality science.
A Basic Introduction to Pollutant Fate and Transport fills the need for a basic instructional tool for students and environmental professionals who lack the rigorous mathematical background necessary to derive the governing fate and transport equations. Taking a refreshingly simple approach to the subject that requires only a basic knowledge of algebra and first-year college chemistry, the book presents and integrates all of the aspects of fate and transport, including chemistry, modeling, risk assessment, and relevant environmental legislation; approaching each topic first conceptually before introducing the math necessary to model it.
The first half of the book is dedicated to the chemistry and physics behind the fate and transport models, while the second half teaches and reinforces the logical concepts underlying fate and transport modeling. This better prepares students for support jobs in the environmental arena surrounding chemical industry and Superfund sites.
Contributing to the book's ease of use are:
An extremely user-friendly software program, Fate, which uses basic models to predict the fate and transport of pollutants in lakes, rivers, groundwater, and atmospheric systems
The use of "canned" models to evaluate the importance of model parameters and sensitivity analysis
A wealth of easy-to-understand examples and problems
A chapter on environmental legislation in the United States and Europe
A set of lab exercises, as well as a downloadable set of teaching aids
A much-needed basic text for contemporary hydrology or environmental chemistry courses and support courses forthe environmental industry, this is a valuable desk reference for educators and industry professionals.
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