Up until the 1950s, waste disposal meant discharging it to the nearest river, burning it up or shipping it out to sea. Now we are paying the price. Current disposal and cleanup regulations have a different focus: correcting the problems caused by earlier misguided attitudes and maintaining a non-degrading environment. State and Federal clean air and water acts have created the need to identify and measure chemical components that affect the quality of surface and ground waters and the soils through which they flow.The easy-to-use structure of this book makes it a handy resource. The author summarizes the chemistry topics most important in environmental applications. He includes frequently used data such as: water solubilities, partition coefficients, natural abundance of trace metals in soil, and federal drinking water standards. Lists containing "rules of thumb" supply methods for making quick estimations.Applications of Environmental Chemistry provides the basic equations, theories, and principles you need to understand - at a practical level - frequently encountered topics in environmental chemistry. It does not overwhelm you with excess information but answers your most frequently asked questions clearly and succinctly.