Environmental Levels

ABSTRACT One of the most important environmental concerns of today is the negative impact of pollution on human health. The air we breathe and the water we drink are essential ingredients for a healthy life. Unfortunately polluted water and air are common throughout the world. Over a day a healthy adult will consume between 2 and 3 l of fluid and inhale around 11 m3 of air. While exposure to pollutants in air is via inhalation that for water may occur via the ingestion, dermal absorption and inhalation routes. In this chapter we review the sources and concentrations of various air pollutants before considering drinking water quality. For the latter we concentrate on the potentially harmful disinfection by-products.