ABSTRACT
In developing effective management strategies intended to minimize the risks imposed by the release of compounds into the environment, the relationship between potential sources and the subsequent fate and behavior of such compounds needs to be completely understood. This chapter highlights how the systematic analysis of the process chain allows the true nature of the implications associated with prevention or mitigation strategies to be made explicit. It considers why the use of traditional economic appraisal techniques which might not be sufficient to ensure all costs and benefits associated with different strategies are included in the decision-making process. Depending on the mechanism by which Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals are being removed from the influent stream, there could be additional environmental costs that need to be considered to ensure the true environmental impacts are reflected in the analysis. Several benefit assessment techniques have been developed for use in the aquatic environment that center around use of cost benefit analysis.
