ABSTRACT
Literally thousands of chemical compounds have been identified in drinking waters in the US and around the world over the past several decades. In this chapter, the authors first consider briefly some of the physical and chemical characteristics of these compounds that will be important in estimating their uptake from water by skin contact and by inhalation. They then identify the chemicals for which drinking water standards and guidelines have been established and will introduce some of the best-studied classes of chemicals that often appear as contaminants in drinking water supplies. Disinfection processes initiate many complex chemical reactions with organic substances in treated waters, and some of the reaction products are described in this chapter. The chapter introduces and briefly describes several major classes of drinking water contaminants. In the US, the disinfection byproducts and volatile organic compounds, especially solvents, have received the most national attention.
