ABSTRACT
This chapter expresses about the introduction and subsequent distribution of organic compounds throughout the environment, especially those from anthropogenic sources. It examines the nature and types of organic pollutants in raw and finished waters. The advent of chromatographic separation procedures and of the confirmatory procedures-nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry-has led to positive identification of organic compounds in aquatic environments and in the attendant solid phases of bottom sediments. A National Pesticide Monitoring Program was initiated in the late 1960s to establish a network to survey major rivers in the United States. Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons are a diverse class of compounds that consist of substituted and unsubstituted polycyclic and heterocyclic aromatic rings. These compounds are considered as naturally occurring because their origin is usually in petroleum. Halogenated phenolic compounds frequently occur from the chlorination of waters, such as natural waters or wastewaters, that contain precursors or a parent molecule.
