From the early 20th century to today, the concept of water quality has evolved from public sewage systems, to the management of conventional pollutants, to concerns about the impact of toxic substances on the broader environment.

This book attempts to combine fundamental concepts of fate and transport of pollutants with principles of chemistry in a modern text on environmental quality analysis. Earlier works on environmental simulations focus either on basic transport principles or on chemical equilibrium in aqueous systems, but not both.

To address environmental problems today, we need to have a clear understanding of transport, reactions, and chemical transformations that determine toxic effects. Its examples are drawn from a wide range of water quality issues, including conventional pollutants in rivers, eutrophication in lakes, as well as toxic organic compounds and heavy metals in surface and groundwater.

It also includes current concerns regarding atmospheric deposition, groundwater pollution, and global (climate) change.

[...] (From the preface of the edition)