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Environmental Pollution, Vol. 90, No. 3, pp. 425426, 1995 Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Limited

Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved

Chemistry of Water and Water Pollution. By Jan R. Dojlido and Gerald A. Best. Ellis Horwood Series in Waste and Water Technology, 1993, ISBN 0-13-878919-3, 363 pp. Price £65.00.

This is one of the latest of 26 texts in a series from Ellis Horwood, which centres on Waste and Water Technol- ogy. It includes monographs for example on environ- mental toxicology, water pollution biology, water treatment and water analysis. I have to express surprise that this title was not the first, for the subject matter is absolutely central to all other works in the series; indeed it is fundamental to anyone who has an interest in the ecology, environmental science or resource use of surface waters.

First published in the Polish language by Jan Dojlido in 1987 and subsequently augmented and translated into English with the help of Gerald Best, the book, progresses factually, thoroughly and methodically through six Chapters on the physico-chemical aspects of water; inorganic substances in surface waters; asbestos and cyanide; organic substances in water; influences of biological and physico-chemical properties on water quality; and sampling of water, the quality of data and the presentation of water quality information. Each chapter, in turn, is sub-divided into clear sections, fol- lowing for example an element-by-element progression through the Periodic Table for inorganic substances, or through products of crude oil, pesticides, surface active agents, dioxins and halogenated aliphatic compounds for organic substances. The section for each substance is further divided under the headings of Occurrence, Significance, Methods of determination and Refer- ences, with clear, figurative examples frequent through- out. The chapters on processes (e.g. eutrophication, self-purification, influence on impoundments) and sam- pling methods are equally well organised. Of course, any of the individual sections or headings could have been expanded to fill a whole book in itself, but I found that the balanced and summarial overview gave tremendous value for effort. The result is a pellucid, logical, informative and classical textbook, in the true sense of the word, made for dipping into as one would an encyclopaedia; it outlines for the reader the salient features of any particular topic, while providing further sources, should they be required.

For all these reasons, this is liable to be a useful starting point for a wide range of projects for those in an equally wide range of environmental disciplines who have an interest in water: chemists certainly, but partic- ularly biologists and engineers who want to see an overview of the importance of water chemistry. It is in the latter context that I anticipate my own use of the

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book will be frequent. All this said, the price is bound to be a disappointment to a potentially large number of users. At £65.00 it is clearly at a level that risks provid- ing more of a barrier to purchase than even such high quality contents will encourage.

Steve Ormerod

Archiv far Hydrobiologie/Advances in Limnology, Vol. 43: Impact of UV-B Radiation on Pelagic Freshwater Ecosystems. Edited by C. E. Williamson and H. E. Za- garese. E. Schweizerbart'sche, Publisher, Stuttgart, Germany, 1994, ISSN 0071-1128. Price: DM 98.00.

This is the 43rd in a series of texts devoted to limnolog- ical themes and, like most of the others, it reports the proceedings of a conference or workshop. This one was held in Lehigh University, Philadelphia, during September 1993 and attended by 35 North American scientists, five Argentineans and one each from Chile, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Australia. Among these, the strong participation from South America was noteworthy, reflecting the probability that here are areas where the increased exposure of human populations to UV-B will be greatest. The stated aims of the workshop were to assemble scientists with exper- tise in the ecology of UV-B radiation (i.e. at 280-320 /zm) to assess its likely influences on freshwater ecosys- tems, to encourage collaboration among disciplines and countries, and to carry out a field exercise involving a comparison of UV-B measurements in the water column of one lake by different techniques and biological dosimeters. The report of the latter exercise (in which we could well imagine the excitement and enthusiasm of true field collaboration) forms one of the 15 contributions that make up the volume. In turn they are divided into two keynote addresses (reviewing the optics and the increase in UV-B as a result of strato- spheric ozone depletion), three synthesis papers (reporting the field exercise but also reviewing infl- uences of UV-B on bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplank- ton, fish and freshwater ecosystems), and 10 research papers which deal with site-specific studies of UV-B, effects on Daphnia and Salmo spp., the attenuation of UV-B in temperate lakes and photochemical oxygen consumption in humic waters.

Without exception, the papers are extremely clearly written, consistently well edited, highly informative and replete with the atmosphere that here is an important theme about which we ought to know more: declining stratospheric ozone has apparently doubled the UV-B radiation over the Antarctic during the last decade and