Heavy Metal and Metalloid Contamination of Surface and Underground Water: Environmental, Policy and Ethical Issues

Heavy metal and metalloid contamination of groundwater and surface water ecosystems involves important policy-related and ethical issues besides its more well-known scientific aspects. Heavy Metal and Metalloid Contamination of Surface and Underground Water: Environmental, Policy, and Ethical Issues has brought these three dimensions under a single volume. The book presents an updated status of the nature and extent of heavy metal and metalloid contamination of water and discuss its future implications. In Section I, the book provides a state-of-the-art review of research findings on entry, storage, and release, human health risks, and the uptake and accumulation by freshwater biota and the toxic effects experienced by them. The book also provides information on the bioremediation of heavy metals and metalloids, and the possible effects of climate change on their distribution and toxicity. Section II of the book throws light on the policies and legislations adopted in several countries to deal with the vexed issue of metal contamination of waters in both historical and current perspectives. Special emphasis has been given to the contamination of drinking water and its attendant implications for human health. The book also treats the relevance and applications of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), which forms the backbone of the water policies of several countries. In Section III, discussions focus on ethical issues rising out of heavy metal and metalloid contamination of water, and on the different ethical approaches and principles in both indigenous and other societies.

Features:

• A systematic overview of the major facets of heavy metal and metalloid contamination of water
• Compilation and analysis of the latest research in the subject area
• Ample case studies in all chapters that highlight specific problems
• Review of policy and legislation for the control of heavy metal pollution of water
• Water ethics in indigenous societies

This book will be a vital resource for students and research scholars in the field of environmental science, ecotoxicology, and pollution studies.

Abhik Gupta serves as Professor of Ecology and Environmental Science and the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Assam University, Silchar, India. He has also served as the Head of the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, and Dean, School of Environmental Sciences at Assam University. He has published more than 25 research articles and book chapters on heavy metal and metalloid contamination of surface water and groundwater, and on the toxicity, bioaccumulation, and remediation of heavy metals, in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. A Fellow of the National Institute of Ecology, India, Prof. Gupta received the EU NAMASTE Academic staff grant in 2014 at the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain; the Erasmus Mundus Senior Scholarship in Bioethics in 2008 at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; and the “Water Voice Messenger Award” from the World Water Council in 2003, at Kyoto, Japan. He was the Vice-President (India) of the Asian Bioethics Association during 2007–2010, and chaired the Science and Technology Committee of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, New Delhi, India, during 2010–2012. Prof. Gupta has delivered invited lectures on major environmental and ethical issues, including those on heavy metals and metalloids, at several universities and research institutes in India, Japan, the USA, Spain, the Netherlands, and Australia.