Frederick W. Pontius, ed. 2003. John Wiley and Sons, New York. 1,029 pp. $150 cloth.

In many cases, the “clean water” focus has been from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) water discharge perspective and on ensuring that the water emanating from various point sources is “clean.” Such a perspective is, of course, necessary, and water that emanates from such sources into an ecosystem does need to be clean in order to mitigate any potential negative ecosystem impacts. For the general populace, however, the most important facet of water regulation and technology is always eclipsed by the USEPA initiative. This equally important facet is that of drinking water.