Practical environmental analysis (2nd edn)
M. Radojevic and V. Bashkin
Cambridge: RSC 2006 | Pp450 | £39.95 | ISBN0 854 04679 8
Reviewed by Matthew Almond

Environmental issues are currently an area of major concern. We hear almost daily about issues connected to atmospheric pollution, to chemical residues in water, or to the proposed expansion of nuclear energy and the issues of waste disposal and decontamination that this will bring. At the same time environmental standards are constantly being revised, suggesting that more and more precise analyses are required. So the production of a second edition of Practical environmental analysis, the first edition of which was well received, is timely. 

Unlike many undergraduate textbooks of analytical chemistry this book is problem-based rather than technique-based. A comprehensive introduction provides the background to environmental analysis. Subsequent chapters focus on rainwater analysis, air analysis, water analysis, solid sediment and sludge analysis and plant analysis. In each case methods are given for particular problems. A useful feature for university teachers is the suggestions for possible project work.  

The layout is similar to the first edition, but with suitable additions. These include newer techniques necessitated by increasingly stringent standards, biomonitoring techniques, egfor air pollution and for biologically-potent water pollutants, and increased reference to information available on the Internet.  

This book will be useful to students studying university courses - both undergraduate and postgraduate - in which environmental chemistry is a component. This will also be an invaluable resource to university teachers on such courses, and I recommend they get a copy.