Review by Choice Review
A stated goal of this book is to present educated consumers with information about the "commodity" drinking water. Barzilay and colleagues, all medical doctors, devote most of their material to drinking water-related health issues. Included are low-level but informative discussions of waterborne infectious diseases, risks of cancer from drinking water, and effects of heavy metals and other inorganic substances on health. One chapter is devoted to effects of estrogen-like substances on fertility, a topic that is currently under investigation by the scientific community. To place their material in context, the authors also present brief histories of drinking water treatment, regulation, and disease control. The book ends with a chapter on bottled water, another describing common methods of water purification, several appendixes, and a glossary. Unlike many books on environmental topics for the general public, this book does not appear to have been written for ideological purposes. It contains up-to-date material not commonly found in books of this kind. It is suitable for readers concerned about the nation's water quality and, especially, about the quality of the water they drink. General readers; lower-division undergraduates; two-year technical program students. R. W. Sheets; Southwest Missouri State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
The emphasis in the purification of drinking water has shifted from avoidance of infectious diseases to avoidance of chemical pollution. Barzilay and his colleagues give a brief history of the subject and then look at the methods, regulations, and science behind the current U.S. water supply. Their book is an attempt to give consumers the information they need about how the water purification system works, what problems it has, and where additional research is needed to clarify or dispose of those problems; accordingly, they cite relevant Web sites in the text so that readers can pursue particular subjects. The problems include antibiotics from farm runoff, dangerous because they can help raise the resistance of disease-causing bacteria, and chlorine, whose possible dangers need to be further researched and discovered. The authors even underline the faddishness of bottled drinking water. Appended tables of government-regulated and unregulated contaminant levels, of cancer-causing contaminants, and of mineral content in various bottled waters add further value to the informative, readable book. --William Beatty
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Drinking and bathing in water are risky activities. The authors of this book, medical doctors specializing in endocrinology and infectious diseases, demonstrate how current water purification methods control health risks but do not eliminate themÄa theme they develop by providing a wide range of current information on water quality within a historical context. Featured are summaries of drinking water contaminants and their known health effects, a review of purification technologies for public and private supplies, including bottled water, and a discussion of government regulations. However, the range of potential contaminants discussed does not always mirror current public debate. For example, although controversies such as the possible contribution of aluminum in drinking water to the incidence of Alzheimer's disease are reviewed, and although fluoridation of public water supplies is discussed, the controversy over the potential health effects of fluoridation is not mentioned. Despite this quibble, The Water We Drink is a useful guide for the educated consumer who wishes to safeguard his or her health. For all public libraries.ÄNoemie Maxwell Vassilakis, Seattle (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
