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Water quality worldwide is poor even though some advanced countries enjoy relatively clean water. This compels almost 1.2 billion people to drink unclean water at present. According to the United Nations, 2.7 billion people will not have clean water by 2025. Earth is a water planet, composed of 70% water; only 3% is fresh water and only 0.06% is available without problems. Over 80 countries in the world suffer from water shortages. Contamination of water from various chemicals is a major point of concern because countless inorganic and organic compounds can pollute our groundwater and surface water.

Pure drinking water (potable water) is absolutely essential for our survival. More than 1 billion people in the world have limited access to safe drinking water. Furthermore, nearly 2.6 billion people have issues relating to poor sanitation that results in inferior water quality. Over 1 million people die every year from sicknesses communicated through use of unsafe water. Drinking-water pollution is caused by the careless disposal of pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, pesticides, and a large variety of other chemicals. This results in contamination of our drinking-water sources with heavy metals, radionuclides, pesticides, plastics, organic nutrients, inorganic pollutants, pharmaceuticals, etc. Polluted drinking water is a major cause for a variety of different diseases in human beings. To solve these critical issues, it is necessary to purify contaminated water. Nanomaterials and nanotechnology can play an important role in water purification. Discussed in the chapter are drinking-water regulations, limitations of conventional water purification methods, nanotechnology-based water purification methods and their applications for purification of water containing arsenic, lead, pharmaceuticals, or perfluoroalkyl substances.

Thousands of pharmaceuticals are being used today to treat various diseases. Pharmaceuticals have been described as contaminants of emerging concern, because of their potential adverse effects on humans and the ecosystem. For instance, antibiotics can give rise to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can bring about irreparable harm to humans. Other pharmaceutical contaminants can cause various other problems such as the development of reproduction disorders, birth defects, severe bleeding, cancers, organ damage, endocrine disorders, and toxic effects on aquatic organisms.

Assuring water quality and purity is extremely important because water is an essential material for human survival. Without water, life would not be possible. Rain is nature’s way of providing fresh water; however, rain is usually contaminated with various pollutants that we now put in the atmosphere. Our civilization has managed to pollute our surface water, and even groundwater; this necessitates purification of water for drinking.

Effective integration of the principles of green chemistry into water remediation research and practice has offered promising novel solutions to combat the current global challenges. This chapter reviews both established as well as cutting-edge techniques (advanced green technologies) for sustainable water remediation, including nanotechnology-enabled water treatment processes, biofiltration, bioremediation, cycloelectrowinning, and photocatalysis. To motivate the readers, there is a special emphasis on several award-winning green technologies that highlight the fact that the most effective way to deal with the water pollution is to use the least harmful ways to prohibit contaminants or redesign pathways that would lead to virtually no waste or least waste generation. Additionally, a special subsection has been devoted toward large-scale reactors utilized for real-time contaminant removal/degradation installed at different polluted sites.

Water-quality disasters occur frequently worldwide. They do not necessarily occur only in underdeveloped world. Detailed water-quality evaluations can help prevent occurrence of some of these disasters. This chapter discusses our vulnerability to water disasters to help us avoid some of them in the future.

Numerous water challenges relating to availability, quality, and purity are encountered globally. Water-linked disasters occur when water supplies are not handled properly. The impact of climate disruptions on our water availability and quality cannot be ignored. Various water challenges encountered globally and potential solutions to address the issues resulting from them are covered.

Because of the “lead ban” amendments to the Clean Drinking Water Act of 1986, new infrastructure has resulted in a drastic reduction in aqueous lead levels. However, many systems installed prior to this legislation, as exemplified by the Flint crisis, can deliver water with high levels of lead. There are disparities in drinking water quality among older communities with aging water infrastructure. This led Dr. Ahuja, VP Special Projects at Chemists Without Borders, to begin a study of water quality in the United States. In DeLand, FL, the concentration of lead is just under the minimum reporting level for federal and state drinking water quality standards. Their poor sample-collection participation may be indicative of governmental distrust, which is found disproportionately in poorer neighborhoods with older infrastructures, and thus a higher risk of contamination. The current lack of policies and funding in place for the replacement of lead-based infrastructure gives little opportunity for affected populations to replace their infrastructure and improve the quality of their drinking water. The first step in solving this issue is to gather data on impacted communities. A community-based approach has been piloted in the Spring Hill neighborhood in DeLand, FL. Lessons learned from this approach can be helpful in determining further community interventions and shaping policy.

Numerous water disasters have occurred worldwide over the years. This chapter describes how a variety of contaminants can enter our water supply and lead to significant crises that affect human health. Three disasters relating to contamination from arsenic, lead, and GenX were selected for a variety of reasons for further discussion in some detail. Discussions cover why a given disaster occurred, its impact, and what lessons can be learned from it.

This chapter provides a broad overview of advances in water purification techniques. These include bioremediation, advanced oxidation and reduction processes, physical methods based on sorption, etc. In addition, separations based on capacitive deionization and nanomaterials are covered. Sustainable solutions based on green chemistry are discussed in great detail. Finally, a path is provided to develop promising separation technologies into viable commercial products.

By the year 2050 it is anticipated that the Earth's population will exceed 9 billion. To meet the basic needs of the population we need technology to deliver secure and safe sources of water for production of food and energy. Future food needs will require improved agricultural production, which traditionally utilizes the largest portion of available fresh water. We must establish technology to recover or remediate contaminated water for reuse in energy and food production as well as to become more efficient in its use. Solutions must deal with global climate change. To meet our needs for food, water, and energy, we must deliver sufficient cost-effective energy to meet the needs of all humans, including transportation, water recovery and transport, and food production. We are contaminating water at an unsustainable rate and we must learn to remediate and reuse water. We must reduce the amount of water required for the production of agricultural commodities and ecosystem services.

Food, energy, and water are interconnected in many interesting ways. This chapter explores these connections from various perspectives.

This chapter provides a broad overview of water reclamation and sustainability. Some of the water pollution problems worldwide are highlighted. This chapter provides a short discussion on monitoring water quality and water reclamation to achieve sustainability. A number of recent developments in water reclamation and sustainability are covered at some length.

For more than a century, national and international governing bodies have had some involvement in regulating the quality and safety of food during production and delivery. Since the beginnings of this "modern" food regulation in the early 20th century, the way that food is produced, packaged and distributed has changed drastically. It is difficult to determine if technological advances in the areas of polymer science, refrigeration, and transportation have driven the globalization of the food supply or if the food industry has drawn from these technologies to satisfy consumer's desire and need. Ensuring the safety of food requires a complex and ever-changing set of interactions between producers, distributors, consumers and regulators. As advances are made in packaging and food additives, as food distributions systems evolve to meet consumer needs, or as these respond to environmental and population changes, adjustments to regulatory systems may become necessary. Analytical, environmental and materials chemistry can often play important roles in responding to these changes and in continuing to help with the improvement of food safety and security. These five co-editors bring their respective expertise to the subject of the food system and the chemical advancements behind it.

Preface 1. Green Chemistry and Other Novel Solutions to Water Pollution: Overview Satinder (Sut) Ahuja 2. Ionizing Radiation Techniques To Determine Hydroxyl Radical Efficiencies of Organic Pollutant Mixtures in Treated Wastewaters Julie R. Peller, Kenneth P. Ishida, and Stephen P. Mezyk 3. Ferrate(VI): A Green Chemistry Oxidant for Removal of Antibiotics in Water Virender K. Sharma, George Anquandah, Hyunook Kim, Jia-Qian Jiang, and Radek Zboril 4. Natural Treatment of Surface Water and Groundwater with Woodchip Reactors M. Palomo, A. Bhandari, H. Enriquez, and W. Rodriguez 5. In Situ Immobilization of Mercury in Water, Soil, and Sediment Using Carboxymethyl Cellulose Stabilized Iron Sulfide Nanoparticles Yanyan Gong and Dongye Zhao 6. In Situ Dechlorination in Soil and Groundwater Using Stabilized Zero-Valent Iron Nanoparticles: Some Field Experience on Effectiveness and Limitations Man Zhang and Dongye Zhao 7. Polycation-Tethered Micelles as Immobilized Detergents for NAPL Remediation Paul Dubin, Jessica Schiffman, and Bingqian Zheng 8. Novel Production of Activated Carbon for Hampering Oligomerization of Phenolic Compounds Liang Yan and George A. Sorial 9. Cyclic Electrowinning/Precipitation (CEP) for the Removal of Heavy Metals from Aqueous Solution Mixtures J. M. Calo, P. Grimshaw, and G. Hradil 10. Macronutrient Removal and Recovery from Tertiary Treatment of Wastewater Sukalyan Sengupta 11. Functionalized Nanoparticles as Removable Membrane Coatings Megan A. Smith, Carly A. Barnard, and David A. Ladner 12. Hematite Nanoparticle Modified Granular Activated Carbon for Removal of Arsenic and Organic Co-Contaminants Arti Jain, Jeremy Sanner, Robert Sandoval, and Kiril Hristovski 13. Titanium Dioxide-Based Hybrid Ion-Exchange Media for Simultaneous Removal of Arsenic and Nitrate Jennifer Elton, Kiril Hristovski, and Paul Westerhoff 14. Applications of Zero-Valent Iron (ZVI) and Nanoscale ZVI to Municipal and Decentralized Drinking Water Systems-A Review Pei C. Chiu 15. Decentralized Wastewater Treatment for Distributed Water Reclamation and Reuse: The Good, The Bad, and The UglyDLExperience from a Case Study A. L. Prieto, D. Vuono, R. Holloway, J. Benecke, J. Henkel, T. Y. Cath, T. Reid, L. Johnson, and J. E. Drewes Editors' Biographies Indexes Author Index Subject Index