The environmental fate of organic chemicals

The environmental fate of chemicals is a very broad subject. In the context of this book, the present chapter on organic chemicals will concentrate on the basic relationships describing their environmental fate, the incorporation of these relationships into mathematical models and the use of these models for management purposes. In the environment, chemicals are subjected to a variety of transport and transformation processes. The rates of these processes can have a profound influence on the exposure of organisms to these chemicals. Therefore the study of rates is of paramount importance when evaluating chemical hazards. The rates depend on (1) physico-chemical properties, (2) environmental parameters and (3) for some processes, release characteristics.