ABSTRACT
Organic matter content of wastewater and its treated effluents is customarily expressed in terms of the biochemical oxygen demand, the chemical oxygen demand, and the total organic carbon. Although these measurements have been effective in estimating the pollutional strength of the water and evaluating the performance of wastewater treatment processes, they neither indicate the composition of organic matter nor identify any toxic organic substance. It is quite conceivable that two waters of identical total organic carbon contents may be composed of entirely different organic compounds. In the toxicological assessment of the water quality, it is essential that toxic organic substances in the water be positively identified and their concentrations determined.
