This collection of 13 articles focuses on CECs, and each of the articles highlights a specific aspect of this broad topic. The articles were solicited from researchers who participated in the second summer specialty conference on this topic, organized by the American Water Resources Association. The title of the conference was “CECs in Water Resources II: Research, Engineering and Community Action,” and the conference, as well as the articles in this featured collection, focus on a better and more comprehensive understanding of these contaminants. The conference was held in Denver, Colorado, on June 25-27, 2012, and approximately 125 conference attendees participated in an interdisciplinary forum of more than 75 presentations including keynote or plenary presentations by Dana Kolpin, Jorg Drewes, Heiko Schoenfuss, Chris Metcalfe, Vicki Blazer, and Tyrone Hayes. The first conference was held in 2007 and also produced a featured collection of articles (Battaglin and Kolpin, 2009).