A process is disclosed for treating water, such as wastewater, with air or oxygen-enriched air under alkaline conditions to decompose and remove acrolein and acrolein byproducts from the water and/or wastewater. The process is able to lower the concentration of acrolein and acrolein byproducts from water to a sufficiently low level suitable for discharge to a municipal sewer collection system with reduced occurrence of the decomposition by-products of acrolein converting back to acrolein in the water. One embodiment of the process treats contaminated water containing acrolein with air or oxygen-enriched air by sparging or bubbling air or oxygen-enriched air through the contaminated water. The contaminated water can be treated with air or oxygen-enriched air where the contaminated water is initially adjusted to a pH greater than 7.0 for a time to convert at least a portion of the acrolein to 3-hydroxypropanal to obtain fully treated water and prevent conversion of 3-hydroxypropanal back to acrolein.