Ground water is an essential national resource - over half of the U.S. population relies on it for drinking water. However a large percentage of the nation's contaminated sites impacts ground water. And ground water contamination is usually very difficult to characterize and clean up, often requiring decades of treatment and monitoring. Almost every cleanup program must devote a significant level of attention and resources to ground water issues.

Each ground water contamination problem is uniquely complex, yet there are many common issues related to the management and cleanup of these problems. It is important that the nation's cleanup programs share the knowledge of their unique ground water problems and work together to ensure the most effective, efficient and protective ground water cleanups.

Task Force Purpose:

• The task force will serve as the main technical / policy / communication / networking resource for OSWER on ground water issues.
  
  
• The task force will promote cross-program coordination and communication on technical and policy issues related to the cleanup of contaminated ground water.
  
  
• The task force will identify, prioritize and work to solve and/or provide guidance on ground water issues and projects that will benefit multiple cleanup programs.
  
  
• For priority issues and projects, the task force will either assign a subgroup to work on the issue, or make recommendations to EPA senior management on the best course of action.