Protecting the Nation's Groundwater from Contamination. Volume 1

摘要

The objective of the OTA study is to assess the current status of the Nation's knowledge and experience in dealing with groundwater contamination problems. The study focuses on existing contamination problems, while recognizing that the prevention of future contamination would also need to be explicitly considered in order to develop a policy framework for comprehensive resource protection; for example, as experience with hazardous wastes has shown the cost to clean up contamination can be enormously greater than the cost to prevent contamination. Thus, the structure of the study evolved around the concept of protecting groundwater quality, comprised of activities to detect, correct and prevent groundwater contamination.