ABSTRACT
Scientific and public attention is increasingly drawn to discoveries of undesirable organic and inorganic chemical compounds-bacteriological, viral, and other physical contaminants-in our drinking water. A nationwide water crisis would be the ultimate resource crisis. Water shortages have been associated with the arid West and semi-arid Plains States, but during the last decade many states in the Southeast faced problems as population growth outstripped available supplies. Development of reservoirs involves a number of economic and social issues: conversion of present land use on which newly constructed or expanded reservoirs will sit, use of eminent domain, restrictions of design criteria and other constraints associated with federal funding, and equity. Allocation of existing quantities of fresh water to diverse and frequently competing demands raises a set of issues at least as important as those pertaining to new water. Concern for the quality of fresh water in the nation's lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and reservoirs has existed for some time.
