Advancing the Quality of Drinking Water: Expert Workshop to Formulate a Research Agenda

In March 2004, with sponsorship from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a workshop to develop a drinking water research agenda in the form of “researchable questions” was conducted. This paper summarizes the discussion and findings of the workshop. Research questions were formulated in the areas of environmental chemistry, novel materials, biotechnology, cyberinfrastructure, and novel processes. There were a number of crosscutting themes dominating the discussions—the composition and behavior of natural waters, distribution of water, and more effectively coupling water supply to societal needs.