A review of the nation’s new coverages serves as a ready reminder that drinking water safety is more than regional of local concern. In recent times, the print media alone has drawn attention to barium, bacteria, heavy metals, and increasingly organic contaminants, in public water supplies located in Florida, Rhode Island, Texas, Oregon, Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, Michigan, and California, to name a few.

In an effort to address one of the major issues confronting the future of the nation’s drinking water supplies, chemical contamination, the Drinking Water Research Foundation and the American Chemical Society presented the symposium, "Safe Drinking Water: the Impact of Chemicals on a Limited Resource." To add balance to the total presentation, two papers were included that were not part of the symposium.