During 1999, the Groundwater Foundation, a non-profit educational organization, began a study to assess extent to which groundwater dependent communities, whose water supplies and public health are at risk from Superfund site contamination, are aware of and participate in technical assistance and community involvement programs available through the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund Program and extent to which these activities help them be successful in involving citizens in drinking water protection activities.
Superfund, by definition of EPA, is the program operated under legislative authority of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compen-sation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA) that funds and carries out EPA solid waste emergency and long-term removal and remedial activities.