In 1988, the Water Environmental Federation decided that it was time to take an objective look at the national water quality program and how this program could be improved. Water Quality 2000 was initiated and it became a cooperative effort of more than 80 public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Over a three year period, hundreds of people representing diverse interests, including scientists, engineers, lawyers, professors, farmers, environmentalists, and lay persons, worked and were involved in a four-phase effort to develop an integrated, national policy for the US water quality and surface water and groundwater protection. Water Quality 2000 developed a national water agenda that will foster the implementation of the program’s vision “a society living in harmony with healthy ecosystems.”