Hazardous material and toxic waste research in the United States is conducted by a variety of organizations including universities, federal and state government agencies, and large and small corporations. Historically, the type of research each has conducted has been framed by a variety of factors, such as the mission of the organization, history, and circumstance. Federal agencies with missions related to regulating hazardous materials (e.g., EPA) or with extensive remediation problems at agency sites (e.g., DOD, DOE) have a perspective toward research strongly oriented toward short-term results. The USGS is one of the few federal agencies with a more long-term view, having a broad program in field-oriented, multidisciplinary research in hazardous materials science as related to problems in the natural environment. The USGS is known throughout the world for its experience in monitoring the natural environment and for the collection of high-quality, consistent data sets. The USGS is particularly well versed in taking an integrated approach to the study of systems and for including the important details regarding temporal and spatial variability in characterizing natural constituents.

Universities, by virtue of the discontinuous funding they receive for research and the relatively more limited infrastructure, typically restrict their research to aspects of process discovery. Much of the work involves computer simulation or laboratory experimentation. Field-related hazardous material remediation studies, when they are undertaken, often require strong support from organizations like the USGS, ARS, or the DOE that have ongoing field operations. Some programs have been able to fund field research at high levels from a variety of funding sources, but this is the exception rather than the rule.

Programs of the USGS related to hazardous materials science and technology are dominated by field studies that have as their goal the discovery and description of surface and ground water flow and mass transport processes. This focus is understandable, given the historical roots of research within the Water Resources Division, and the distributed character of the organization where many researchers work in district offices. The USGS is one of a very few organizations among all of the