The Science Framework is an opportunity to demonstrate the past, present, and future impacts of NAWQA and to articulate a compelling case for the need for NAWQA—a need in which the committee strongly believes. NAWQA is a unique program within a unique agency filling the niche of producing high quality national water quality data and interpretation; it is unequaled by any other entity. The committee urges creation of a more focused, restructured, and clarified planning document for Cycle 3 of the NAWQA program. It should clearly and compellingly demonstrate how the program has had and will have an impact on national water policy, and, in part, secure that NAWQA moves through Cycle 3 intact as our nation’s premier water quality monitoring program.