there is an increasing threat of impairment to the quantity and quality of the Nation’s water resources due to, among other things, growing national needs, recurring drought in the Western States, point and nonpoint source pollution, and saltwater intrusion into existing groundwater supplies;

many communities in the United States have water supplies containing high salinity levels or contaminants which pose health risks;

the Nation needs to develop economical processes to treat existing water supplies that are contaminated;

it is necessary to provide for research into new techniques to reclaim waste water and to convert saline and other contaminated waters to a quality suitable for municipal, industrial, agricultural, recreational, and other beneficial uses;

there is very little Federal funding being applied to basic research in the field of treatment of contaminated water through membrane processes; and

the treatment of contaminated water through membrane processes will solve a wide variety of water treatment problems, including compliance with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act [33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.] and the Safe Drinking Water Act [42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.].