Groundwater vulnerability assessments: prioritizing water safety in times of austerity.

Edi tor ’s Note : NEHA strives to provide up-to-date and relevant information on environmental health and to build partnerships in the profession. In pursuit of these goals, we feature a column from the Environmental Health Services Branch (EHSB) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in every issue of the Journal. In this column, EHSB and guest authors from across CDC will highlight a variety of concerns, opportunities, challenges, and successes that we all share in environmental public health. EHSB’s objective is to strengthen the role of state, local, tribal, and national environmental health programs and professionals to anticipate, identify, and respond to adverse environmental exposures and the consequences of these exposures for human health. The conclusions in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of CDC. Mansoor Baloch is a consultant hydrologist/environmental engineer with the Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) Water Program at EHSB. He has more than 10 years of research and program experience in water resources management, water quality, and environmental engineering.