During the past three years, Groundwater Guardian community teams have organized to protect one of the world's most important, yet least appreciated resources, our groundwater. What these diverse groups of citizens have shown is that local people are in the best position to understand groundwater issues and respond appropriately and effectively to the challenge of protecting groundwater in the long-term.

Groundwater Guardian is designed to showcase these efforts, and connect people and communities through common concerns and experiences. From comprehensive wellhead protection programs, in large urban settings and corporate stewardship projects at manufacturing sites to citizen-led conservation and education programs, Groundwater Guardian projects focus on addressing local needs with local resources.

The Groundwater Guardian program rests on the principles that process is important, that every community using or benefiting from groundwater can, and should participate, and that it is a program led and shaped exclusively by participating communities.

Groundwater Guardian is a program which supports, recognizes, and connects communities protecting groundwater. It is designed to empower local citizens and communities to take voluntary steps toward protecting their groundwater resources. Groundwater Guardian can be a catalyst for groundwater protection programs such as local wellhead protection or source water protection programs. Groundwater Guardian is not a regulatory program; rather it relies on voluntary steps developed at the community level.

Groundwater Guardian is a program of the Groundwater Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit, educational organization that informs and motivates people to care about and for groundwater. The program is made possible through grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the USGS, and the Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water at the U.S. EPA.

The above information was taken from "A Community Guide to Groundwater Guardian," 1996, by The Groundwater Foundation, PO Box 22558, Lincoln, Nebraska 68542-2558. For a copy of the Guide, more information about the program, or a list of Groundwater Guardian communities in California and across the nation, please write this address or call 1-800-858-4844.