I am interested in this topic because it is related to my research and I would like to investigate aspects that I do not get to cover. With a background in meteorology, I am new to the water field and am constantly learning just how important it is. I am not sure exactly how I will go about this topic but am starting with the basic information (causes, sources, remediation) to discover more detailed areas of concern/importance.

Very interesting. There are certainly many directions you could take this. I heard of several cases in the US in which a company severely polluted the ground water and now has to take remedial action. Wasn't even 3M among them? I think locally you can find examples, too. I think here in Yellow Springs there is some ground water pollution from a car parts manufacturer who has long left the town.

Very important topic. An additional concern (like you need additional topics) about water resources is their conservation. I'm sure you've heard of Canada's joking threats to cut-off water supply to the west or the general drying up of the Colorado River. I spent some time in Lima, Peru where they rely on aquifers for clean water. These aquifers are essentially the rocks of several large mountains in the area. Some of these aquifers are depleted; they cannot recharge fast enough. What makes it worse is that locals water their lawns everyday for about an hour! But who am I to point fingers. There's also a "green spot" in the southwest where water is continually drained from the Colorado to water lawns, gardens, etc. Somebody said, "water will be the cause of the next world war."

On the very broadest level your topic will have some overlap with Sumantra's: the role of evapotranspiration in water sustainability (I actually don't know his exact title yet - I made this up from what I understand he wants to do). That's not to be worried about - in the opposite I hope that towards the end of this term you will have some cross-links to his work.

Your outline is very ambitious. As I commented on other people's outlines, I doubt that you can fill every point you listed there in large detail. You will have to fill some parts more superficially simply to have a complete story as you outlined very well so far and have a few that you bring to the depth of good scientific work. But don't worry, that will develop and crystallize pretty automatically as you go along.

I went through a couple of sources to get clarity on the definition of “natural attenuation”. I found out it can mean a lot of different things to different people. Only a few groups define natural attenuation as a remediation technique without the influence of man. As such, the monitoring only option usually does not apply to a site where natural attenuation is the selected remediation technique.

Most environmental firms/regulatory groups include everything but mechanical based treatment systems into the natural attenuation term. This including systems where nutrients or oxygen are injected upgradient, phytoremediation, etc.

Excellent work Christina. You have a great level of detail and good references but also a good flow and compelling story by now. You already completed the next step (case study) and only need to put a little bit of "outlook, policy, and policy implications" or something along those lines at the end and you are done. Again, very good and well ahead of the game.

I really like your multi-page layout - to much much easier to read and navigate than one long page. However, it would be great if you could add page navigation at the top and bottom of each page to that going on to the next page or going back to the previous or going back to the table of contents is only a click away.

Your writing style is great - very clear, very organized and easy to follow. You need to do very little for this to be an excellent finished product.