The Secretary of the Interior recently approved the establishment of an Office of Water Research and Technology (OWRT) under the Assistant Secretary for Land and Water Resources. Dr. Warren A. Hull, formerly Director of the Office of Water Resources Research, has been appointed Acting Director of OWRT. The functions of the Office of Water Resources Research and the Office of Saline Water will be combined in OWRT. The basic objectives of the former offices, OWRR and OSW, are not changed by this reorganization. However, it will add a new dimension of water resources development to assure .the systematic and orderly application of research to our serious water problems. The university community, especially the water research institutes and their cooperating university parties, will continue to be relied upon heavily for the basic research program under the presently authorized allotment, matching grant and Title II programs. Desalination research and development will remain major responsibilities of OWRT. Added to these, however, will be a broader spectrum of development initiatives directed toward the more critical water-related problems.