The General Assembly finds that aquifers are an essential natural resource and a major source of public drinking water; that reliance on groundwater will increase because opportunities for development of new surface water supplies are diminishing due to the rising cost of land and increasingly intense development; that numerous drinking water wells have been contaminated by certain land use activities and other wells are now threatened; that protection of existing and future groundwater supplies demands greater action by state and local government; that a groundwater protection program requires identification and delineation of present and future water supplies in stratified drift aquifers supplying drinking water wells; that a comprehensive and coordinated system of land use regulations should be established that includes state regulations protecting public drinking water wells located in stratified drift aquifers; that municipalities with existing or proposed public drinking water wells in stratified drift aquifers should designate aquifer protection agencies, and that the state should provide technical assistance and education programs on aquifer protection to ensure a plentiful supply of public drinking water for present and future generations.