Find out a little bit about the history of the IAH on this page. Click here for a summary of an article written by John Day a former Vice President of IAH and published in the first edition of Applied Hydrogeology, now Hydrogeology Journal.

In 2006 the International Association of Hydrogeologists reached its 50th birthday by which time it had held 34 Congresses. It has an individual and corporate membership of around 3800, drawn from up to 135 countries throughout the world.

Initial discussion on the setting up of IAH began at the International Geological Congress in London in 1948. The founding group were largely francophone and the discussions continued at the next ICG held in Algiers in 1952 which brought together many hydrogeologists with experience of working in North Africa before and during the 2nd World War. This led to the formal inauguration of the Association at the 1956 Congress in Mexico City. In 1964, the Association was affiliated to the International Union of Geological Sciences.

IAH held its first Congress in Paris in 1957 and there have now been 34 culminating in the 50th Anniversary Congress held in Beijing. In addition to annual or biennial congresses, the Association holds or co-sponsors many meetings each year through its National Committees or with sister international organisations, and many of these produce their own, separate publications.

Membership has grown steadily and reached the 2000 mark in the late 1980’s. At this time the character of membership began to change with more groundwater specialists from regulatory, water industry and consulting backgrounds reducing the proportion of academic and research scientist. The international spread of membership also increased significantly with the number of countries represented growing over 100 to the current figure of 135. This was helped by the introduction of the sponsored membership scheme in 1989.

Below is some statistical information about our membership
	Growth of Membership Year Members Year Members Year Members Year Members 1956 260 1977 1100 1993 2609 2000 3258 1959 404 1980 1032 1994 2831 2002 3280 1964 562 1985 1531 1995 3395 2004 3582 1967 686 1989 2002 1998 3304 2004 3824 1972 950 1990 2101 1999 3267 2006 3763
	Membership by Region (2006) Region Members Region Members Western Europe 1539 Asia 238 Eastern Europe 338 Australasia and the Pacific 502 Middle East and North Africa 84 North America 704 Africa (sub Sahara) 206 Latin America and the Caribbean 213
	Membership By Country 2006 (with > 20 members) Country Members Country Members Country Members Australia 461 Italy 70 Nigeria 35 USA 354 Croatia 60 Poland 33 Spain 346 Netherlands 59 Norway 30 Canada 339 Belgium 58 Czech Republic 28 United Kingdom 226 Slovenia 58 Argentina 27 Germany 155 Greece 52 Chile 27 Ireland 134 South Africa 51 Hungary 26 Switzerland 133 Portugal 49 Romania 25 France 122 Japan 43 Brazil 25 PR China 76 India 42 Korea 20 Mexico 72 Serbia 41 Russia 20