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In the Jun 2006 issue:
50 years of IAH/150 years of Darcy's Law
IAH has made the following awards in 2006
IAH seeks new Editor-in-Chief
34th IAH Congress China October 2006
International Groundwater Conference, Tamil Nadu, India, February 2007
Groundwater at the Stockholm World Water Week
New IAH web sites
Conference Update

The French National Committee of IAH organised an excellent meeting in Dijon from 29 to 31 May to mark the concurrence of these two events. The meeting included a series of events in recognition of the achievements of Henry Darcy, an award ceremony (see below), plenary session reviewing the achievements and future direction of IAH and a symposium on management of large aquifer systems. At the close of the first day the whole meeting was moved to the gardens in the Place Darcy, the site of the terminal reservoir of Darcy's innovative public water supply scheme, where a plaque was unveiled to commemorate the two anniversaries, in the presence of members of the Darcy family. We learned that Darcy was a pioneer not only of science and engineering but also of their humanitarian applications. We also learned that the international significance of his achievements has not been widely recognised in his home country and the IAH meeting in Dijon has helped to remedy that.

Stephen Foster (President of IAH), Jean-Claude Roux (President of IAH France) and Collete Poppard (representing the Mayor of Dijon) unveil the commemorative plaque in the Jardin Darcy.

The President's Award for 2006 is made to Jean Margat (France) in recognition of his lifetime's work on hydrogeology internationally and his long contribution to IAH as President of IAH France and as a Vice President of the Association.

The Distinguished Associates Award for 2006 is made to Philippe Quevauviller of the European Commission in recognition of his work to steer through the European Union Groundwater "Daughter Directive" unifying the management of groundwater through the 25 countries of the Union.

Both of these Awards, plus the presentation of the 2005 President's Award to Cliff Voss held over from the Belgrade meeting, were made at Dijon by IAH President Stephen Foster.

The citations for the 2006 awards can be found here

Ian Simmers, Emeritus Professor from the Free University of Amsterdam, who has been IAH Editor-in-Chief since 1988, has announced that he intends to step down from the position at the end of this year. We are therefore seeking someone to take over from Ian the important and growing role as coordinating editor of the IAH book series.

IAH publishes two book series, International Contributions to Hydrogeology and Hydrogeology - Selected Papers, through its publishing partnership with Taylor and Francis (formerly Balkema). The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the content of the series by identifying publication opportunities, reviewing author proposals, and liaising between publisher and authors to ensure quality and timely publications.

Volunteers are sought to take over this role later this year. You should be a native English speaker with good scientific and policy networks in the groundwater field. To facilitate liaison with the publisher it would be a definite advantage if you are based in Europe or North America. The Association meets all necessary expenses incurred in carrying out the role, but the position is unremunerated. If you are interested in knowing more please contact Andrew Skinner (askinner@iah.org).

An International Groundwater Conference (IGC-2007), 3rd in the series,  will be organized by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore from February 7 – 10, 2007 with the main focal theme of “Water, Environment and Agriculture -Present Problems and Future Challenges”. It is proposed to have a number of farming community representatives and NGO’s as registered delegates in the proposed conference enabling them to interact directly with National and International Water/Agricultural/Environmental Scientists and Engineers. Papers are invited for the above themes and abstracts are requested by the end of July 2006. Contact details are in the conference listing below or on the IAH web site.

Under cover? Transboundary Aquifers - the Hidden Asset for Riparian Cooperation in Africa is the title of one day seminar on 20 August at the  Stockholm World Water Week

International discussions on transboundary water focused largely on river basins, sometimes lakes. But groundwater, the underlying resource, was largely ignored. Surface and groundwater basins may differ substantially in geographical extent and position, necessary stakeholder involvement and management approaches.

At least 38 transboundary groundwater resources have been mapped in Africa. In Northern Africa transboundary groundwater has already been the target of coordinated investigations by riparian states towards regional management and benefit sharing. In most of Sub-Sahara Africa the utilisation of groundwater as a reliable resource for economic and social development has yet to be fostered. Putting value to groundwater allows the creation of regional benefits beyond common technical management approaches and resource protection.

The aim of this seminar is to bring out the relevance of riparian cooperation on groundwater and to clarify what benefits such cooperation can generate and in which way they can be best created. Benefits in this context should not be limited to economic gains but also include increased social and ecological welfare. The seminar provides a forum for the exchange of experiences from African transboundary aquifers. On the basis of these experiences it is envisaged to stimulate the dialogue between policy makers and experts from North and South to elaborate new ideas for transboundary cooperation on groundwater.

The seminar is convened by BGR Germany in association with IAH, UNEP Division of the Global Environment Facility UNESCO International Hydrological Programme and the  Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). For contact details see the listing below.

Two IAH groups have launched new web sites:

The Burdon Groundwater Network for Developing Countries (formerly the Burdon Commission) have a new site at http://burdon.wwgw.org  The site focuses on the challenge of meeting the Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation in Africa and the important role for groundwater.

The IAH Commission on Mineral and Thermal Waters have upgraded and relocated their site which can now be found at http://cmtw.wwgw.org

The following new announcements or updates have been added to the conference listing since the last issue of Groundwater eNews.The full IAH conference listing can be found at http://www.iah.org/conferences.asp 

2006
Sep 25 - Sep 29 Asunción , PARAGUAY . VIII CONGRESO LATINOAMERICANO DE HIDROLOGIA SUBTERRÁNEA Y  “EXPO AGUA 2006”. Email: coordinacion@alhsud2006.com.py Web: www.alhsud2006.com.py
Nov 7 – Nov 9 Curitiba , BRASIL. XIV Congresso Brasileiro de Aguas Subterraneas  Web: http://www.acquacon.com.br/cabas

2007
Feb 7 - Feb 10 Coimbatore , INDIA . International Groundwater Conference on Water, Environment and Agriculture - Present Problems and Future Challenges Email: palanisamik@snl.net  
Apr 11 - Apr 13 Barcelona , SPAIN . International Conference on Water Pollution in Natural Porous Media at Different Scales WAPO2 Email: alejandra.albis.feliz@upc.edu  Web: www.proyectosH2O.upc.es/WAPO
May 21 - May 25 Vienna , AUSTRIA . International Symposium on Advances in Isotope Hydrology and its role in the Sustainable Management of Water Resources Email: official.mail@iaea.org  Web: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/Announcements.asp?ConfID=151
Aug 13 - Aug 15 Bowling Green , Kentucky , U.S.A. . International Conference on Karst Hydrogeology and Ecosystems  Web: http://hoffman.wku.edu/karst2007/k2007.html
Aug 20 Stockholm SWEDEN. Under cover? Transboundary Aquifers - the Hidden Asset for Riparian Cooperation in Africa - Seminar during Stockholm World Water Week. E-mail: mailto:R.Klingbeil@bgr.de Web: http://www.worldwaterweek.org/seminarsandsideevents/seminars6.asp
Sep 9 - Sep 13 Copenhagen , DENMARK . International Conference on Calibration and Reliability in Groundwater Modelling - ModelCARE2007  Web: http://www.polytec.dk/modelcare2007/
Sep 17 - Sep 21 Lisbon , PORTUGAL Groundwater and Ecosystems 35th Congress of IAH
E-mail: iah2007@gmail.com  Web: http://www.geo.ua.pt/aih-gp/iah2007

2008
Oct 8 - Oct 10 Athens , GREECE . 8th International Hydrogeological Congress of Greece Email: hydrogeology@aua.gr  Web: http://iah-hellas.geol.uoa.gr