Technical Sessions
The following list identifies confirmed sessions and session leaders under the six technical themes. The Congress organizing committee welcomes ideas for sessions and also encourages attendees to volunteer to convene sessions.
- Energy and Climate;
- Karst Hydrogeology;
- Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions;
- Groundwater Management;
- Groundwater Quality; and
- General Hydrogeology.
The Sessions will be updated as Congress planning evolves. Please note that only sessions that receive suitable abstract submissions will be held at the Congress.
To provide comments on the technical program, suggest session topics or to chair a session please contact either:
|
Ken Howard gwater@utsc.utoronto.ca 416-287-7233 |
or |
Rick Gerber rgerber@trca.on.ca 416-661-6600 x 5589 |
1. Energy and Climate
1-1 Groundwater and Climate Change: Linkages and Adaptation
[Click for full description]
Richard Taylor (UK)
Diana Allen (Canada)
Makoto Taniguchi (Japan) / Jianyao Chen (China)
Jason Gurdak / Tim Green / Bridget Scanlon (USA)
The IPCC 3rd and 4th assessment reports concluded that little is known of the relationship between groundwater and climate change. There has since been a substantial rise in publications assessing relationships between groundwater and climate variability and change. As the world’s largest accessible store of freshwater, groundwater plays a critical role in enabling communities around the globe to adapt to projected increases in the variability of rainfall, soil moisture, and surface water resources. This session is divided into two sub-sessions. Sub-session 1a seeks to: (1) discuss and define specific advances in scientific understanding of the relationships between groundwater and climate; and (2) identify critical gaps in that knowledge base. Sub-session 1b seeks to debate and clarify the role of groundwater in adaptation to water scarcity associated with both rapid development, and climate variability and change.
This session is a joint initiative of the IAH Commission on Groundwater and Climate Change and UNESCO-IHP GRAPHIC program.
1-2 Geothermal Energy
[Click for full description]
Grant Ferguson (Canada), Han Zaisheng (China), Alper Baba (Turkey)
Description to come shortly.
1-3 Hydrogeological Issues Surrounding Shale Oil and Gas
[Click for full description]
Avner Vengosh (USA), Ramon Aravena (Canada)
Advances in drilling technologies and production strategies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (HF) have significantly improved the production of oil and natural gas by stimulating the flow of gas and liquids to and from wells. These technological improvements have increased oil and gas drilling in several basins across the United States and Canada. While the new horizontal drilling and HF technologies and associated hydrocarbon exploitation are dramatically changing the energy landscape, new research is highlighting the potential effects of shale oil and gas development on water resources. This session will address key hydrogeology issues related to shale oil and gas development including fracture network and connectivity to deep aquifers, water quality, gas chemistry, and isotopic tracers.
1-4 Hydrogeological Issues Related to Oil Sands
[Click for full description]
Steve Wallace (Canada), Jon Fennell (Canada)
The Alberta oil sands are an important resource to Canada and the rest of the world. To ensure sustainable development of this hydrocarbon resource we need to fully understand the effects of past and future activities, and how they relate to the groundwater environment and connected systems. This equally applies to the complex setting of the area and how nature has influenced regional groundwater and surface water resources. This session will highlight research and policy development that has been, and currently is, being conducted to bring context to the oil sands debate and balance the discussion regarding future development, closure activities and environmental risk.
1-5 Carbon Sequestration
[Click for full description]
Dan Palombi (Canada), James Brydie (Canada)
Jurisdictions worldwide are investigating and demonstrating the ability of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions derived from industrial sources. Deep saline aquifers have been identified as offering the greatest storage capacity in sedimentary basins and hence are an important target for CO2 sequestration. Large scale CCS projects involve the detailed evaluation of the project area including regional and site specific geology, geophysics, hydrogeology, geochemistry, geomechanics, reservoir engineering, environmental monitoring and risk assessment to determine its suitability for long-term sequestration. Hydrogeology and environmental monitoring of saline and nonsaline aquifers play a critical role in assessing a sequestration site, providing assurance that resource protection, including groundwater quality, will be at low risk to any effects of potential CO2 leakage.
This session seeks to highlight recent research, development and projects that further our understanding of: a) potential impacts of CO2 displaced formation waters, b) physical processes of CO2 flow within the storage reservoir and via potential leakage pathways, c) field study analogues that indicate the potential mobilization of metals within aquifers as a result of CO2 and/or brine migration, d) potential long term impacts of CO2 on fresh water resources, and e) topics relating to hydrostratigraphy, caprocks, additional barriers and trapping mechanisms for CO2 sequestration.
2. Karst Hydrogeology
2-1 Karst Aquifers, Environmental Problems and Global Change
[Click for full description]
Derek Ford, Liu Zaihua, Cristina Bicalho
Description to come shortly.
2-2 Characterization and Management of Karst Aquifers
[Click for full description]
Nico Goldscheider, Barbara Mahler, Geary Schindel
Description to come shortly.
2-3 Restoration (Remediation) of Karst Aquifers
[Click for full description]
Daniel Hunkeler, Steve Worthington (Canada)
Description to come shortly.
2-4 Numeric and Time Series Models
[Click for full description]
Neven Kresic (USA), Nicolas Massei, Nadine Goppert
Description to come shortly.
2-5 Topics in General Karst Hydrogeology
[Click for full description]
Jiang Guanghui, Natasa Ravbar, Alexander Klimchouk
Description to come shortly.
2-6 Artificial Tracers and Environmental Isotopes to Understand and Quantify Water Flow-paths and Pollutant Transport in Karst Aquifers
[Click for full description]
Piotr Maloszewski (Germany), Przemyslaw Wachniew (Poland), Ralf Benischke (Austria)
Applied tracers, artificial and environmental, are widely used to characterize groundwater flow paths and to estimate system parameters. They are increasingly used in research settings to understand solute transport phenomena in strongly homogeneous karst and fractured aquifers, which are motivated e.g. by environmental concerns related to water resources and water protection evaluation or to disposal and release of wastes. However, there are also many practical uses for environmental isotopes in understanding and quantifying of groundwater bioremediation. The practical use of tracers in environmental hydrogeology and groundwater remediation is quickly increasing. The characteristic isotopic signature of many pollutants and the changes in isotopic composition during specific biological, chemical, and physical processes may yield unique information on the origin of pollutants and on their fate in soil and groundwater. Especially for natural attenuation studies, isotope analysis can provide essential information. Conservative and reactive tracers can greatly aid in the design and evaluation of enhanced bioremediation strategies by providing a reliable way to measure in-situ contaminant decay, oxido-reduction processes rates, and zones of influence. This session will be focused on two following topics:
This session is a joint initiative of the IAHS International Commission on Tracers and the IAH.
Further updates are also available at http://www.iah.org/karst/news.html
3. Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions
The following individuals are jointly organizing sessions under sub-themes 3a and 3b listed below. The final session program under these sub-themes, including session chairs, is evolving and will ultimately be influenced by the number and types of abstracts submitted.
Bruce Misstear (Ireland)
Philippe Van Cappellen, Raoul-Marie Couture and Fereidoun Rezanezhad (Canada)
Marie Larocque (Canada), Masaki Hayashi (Canada) and Allison Aldous (USA)
Joseph Gurrieri (USA)
Hillol Guha (USA)
Andrea Bradford (Canada)
3a: Groundwater-surface water interactions and ecohydrology
[Click for full description]
Topics include:
- Groundwater as a pathway for pollutants entering rivers, lakes and estuaries.
- Groundwater dependent terrestrial, fluvial and marine ecosystems.
- Ecohydrology of wetlands and peatlands.
- Physical, chemical and biological processes at the groundwater/surface water interface, including fluxes and transformations of nutrients, greenhouse gases and heavy metals.
- Modelling of groundwater-surface water interactions and hyporheic zone processes.
- Inventory, monitoring and management of springs and groundwater dependent wetlands.
3b: Groundwater-surface water management
[Click for full description]
Topics include:
- The use of groundwater to augment river flows during droughts.
- Abstraction of river water via bankside well schemes.
- The investigation and management of coastal aquifers.
- Groundwater flooding.
- Losing rivers / wadi flows as a source of indirect groundwater recharge.
3c: Vadose zone processes
[Click for full description]
Edwin Cey (Canada), James Smith (Canada)
The Vadose Zone plays an important and at times critical role in the quality and quantity of groundwater. The vadose zone is situated at the very active interface between groundwater and surface water systems and includes complex relationships among hydrological, geological, chemical and biological systems that are relevant to water resource problems. This session invites field, laboratory and modelling studies of water-related vadose zone research, including infiltration processes, preferential flow and transport, soil water repellency, near-surface hydrology, soil gas and vapour intrusion, soil contamination (including NAPL’s) and soil remediation.
4. Groundwater Management
4a-1 Groundwater Recharge: Advances in understanding recharge processes, characterizing spatial/temporal variability, and techniques for managed aquifer recharge
[Click for full description]
Peter Dillon (Australia), Victor Heilweil (USA)
Rationale for Topical Session:
As the societal demand for fresh water grows, evaluating groundwater recharge is becoming increasingly important. Yet quantifying such recharge remains challenging. This session seeks papers on a wide range of groundwater recharge topics such as groundwater/surface-water exchange, arid-zone hydrology, laboratory and field-scale experimental data, remote sensing techniques and modeling approaches for evaluating recharge, regional recharge assessments, and novel approaches to managed aquifer recharge (artificial recharge).
Brief Description:
This session focuses on understanding natural and artificial recharge in a variety of climates and geologic settings. We encourage a wide variety of papers ranging from laboratory- to regional-scale studies, and from numerical/theoretical methods development to applied case studies.
Session Conveners:
Peter Dillon, CSIRO, Glen Osmond, Australia
Victor Heilweil, USGS, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
4a-2 Hydrogeophysics
[Click for full description]
Anthony Endres (Canada), Peete Pehme (Canada)
Description to come shortly.
4a-3 The Role of Aquitards in Aquifer Protection
[Click for full description]
Wendy Timms (Australia), Jim Hendry (Canada)
Aquitards are a critical part of groundwater systems for protecting aquifers and controlling recharge and leakage. This aquitard session will cover both sediments and rock aquitards identified as 'disconnecting' aquifers at catchment and site scale, including for mining and waste disposal. Research on aquitard geology, stratigraphy, hydrology and contaminant transport controls will be covered. Innovative tracer methods that permit both in situ and predictive contaminant transport studies over very long time scales are particularly encouraged. Physical, geochemical and isotopic evidence for connectivity through leaky aquitards will be considered with examples from around the world.
4a-4 Geotechnology for Land Subsidence
[Click for full description]
Huili Gong (China), Shahbaz Khan (France)
Land subsidence is a serious environmental issue in many places around the world. The major purpose of this session is to improve applications of geoinformatics for land subsidence monitoring, modeling and management towards mitigation and adaption strategies confronting global change. Researchers from around the world are encouraged to share and exchange their knowledge, experience, success and challenges. Sub-topics include monitoring techniques, data mining/visualization, modelling/evaluation, driving factors/associated hazards and mitigation/management.
4a-5 Frontiers in Numerical Modelling
[Click for full description]
John Molson (Canada); Rene Therrien (Canada)
Numerical modelling has become a common tool for addressing a wide variety of groundwater problems including water resource management, groundwater protection and contaminated site remediation. Existing models have become well-adapted for these types of systems. More recently, emerging issues such as climate change, population growth and increasing energy demands have been placing unprecedented new stresses on groundwater resources around the world. New numerical methods and advanced new models and modelling strategies are critically needed to assess the impact of these stresses and for ensuring groundwater sustainability.
This special session of the IAH2012 conference will focus on the latest advances in numerical modelling of hydrogeological systems and will present some of the state-of-the-art and next generation modelling tools. Papers and posters dedicated to new simulation techniques and model applications that address emerging new issues and challenges related to groundwater management, groundwater protection and impacts of climate change are particularly welcome. Also of interest are models which focus on groundwater processes at various spatial & temporal scales, from the local streambed to the continental scale, and integrated models which address groundwater-surface water-atmosphere systems and multi-component reactive transport problems. We look forward to interesting and stimulating discussions on these and other related issues.
4a-6 Transboundary Aquifer Systems of the Americas
[Click for full description]
Alfonso Rivera (Canada)
When an aquifer extends beneath the border of two jurisdictions or political boundaries, conflict may arise when one jurisdiction depletes groundwater resources that affect the quantity and quality of water available to the other jurisdiction.
Is there competition for groundwater resources between countries in the American hemisphere? Are there conflicts emerging from the shared usage of transboundary aquifers? What are the most essential principles (if any) considered when negotiating a groundwater apportionment method in transboundary aquifers? Are there agreements in place to jointly assess and manage transboundary aquifers?
If you are working, have worked, or plan to work on any of the above-mentioned issues on transboundary aquifers, you are cordially invited to submit an abstract of your work in this session. As a new strongly emerging international issue, this subject is attracting quite a lot of interest, not only from scientists but also from policy makers and managers alike. So be reassured that your work will be well received.
The Internationally Shared Aquifer Resources Management (ISARM) initiative led by UNESCO is a great effort to increase understanding of the management of transboundary aquifer systems (TAS). As a result, up to 73 TAS have been identified in the American hemisphere alone. The available information on those TAS will be particularly adequate to be presented in this session.
The ISARM-Americas initiative facilitated and promoted international sharing of information and knowledge required for sustainable groundwater resources development and management between American countries sharing TAS. This has resulted in a number of activities and products, the most recent of which could be presented in this topical session. Thus, abstracts dealing with this initiative will be most welcome.
Furthermore, any work describing the links and the relevance of studies of TAS to the UN Law of Transboundary Aquifers, and on how these might fit in the Strategy for the assessment and management of the American Transboundary Aquifer Systems, currently in preparation, would also be welcome.
If you need more details of additional information please contact the session convener Alfonso Rivera at: arivera@nrcan.gc.ca
4a-7 Cold Regions Hydrogeology
[Click for full description]
Jeff McKenzie (Canada); Victor Bense (UK)
The hydrogeology of cold-regions is undergoing rapid changes as a result of climate change. The state of these systems is strongly influenced by both seasonal ground ice and perennially frozen ground (permafrost), both of which act as impermeable subsurface layers. However, the global extent of ground ice is decreasing with warming land surface temperatures, which affects the groundwater flow regime and its connection with surface water systems. This session focuses on groundwater research in arctic, high elevation and/or periglacial environments, and includes subtopics in field and laboratory based studies, numerical modeling approaches, and coupling of climate with hydrogeology.
4a-8 The Role of Groundwater in Sustainable Agricultural Production
[Click for full description]
Kevin Hiscock (UK), Karen Villholth (Denmark)
Groundwater contributes an increasing share of irrigation globally and, in places like India, supersedes surface water in contribution to irrigated land. However, due to its relatively reliable and secure supply it stands the risk of gradual long-term over-exploitation which is evident in many parts of the world by increasing economic, social and environmental costs. In addition, in major food producing areas of the world, such as North China, the over-application of chemical and organic fertilisers causes a significant deterioration in water quality that can compromise drinking water supplies and lead to the eutrophication of groundwater-fed ecosystems. Adopting a wider sustainability perspective, the session will address the role of groundwater (renewable as well as little renewable) in global agricultural productivity and food production. What are the challenges and which initiatives, technically, institutionally, scientifically and policy-wise, and at what scales, are needed and on-going to reduce stress on aquifers and enhance sustainable agricultural production?
4a-9 Hydrogeologic Characterization of Fractured Rock Settings
[Click for full description]
Kent Novakowski (Canada)
Fractured rock aquifers remain the most enigmatic hydrogeologic settings that practitioners are required to assess. Despite considerable advances in both the understanding of flow and transport processes and in the methods for characterization, there remains much to be done. In this session, papers addressing the following topics are encouraged:
- Characterization needs for groundwater remediation in fractured rock.
- Characterization needs for water supply and wellhead protection in bedrock aquifers.
- The use of discrete fracture modeling as a predictive and interpretive tool.
- The use of stable isotopes in unraveling complex flow patterns in fractured rock.
- Assessing low-permeability settings and the role of matrix diffusion.
- Fundamental studies of flow and transport in discrete fractures.
- Novel tracer experiments conducted in discrete fractures and fracture networks.
- The use of hydrogeophysical methods for characterization.
- Assessing groundwater recharge and discharge in bedrock aquifers.
[Click for full description]
Hazen Russell (Canada), Holger Kessler (UK)
To gain an understanding of groundwater flow and solute transport to allow appropriate decision making requires an adequate knowledge of geology and hydrogeology. The building of three dimensional geological framework models provides an appropriate foundation for construction of numeric flow models. Development of sound geological models requires adequate data collection followed by development of a process based conceptual geological model. Subsequently the conceptualized geology can be converted into 3-D numeric geological models for use by groundwater modellers. Many of these geological models have been hydrostratigraphic envelope models that have lacked internal representation of the sedimentary or hydrofacies heterogeneity. A significant challenge is the characterisation of the spatial heterogeneity, often in areas where there are sparse data and knowledge. Subsequently, the parameterised geological model must be in an appropriate format to allow ease of transfer into groundwater modelling software. This session encourages submissions on data collection, data analysis, model development, hydrofacies or heterogeneity modelling, and model transformations with an eventual goal to support numeric flow modelling.
4a-11 Regional Groundwater Flow Systems: Theory and Application
[Click for full description]
José Joel Carillo Rivera (Mexico), Judit Mádl-Szónyi (Hungary)
As part of the inaugural celebration of the newly formed *Regional Groundwater Flow Commission* of IAH, we are pleased to invite oral and/or poster presentations to the above session(s) on the following aspects of regional groundwater-flow studies: i) theories and conceptual models; ii) field and model characterization of flow systems by dynamic parameters (hydraulic head, pressure, flux, flow pattern); iii) inferences of flow systems from surface manifestation and chemical-isotopic or remotely sensed observations; iv) practical applications of flow-system studies to water resources, geotechnics, geothermics, mineral exploration, petroleum exploration, landscape architecture, environment protection, soil salinization-amelioration, forestry and agriculture, land use planning and management.
4a-12 Urban Hydrogeology Issues
[Click for full description]
Ken Howard (Canada), Dan Rogers (USA), Stephen Foster (UK)
Over half the world’s 7 billion inhabitants live in urban areas and seriously impact quality and quantity of groundwater. In cities that rely on groundwater for potable supply, accelerating urban growth has seriously threatened the long term sustainability of the resource. Cities that import surface water for supply are equally obliged to manage groundwater due to rising water tables and inevitable water quality impacts on urban streams and wetlands. In this session we welcome abstracts on all aspects of urban groundwater - from the management of water resources in the world’s largest megacities to the impacts of small-scale urban development on recharge and groundwater quality in once pristine watersheds.
4a-13 Development and Application of Conceptual Models in Numerical Modelling
[Click for full description]
Mike Wireman (USA), Denis Peach (UK)
Understanding flow and transport in groundwater systems is critical for sustainable water resource management. This is made more difficult by climate and other environmental changes that may lead to extreme rainfall or drought events where scale and heterogeneity issues may produce currently historically undetected or monitored non-linear behaviour. Groundwater Systems are inherently complex, especially given the dynamic nature of groundwater /surface water interactions at the catchment or aquifer scale. For adequate characterization of hydrologic systems it is important to develop and evolve a rigorous conceptual model. Numerical modeling is often utilized to help develop sound conceptual understandings of flow systems, however it is difficult to apply numerical models to complex hydrologic systems and a flexible approach is often required using both distributed and simplified models. The theme of this session includes the connection/compatibility between conceptual models of catchment/aquifer scale hydrology and numerical models.
4a-14 Data Management
[Click for full description]
Description to come shortly.
4a-15 Aggregate Mining Issues
[Click for full description]
Description to come shortly.
b. Policy and Governance
4b-1 Groundwater and Development: Towards the Effective Integration of Hydrogeology in 'Water and Sanitation' Projects
[Click for full description]
Michael Campana (USA), Alan MacDonald (UK), Cathy Ryan (Canada)
Water supply and sanitation (WATSAN) projects in emerging countries often receive large investments from donor countries without good hydrogeological expertise. However, hydrogeologists can have much to offer - both in the planning and implementation phases of projects. This session explores the role that hydrogeology and hydrogeologists can play in making WATSAN projects more successful, sustainable and cost effective. We welcome case studies showing the value of hydrogeology to WATSAN projects, examples of where a lack of hydrogeological knowledge led to poor project execution, and papers that look forward to the role that hydrogeologist could play in the future. The overall goal of the session is strategize on how to effectively link hydrogeology to WATSAN projects.
4b-2 Lessons Learned from Groundwater Work Abroad
[Click for full description]
Alan Fryar (USA)
As hydrogeology matures as a discipline, increasing numbers of professionals and students are active in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. Often in the past, students from these regions have acquired expertise by pursuing graduate education in Western countries, and projects in lower- and middle-income countries have focused either on basic issues of water supply and water quality or on research affiliated with Western institutions. As a result of improved communication and access to information via the Internet, there is enhanced international collaboration among hydrogeologists, and enhanced potential for integrating research, practice, and education worldwide. This oral session is intended to provide examples of such collaboration and integration.
4b-3 Groundwater Availability: Past, Present and Future
[Click for full description]
Kevin Dennehy (USA), Howard Reeves (USA)
An adequate supply of water is essential for human health and economic well-being. Increased use of groundwater resources for domestic, agricultural, industrial, and environmental needs has led to uncertainty concerning the ability of systems to meet current and future demands. Therefore, water resources should be quantified to assess the sustainability of the system. Sound management decisions designed to sustain an adequate water supply are contingent upon understanding the hydrologic implications of various alternative development strategies and evaluating their short- and long-term implications at appropriate spatial and temporal scales. Water management decisions are often made at the local levels, but watersheds and principal aquifers typically cross a variety of political boundaries. A key issue that needs to be addressed is the ability to provide consistent and integrated information across political boundaries that are useful to those who use and manage groundwater resource. Adding to this already complex set of tasks are factors such as climate variability, which further exacerbate an already challenging situation.
Concerns about having sufficient supplies of freshwater to sustain human life and property as well as critical ecosystems has led to different approaches and methods of determining the availability and use of groundwater resources. This session brings together a range of perspectives on how this may be accomplished at different times and scales. We also seek efforts to improve fundamental knowledge of groundwater availability in watersheds and aquifers including flows, storage, and use. The challenge we all continue to face is developing the capability to characterize how much groundwater is currently available, how groundwater availability is changing, and will there be sufficient supplies for future needs. With your help, we will collectively provide much needed answers to basic questions about our ability to meet current and future demands that will be relevant to a range of decision makers and stakeholders.
4b-4 Groundwater Sustainability: Locally to Globally
[Click for full description]
Tom Gleeson (Canada), William Alley (USA), Marios Sophocleous (USA)
Can groundwater development be sustainable in different hydrologic and political settings? Sustainable development of groundwater resources is a crucial and significant societal challenge. This interdisciplinary session will highlight recent and ongoing efforts by hydrologists, ecologists, policy makers, regulators and others to develop cutting-edge groundwater sustainability concepts that are applicable at local to global scales.
4b-5 Groundwater Quality and Policies for Groundwater Protection
[Click for full description]
Esther Wattel-Koekkoek (Netherlands), Jana Levison (Canada)
Groundwater is a valuable natural resource and as such should be protected from deterioration and pollution e.g. from nitrates, pesticides, acidification and salinisation. This is particularly important for groundwater-dependent ecosystems and for the use of groundwater in water supply for human consumption. In this session we look at the effectiveness of policy measures that are implemented to protect groundwater by relating these policy measures to groundwater quality data. Monitoring groundwater quality is an important tool to assess groundwater quality changes and also to check the effectiveness of policy measures to prevent and control groundwater pollution. We welcome presentations on both regional and national scales, and on a wide variety of policy measures to protect groundwater: e.g. agricultural policy measures to reduce nitrate and pesticides, air quality policy measures to reduce acidification and eutrification, drinking water policies to protect sources from pollutants and microorganisms, etc. Questions to be discussed are: which policy measures lead to control or reduction of the contaminant loads towards groundwater? Do we detect trends/trend reversal in our groundwater quality monitoring data, indicating groundwater quality is under control, or where necessary, improving? To what extent can improvements in water quality be related to the implemented policy measures? This is a chance to exchange experiences in groundwater protection and its effect on groundwater quality.
4b-6 Groundwater For Decision Makers
[Click for full description]
Andrew Stone (USA)
The IAH Commission on Groundwater for Decision Makers was established in October 2011 to facilitate communication between IAH hydrogeology professionals and decision makers. The Commission’s objective is to achieve good stewardship, sustainable development and maximized benefit from groundwater resources.
Presentations for this conference session in Niagara Falls could include:
- Strategies to help the Commission achieve its objective.
- Assessment of the levels of “groundwater literacy” of citizens and entities with jurisdictional authority over water policy.
- Examples of current, local, regional or national water policy issues/ challenges where groundwater education is needed; or examples of failed policies because the role of groundwater was not adequately understood.
- Explanation of successful outreach to decision makers at project, regional or national level that has impacted decisions and has helped achieve sustainable groundwater policy.
- Review of techniques (pedagogical and/or technological) that can effectively “explain” and “communicate” to non-specialists the role of groundwater in the hydrologic system.
- Recommendations of the core groundwater concepts (universal truths) that should be included in explanations of ground water’s role in water resources management.
The following sequence of statements explains the rationale for the creation of the Commission.
- Science should be the basis for water policy.
- In most countries, water policy decision-makers are politicians at local, regional or national level.
- Groundwater scientists and engineers are the best people to explain hydrogeologic realities to decision makers.
- If we, (hydrogeologists) do not communicate with decision makers they will obtain information from elsewhere.
- Groundwater Information from other sources (non-hydrogeologists) may be based on vested interests and/ or given with no understanding of the fundamentals of water budget dynamics.
- One of the Commission’s objectives is to create IAH branded education materials that members can use to provide a consistent, objective and technically accurate message about groundwater.
- International, national and regional agencies with a focus on issues such as health, agriculture, ecological protection and economic development planning also need to receive objective information from hydrogeology experts.
4b-7 Groundwater As An International Security Issue
[Click for full description]
David Kreamer (USA)
Future conflicts in the world are projected to be increasingly related to a scarcity of resources, and in particular, water and groundwater. As population grows, demands for water to supply agriculture and industry, for municipal supply, and for energy needs will place competing communities and nations with a fundamental need to acquire water resources. In arid and semi-arid regions this resource can be largely groundwater, and in time of drought and/or natural disaster, competition for water supplies can be the final measure determining a community's survival. This session will examine factors fomenting conflict, the likelihood of conflict, and the potential areas where a change in the amount, quality, or allocation of groundwater would have destabilizing effects.
4b-8 Groundwater for Emergency Situations (GWES)
[Click for full description]
Jaroslav Vrba (Czech Republic)
In recent years, natural catastrophic events such as floods, droughts, storms, tsunamis, volcanic activities, earthquakes and landslides have increased in frequency, causing devastating effects on large population centres. Following a disaster, the immediate goal of rescue operations is to ensure the safety of endangered residents, but this is soon followed by an urgent need to provide emergency supplies of water for drinking and sanitation. Groundwater can provide a rapid and effective solution. Groundwater bodies are naturally less vulnerable to external impacts than surface waters, particularly deeper, confined aquifers with high storage and long residence times. These safe reserves should be seen as a substitute for regular drinking water supplies in areas at risk from natural disasters, or should be earmarked for potential emergency use until the regular water supplies can be safely restored. The aim of the session is to discuss effective methods for identification and investigation of emergency groundwater resources, to address principles of their risk management and measures for their equitable protection, and to discuss attributes of groundwater governance policy in emergency situations and in different phases of a disaster. Also discussed will be toolkits for institutional and technical capacity building with special regard to low- and middle-income countries.
5. Groundwater Quality
5-1 Nutrients in Groundwater
[Click for full description]
Dave Rudolph (Canada), Ian Clark (Canada)
Description to come shortly.
5-2 Nuclear Waste Management
[Click for full description]
Mark Jensen (Canada)
This session examines advances in hydrogeological sciences within the last decade relevant to the characterization and assessment of deep seated aquitard/aquiclude groundwater systems for the purpose of long-term radioactive waste management. A focus is placed on site characterization techniques in low permeability low storage sedimentary and crystalline rock settings, site-specific analogues to assess solute migration and pore fluid evolution, the up-scaling of natural barrier properties, numerical simulation of deep seated groundwater system behavior and stability during the Quaternary, and methods used to instill confidence in prediction of long-term groundwater system evolution. Papers addressing process understanding related to geosphere barrier performance from experimental work programs conducted at international Underground Research Laboratories are welcome.
5-3 New Developments in Soil and Groundwater Remediation
[Click for full description]
Jason Gerhard (Canada), Neil Thomson (Canada)
Effective, cost-efficient, and low-carbon-footprint soil and groundwater remediation methods are required to protect human and ecosystem health, to reduce private and public environmental liability, and to achieve urban revitalization. Investment in brownfield site remediation and redevelopment provides one of the largest returns in economic, environmental, and social benefits. Despite three decades of research, ‘dig and dump’ remains the default alternative at many sites, particularly for recalcitrant nonaqeuous phase liquids (NAPLs) such as heavy hydrocarbons and coal tar. Moreover, chlorinated solvents remain a significant challenge despite numerous technologies on the market. This session provides a forum for the general remediation community to present novel science, approaches, and performance results related to soil and groundwater remediation technologies. Presentations on all aspects of remediation are welcome including fundamental studies, laboratory evaluations, numerical modelling and full-scale applications in both porous and fractured media and for single technologies or novel technology combinations.
5-4 NAPL Source Zones: Flow and Mass Transfer at the Pore-scale to Field-scale
[Click for full description]
Kevin Mumford (Canada), John Christ (USA)
NAPL source zones remain a significant threat to groundwater quality. This session invites recent advances in our understanding of NAPL flow processes and their effect on source zone architecture, as well as mass transfer processes responsible for source removal and the development of aqueous- and vapour-phase plumes. Results from laboratory, field, and modelling studies are welcome. Pore-scale and field-scale investigations are invited, particularly those that examine the upscaling of local processes.
5-5 Fate of Nanoparticles and Colloids in the Environment
[Click for full description]
Denis M. O’Carroll (Canada), Sarah Dickson (Canada)
There is a considerable interest in understanding the fate of nanoparticles and colloids. The mobility of nanoparticles is important for both nanoparticle-based remediation and their potential effects on human and ecological health. The fate and transport of colloids in the subsurface is important for microbiological risk assessment, well production, bank infiltration and source water protection. Theoretical studies as well as novel experimental approaches at the micro-, bench- and field scales related to these topics are all encouraged.
5-6 Mineral and Thermal Waters
[Click for full description]
Jim Lamoreaux (USA)
Description to come shortly.
5-7 Groundwater Tracers/Isotopes
[Click for full description]
Description to come shortly.
5-8 Contaminant Hydrogeology
[Click for full description]
Description to come shortly.
5-9 Mining Issues
[Click for full description]
Description to come shortly.
5-10 Landfills
[Click for full description]
Description to come shortly.
5-11 Management and Utilization of Saline Waters
[Click for full description]
Description to come shortly.
6. General Hydrogeology
6-1 Education and Core Competencies for Professional Hydrogeologists
[Click for full description]
Dick Jackson (Canada)
There is a need in the 21st Century to standardize the required competency profile of the professional hydrogeologist so that his or her professional certification is accepted internationally. This is particularly the case in free-trade areas such as North America and the European Union where cross border consulting is economically important. It is also important to foreign graduate students who will want to be assured that their academic qualification in hydrogeology will be accepted internationally.
This session welcomes abstracts from those who teach hydrogeologists and those who practice across international boundaries. Keynote presentations will be delivered by Keith Turner of the Colorado School of Mines on the nature of core competency in the geo-engineering professions, by John Cherry, adjunct professor at the Universities of Waterloo, Guelph and Hong Kong, and Steve Foster, past president of the IAH. They will also contribute to a panel discussion following the other presentations.
6-2 Groundwater Resources in Canada
[Click for full description]
Alfonso Rivera (Canada)
This is a special session where a new recently published book will be launched. The “Groundwater Resources in Canada” represents the first integrated synthesis of knowledge on the groundwater resources of Canada since 1969. A multi-disciplinary team of 44 people from federal and provincial institutions and Canadian universities wrote this book.
The session will highlight what we know about the groundwater resources in Canada and also the gaps in knowledge we still need to fill in.
The book is composed of four main parts with a total of 17 chapters. Parts one and two include two chapters with the basics and the approaches to understanding groundwater; and four chapters with more in-depth of the sciences behind groundwater. These are designed for both the scholarly and the general public audiences. While these parts were prepared for specific conditions in Canada, they can be of interest and be used as a scholar book anywhere in the world.
Part three includes eight chapters on the hydrogeological regions of Canada. The information and data in this part of the book is very rich and contain material suited for practitioners, consultants, water managers, engineers, and also for professors and students alike. Those chapters could also be of interest for other countries, as they describe very precise geological and hydrogeological environments in Canada and how these were mapped and evaluated. They could actually be used as guidelines and approaches to groundwater resources assessments anywhere in the world.
The fourth part of the book contains two chapters designed for decision makers, and professional communities. But it could also help educate the general public and students. They include groundwater management and governance, emerging issues and perspectives on groundwater resources.
The session will provide a platform for the main authors of the book who will make brief presentations with key highlights of their respective chapters. Their objective is to share this rich information with their peers from other parts of the world attending this congress.
General participants to this congress are invited to attend this very special session. You do not need to be Canadian to attend this session (!). Practitioners, consultants, water managers, engineers, professors and students from anywhere in the world, will surely benefit and will learn a lot from these presentations.
If time allows, there will be a plenary discussion at the end of the presentations, where a selected number of book authors will be happy to further discuss the book with the audience. It will also be an excellent opportunity to be part of this Canadian network of groundwater specialists and to create bonds and linkages for future exchanges.
There will be printed copies of the book for purchase at the end of the session.
If you need more details of additional information please contact the session convener Alfonso Rivera at: arivera@nrcan.gc.ca
6-3 Young Scientists: Showcasing Research of Early Career Hydrogeologists
(Posters Only)
[Click for full description]
Judith Flügge (Germany), Grant Ferguson (Canada)
The successful advancement of any scientific profession is largely founded through incorporation of the knowledge and energy of young scientists. This incorporation is fostered by support and mentorship from more experienced members of the profession. At this Congress we encourage scientists of all ages and experience levels to submit abstracts for talk/poster presentations in any of the proposed sessions. We also encourage the inclusion of young scientists into other aspects of the Congress including helping to chair sessions.
The Early Career Hydrogeologists’ Network (ECHN) of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) invites young scientists to use this session as another avenue to showcase their research, with the added bonus of prizes for the best posters. We are especially looking forward to submissions which outline new developments and advances in hydrogeological methods, techniques, and process understanding that will impact the future of hydrogeology.
The best posters will be awarded with prizes in the course of the closing ceremonies of the Congress. To be eligible for prizes the presenters should be less than 35 years old, still be working on their theses or have completed their bachelor/master/diploma/PhD theses within the last two years at the time of the congress.
6-4 Technical Contributions of Women in Hydrogeology with Perspectives
[Click for full description]
Barbara Bekins (USA), Shemin Ge (USA)
The goal of this session is to highlight the technical contributions by women to hydrogeology. We are seeking presentations of technical results that include a brief overview of hydrogeology issues of the nation or region. We encourage presenters to share either a brief summary of personal education and career history or information on the status of women hydrogeologists in their nation.
6-5 History of Hydrogeology in North and Central America
[Click for full description]
Bob Betcher (Canada), Harm Maathuis (Canada), Peter Duckworth (Canada)
- the development of the theory of groundwater flow systems and studies which have been carried out to map flow systems;
- the development of digital groundwater models and their application;
- hydrogeochemical development of groundwater and how groundwater geochemistry changes within flow systems;
- the development and application of equipment to measure the physical or geochemical properties of groundwater; or
- a person or group of people who lead the development of specific concepts or were the earliest individuals to undertake mapping or study in specific regions.
Oral sessions will be developed depending on the number of abstracts received where the author has request oral rather than poster presentation. For instance, if a number of abstracts are received on the historical development and application of the flow system concept then a session on this topic will be put together. Authors could also consider both an oral presentation and a poster(s).
The session chairs will be in touch with authors independently submitting abstracts on similar topics and will encourage them to co-ordinate their work. We will work with the conference hotel to display the posters in various session and gathering rooms during the conference so there is ample opportunity for leisurely viewing.
