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NEWS &information IAH - THE WORLDWIDE GROUNDWATER ORGANISATION Furthering the understanding, wise use and protection of groundwater resources throughout the world MAY 2012 GREEN LIGHT THIS ISSUE INCLUDES: MEDIA FOCUS.............2 GIVEN TO MEETING REPORTS...4, 22 MENTORING IAH NEWS..................6 SCHEME WHYMAP RELEASE.......9 In the second half of 2011 IAH organised a survey to gauge its members’ COMMISSIONS ETC......11 interest in the idea of a mentoring scheme. Thank you to all those who responded - it is clear from the number of replies and comments received CHAPTERS.................14 that there is a potential demand. Full report and next steps on page 12. BOOK RELEASES.........19 OUT OF PRINT CONGRESS NEWS........23 BOOKS LISTINGS, COPY AND As a service to the groundwater The IAH LinkedIn group has now ADVERTISING............24 community, IAH’s out of print grown to just under 700 members books have been made freely - almost 200 members joining available to download. since we were drafting the last See http://www.iah.org/ newsletter. So now the next publications_library_popup.asp. challenge. Can we make it to 1000 members by our congress, One title is missing. We have just in September? That would be secured a copy of “Hydrogeology a quarter of our current IAH of Karstic Terrains, Case Histories membership. (1984)” Burger and Dubertret. This will be scanned and uploaded Follow link on IAH’s home page to soon. Our thanks go to Geoff join the group. Wright in Ireland for helping us out. INTERNATIONAL Keep up to date: visit our Contact us: email [email protected] ASSOCIATION OF website for the latest news with your news, views http://www.iah.org or questions HYDROGEOLOGISTS MAY 2012 1 MEDIA FOCUS A selection of groundwater features from around the world “Water resources are under pressure in many parts of Europe, and it is getting worse” Europe needs to redouble efforts in using water more efficiently to avoid undermining its economy, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA). Inefficient water use impacts hard on the resources needed by ecosystems and people, both vital assets for European productivity and security. The report ‘Towards Efficient use of water resources in Europe’ makes the case for integrated water management, starting with better implementation of existing legislation. 19 March 2012, European Environment Agency http://www.eea.europa.eu/pressroom/newsreleases/europe-needs-to-use-water China - “Bid to save water under the ground” Northeast China’s Liaoning province is poised to implement the most stringent regulations in its history to address the over-exploitation of groundwater. Liaoning provincial government announced that it will strengthen administration of groundwater use. These regulations are mainly focused on limiting the total use of groundwater and increasing water-use efficiency. By 2015, the province will shut down all of the region’s underground water projects except for those used in emergencies, according to a plan made by local authorities. A total of nearly 3,800 existing projects will be closed, which will prevent the extraction of more than 1.2 billion cubic meters of groundwater in the following years. Official data show that Liaoning has had a shortage of water supply for long and its annual extraction of groundwater is greater than most Chinese provinces and has reached 6.74 billion cubic meters. The rapid depletion of groundwater has severe consequences, including saltwater intrusion and sinkholes. Take Dalian, a port city in the province, for example. Overuse of water has caused salt water to intrude into local groundwater, which has led to contamination of drinking water. Experts have yet to find a solution. Liaoning is not the only place in China that suffers from groundwater over-exploitation. Early this January, the China Geological Environmental Monitoring Institute published a report saying groundwater over-exploitation and the subsequent decay are mainly responsible for geological dangers in eastern and central China. But experts argue that enforcing these measures is rather hard, though leaders at various levels will be held accountable. “Local governments are asked to reduce water consumption and simultaneously develop their economies without further depleting the groundwater table. This is very challenging,” said Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a non-governmental organization. Experts suggest that follow-up work needs to be carried out to make the proposed measures more effective. “We cannot sacrifice the environment for money. But the government should do more work to help industries to adapt to the change rather than imposing rigid regulations,” said economics professor Shao Jianbing of Liaoning University. 2 February 2012, China Daily http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-02/02/content_14521857.htm 2 “UAE bans export of groundwater” “Peru’s cash crop, asparagus, is bleeding key region Abu Dhabi: The Ministerial Service Council has dry” banned the export of groundwater due to a decline Peru has recently become the world’s number one in its levels in the country. The move came upon a exporter of asparagus, sending the green vegetable recommendation from the Federal National Council to places in Europe and the United States. The boom (FNC) following a study carried out by the Ministry of there has pumped a lot of money into the economy, Environment and Water. The study shows a decline but it’s also pumped out a lot of water. in underground water and the depletion of water resources as a result of exports. “The agro-exporters starting from 1995 intensively were overdrafting the aquifer, pumping water up “Water more important to country than oil” and out,” said David Bayer, a local water activist who first came to Peru in 1964. He said the Peruvian Last year, General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed government, with the support of the U.S. and the Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy World Bank, pushed asparagus cultivation for export. Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Companies were allowed to irrigate their crops with called for placing the issue of water scarcity at the top water pumped up from the aquifer, for only the cost of of the UAE’s national agenda. He recently said water is building and operating wells. Basically, they got free more important than oil in the UAE. This is a bold and water. “And they also took over the equivalent, in the clear signal that an economy based on oil is placing case of the Ica Valley, the equivalent of virtually 40 water at the top of its priorities. percent, 45 percent of the land,” Bayer said. 23 Feburary 2012, Gulf News 24 January 2012, PRI (Public Radio International) http://wwww.gulfnews.com http://www.pri.org The inaugural HeadsUP! competition, founded by also Leonard Konikow’s (USGS, and IAH VP for North Peggy Weil and produced in collaboration with America) Global Groundwater Depletion Rates 1900- Visualising.org, challenged designers to visualise 2008. Combining 8 different methods of estimation, groundwater levels with the winning visualisation this data set presents the average rate of groundwater being displayed on Times Square 2, Thomson depletion for 50+ major water systems around the Reuters/NASDAQ digital signboards in Times Square, world. Estimated depletion rates are given in cubic New York. This was the first of a series of challenges kilometers / year, by decade from 1900 – 2008. The to be implemented across a range of physical and water systems included are aquifers, regions, and mobile media. regional summaries (including global totals). The winning animation was designed and made Lenny tells us that he went up to New York for the by Richard Vijgen, aiming to show on one hand the initial display and attended a small reception hosted beauty and overwhelming complexity of the natural by Thompson-Reuters. “Lots of fun”. cycle of wet and dry seasons, and on the other hand to highlight the challenge of carefully managing our use To find out more go to http://headsuptimessquare. of groundwater. com, which has full background information and interviews. IAH plans to host the animation on its Data for the visualisation were obtained from NASA’s website; more news will follow soon. GRACE mission (provided by Jay Famiglietti) and MAY 2012 3 Report by Shammy Puri, IAH Secretary General IAH AT MARSEILLE Re ections from the sixth World Water Forum Since the Kyoto World Water Forum in 2003, where IAH exhibits, it all becomes more than a little daunting, had a truly large representation and made a mighty effort except for the strong hearted! With some early to highlight ‘groundwater’ in the gobal water agenda, planning, and ensuring that meeting appointments are we have seen a steady increase in the recognition of made with key people before the start of the Forum, this natural resource. With this recognition, the views of useful networking is possible with those with whom hydrogeologists are also being sought more than they IAH members would not normally meet. From this were in the past. Perhaps we as an Association can claim perspective, it is good to be present at these fora and to some credit for this? IAH representatives participated ensure that the voice of the professional hydrogeologist in the two subsequent Fora, in Mexico in 2006 and can be heard – particularly as there still remains Istanbul in 2009. The most recent, the Sixth World Water considerable misunderstanding and poor awareness of Forum (March 12 - 16 2012) was no exception and IAH the many facets of sound groundwater management. was involved in a number of sessions, some convened The overall impression of the Forum was that water directly by IAH and others in which members made and all aspects of water management are now major significant contributions.