Activities of IAH’s commissions and networks include contributing to the science of groundwater and undertaking outreach, education and training. They run sessions at IAH congresses, co-convene technical meetings and field excursions with other societies, host workshops and training courses and prepare educational and outreach publications. You do not have to be an IAH member to participate. Activities in 2021 included:
Our Groundwater Quality Commission (GQC) published a special issue in the ‘Science of the Total Environment”. It also led the drafting of a chapter of the World Water Development Report 2022; and contributed to the paper on the qualitative state of groundwater resources globally: “Assessing Groundwater Quality: A Global Perspective. Importance, Methods and Potential Data Sources”, as part of the Friends of Groundwater, a network of global groundwater experts from 20 organisations.
IAH’s Karst Commission commemorated its 50th anniversary with a special issue entitled ‘Five Decades of Advances in Karst Hydrogeology’ for IAH’s Hydrogeology Journal.
The Commission on Managed Aquifer Recharge co-chair was invited as part of the University of Birmingham’s COP26 events to give the China Institute’s 2021 Li Siguang Lecture, entitled, “Enhancing Groundwater Sustainability for Climate Resilience through MAR”. MAR Commission edited a special issue in Water MDPI on “Managed Aquifer Recharge for Water Resilience”. MAR Commission members led the editing of a book version of Managed Aquifer Recharge for Water Resilience, a printed edition of the special issue. MAR Commission’s Co-Chair was the lead editor for the UNESCO volume, ‘Managing Aquifer Recharge: A Showcase for Resilience and Sustainability’.
The Regional Groundwater Flow (RGFC) and Managed Aquifer Recharge Commissions, along with the Hungarian NC, supported the International Symposium on Geofluids. The RGFC also supported the session at vEGU21 on ‘The role of groundwater flow systems in solving water management and environmental problems’.
The Socio-Hydrogeology Network edited a special issue in the journal ‘Water’ on the ‘Socio-Hydrogeology in Groundwater Resources Assessments and Management’. SHGN supported the International Conference on Sociohydrology in The Netherlands on ‘Socio-Hydrogeology – Human-water perspectives from below the ground. SHG provided support to the “Water Underground” initiative – see https://blogs.egu.eu/network/waterunderground/2020/12/18/elevating-diverse-voices-and-groundwater-research-from-around-the-world-with-waterunderground-talks/
See https://iah.org/groups/commissions-networks for further information, including contact details.