IAH - Commission on Hardrock Hydrogeology - HyRoC


You are here ->MEMBERS AND REGIONAL WORKING GROUPS

 
The Commission enables contacts between specialists from about 50 countries all over the world. It has no stable working programme or project - it is a flexible group of scientists and other professionals willing co-operate and interested in the main topic, i.e. theoretical and practical issues of hydrogeology of hard or fractured rocks.
 As the primary challenge of the Commission is to promote international co-operation of hydrogeologists and other professionals concerning hardrock hydrogeology (hydrology) the membership is not limited.
 The links between the Commission members are mainly based on the E-mail or written contacts. Yet Workshops organised by Regional Working Groups, the IAH Congresses and other IAH meetings offer possibilities for the Commission members to meet.
 In regions where the members of the Commission are willing to cooperate more intensively and in a continuous way Regional Working Groups (RWG) were established. The system of RWGs has proved to be a very effective tool of international co-operation in the field of hardrock hydrogeology. In Europe RWGs regularly convene workshops on different topics of hardrock hydrogeology starting from 1994. The existing RWGs in Europe are:
 
  • RWG of the Bohemian Massif
    (Central Europe) was established in 1994. It organised four Workshops (1994 in Rohanov, Czechia; 1996 in Borowice, Poland; 1998 in Windischeschenbach, Germany; 2006 in Jugowice, Poland). Steering Committee of the RWG is lead by Henryk Marszalek, Poland - hmar@ing.uni.wroc.pl; members: Gerold Diepolder, Germany - gerold.diepolder@lfu.bayern.de, Zbyněk Hrkal, Czechia - Zbynek_Hrkal@vuv.cz, Stanislaw Stasko, Poland - sstasko@ing.uni.wroc.pl, Uwe Troeger, Germany - uwe.troeger@tu-berlin.de.

     

  • Iberian RWG
    (Spain and Portugal) was established in 1996. The two Workshops were organised in 1997 in Miraflores de la Sierra close to Madrid, Spain and in 2005 in Évora, Portugal. INFO in Portugal: Antonio Chambel - achambel@uevora.pt, in Spain: Fermin Villarroya - ferminv@geo.ucm.es).

     

  • Fennoscandian RWG
    covers extended hardrock regions in Norway, Sweden and Finland. Up to now three Workshops were organised: 1998 in Äspö, Sweden, 2001 in Oslo, Norway and 2004 in Helsinki, Finland. Steering Committee consists of representatives of the three involved countries - Finland (Jussi Leveinen - jussi.leveinen@gtk.fi), Norway (Atle Dagestad – atle.dagestad@ngu.no) and Sweden (Bo Olofsson - boolof@kth.se).

     

  • RWG of the Middle and East Mediterranean (MEM)
    was established during the first Workshop of the RWG held in 2002 in Hellas at the Tinos Island. Second Workshop of this RWG was held in 2005 in Athens, Hellas, within the framework of the 7th Hellenic Hydrogeologic Conference.
     
    INFO: Prof. George Migiros from Hellas (Greece) – (www.bagm.aua.gr, gmigiros@otenet.gr)
    •  
    Eleven Workshops have been organised by the RWGs in Europe between 1994-2006. Results of all the workshops were published in the Proceedings . In addition to regional workshops International Conference on "Groundwater in Fractured Rocks" was held in Prague in September 2003. Proceedings of the Prague Conference (published as UNESCO´s SERIES ON GROUNDWATER No. 7, Eds. Jiri Krasny, Zbynek Hrkal and Jiri Bruthans) of 440 pp. consist of 206 accepted extended abstracts selected from 286 previously submitted abstracts of authors from 52 countries.
     For more information on Workshops organised by the Commission and its Regional Working Group and on the published Proceedings and the Prague 2003 Conference see the following chapters (3 and 4).
     Starting from 2006 the new South Asian RWG of the HyRoC was established, the first one out of Europe. The RWG would include India, Pakistan, Nepal, Srilanka to begin but more South Asian countries may be included. Hydrogeologists and other professionals interested in groundwater issues in hardrock terrains should contact Dr. Shakeel Ahmed (shakeelahmed@satyam.net.in) from the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India, who is willing to take up the responsibility in organising co-operation within this RWG. This activity is supported by the Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research, participation of representatives from major respective organizations is expected. Advisers of the RWG are Prof. BBS Singhal and Dr. SD Limaye. The main objectives of the South Asian RWG are:
    - To enhance interaction among the hydrogeologists on their research work and establish effective contacts.
    - To exchange the experience both in the form of achievements as well as difficulties faced in tackling such research and the results obtained so far to arrive, if possible, at a viable methodology to tackle groundwater problems in hard rocks.
    - To acquire new ideas of tackling similar problems in the region.
     Excellent possibility to reach at least some of these objectives will offer the 37th IAH Congress to be held in 2009 in Hyderabad, India, focused directly on issues of hardrock hydrogeology.
    The IAH Commission on Hardrock Hydrogeology looks also for partners who could help to establish RWGs in other parts of the world with extended hardrock terrains as for example in western Europe (France, UK, Ireland), eastern Europe (Ukraine, Russia etc.), in Brazil, in some parts of Africa, Canada, Australia and in other countries/groups of countries to foster a worldwide co-operation within the Commission.