GROUNDWATER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT:

International Conference - GROUNDWATER FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT:
Problems, Perspectives and Challenges (IGC-2006)

Jawarlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
February 1-4, 2006

National Geophysical Research Institute
Hyderabad, India

Jawaharlal Nehru University
School of Environmental Sciences, New Delhi, India

Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, New Delhi, India

Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Mumbai, India

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) KTH-International Groundwater
Arsenic Research Group
Stockholm, Sweden

International Technical Cooperation Programme, CIM (GTZ/BA)Frankfurt,
Germany

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), UNE, PySA
San José, Costa Rica


Aims of Conference IGC-2006
Groundwater is the most important source of the domestic, industrial,
and agricultural water supply in the world. There is an overwhelming
need for information related to exploration, protection, and qualitative
and quantitative evaluation of groundwater resources. In many parts of
the world, especially in the developing countries, the population growth
has created an unprecedented demand for water for industrial,
agricultural and drinking water purposes, competing for the same a finite
resource. The presence of geogenic contaminants in groundwater for example
arsenic and fluoride in toxic levels has posed major environmental health
risks of the present century. Several million people depend on arsenic-
and fluoride contaminated groundwater for drinking purposes that
endangers public health. Urgent solutions are required that are based on
quality research and sound scientific principles. Over 99% of the world's
fresh, available water is groundwater; yet, the vast majority of
financial resources are directed to surface water found in rivers and lakes.
This serious imbalance requires urgent redress. Significant financial
support is required for basic groundwater research if sustainable
development is to be a realistic goal. As a fresh water resource, groundwater
has major advantages over surface water.

These advantages will never be realized without the commitment of world
governments to exploration programs that can delimit and characterize
aquifers, perform water balances, map water quality, and provide for
long-term monitoring. Many aquifers extend across political boundaries.
There is a critical need to promote intergovernmental coordination for
developing joint management strategies. Ultimately, groundwater can
deliver major socio-economic and ecological benefits but the aquifer systems
that sustain the resource need to be adequately understood and
responsibly managed. We require new technologies, and management policies that
include effective strategies for water quality protection. Meeting
these challenges requires a serious commitment of funds by governments and
aid agencies.

The goal of the international conference "IGC-2006" is to provide a
platform bring together earth scientists, professionals from chemical and
engineering science disciplines, public health professionals and social
scientists involved with the sustainable development of groundwater
resources.

TS-1 Sustainable water resources assessment

- The role of remote sensing techniques and Geographic Information
System (GIS) in groundwater resource assessment.

- Recent advances in geological/geophysical/ geochemical/geotechnical
methods in terms of methodology and interpretation techniques for
exploration, exploitation of groundwater resources and assessment of
groundwater contamination.

- New techniques on monitoring levels of groundwater and contamination,
watershed development, parameterization, assessment and management of
groundwater resources in hard rock aquifer system.

- Geo-statistical techniques in estimation of hydrological variables in
space and time.

- Application of Information and Communication Tools (ICT) for
assessment and development of groundwater resources.


TS-2 Recharge process and artificial recharge

- Recharge process in arid and semi-arid regions.

- Application of isotope techniques in hydrogeological studies.

- Groundwater dating

- Artificial recharge methods, including Aquifer Storage and Recovery
(ASR) for augmentation of groundwater resources to improve its quantity
and quality and impact assessment of artificial recharge on
environmental system and management of aquifer recharge.

- Impact of wasteland development on the hydrological cycle due to
dwindling of surface water in the lower reach as well on the sustainability
of the already existing groundwater structures.


TS-3 Water and environment

- Environmental problems in coastal watersheds (surface and groundwater
and contamination interaction) due to human activities.

- The impact of human activities, climate changes and urbanizations on
groundwater system.

- Soil water chemistry and its role in understanding groundwater
contamination.

- Assessment of groundwater contamination and mapping of aquifer
vulnerability in porous and hard rock aquifer system and remedial measures in
controlling contaminant migration in soils and groundwater system.

- Natural disasters (tsunami etc.) and their impact on groundwater
quality.


TS-4 Modeling and its application in soft and hard rock aquifer systems

- Characterization of fracture geometry and its properties for
understanding the flow mechanism in hard rocks with special reference to
multi-scale level parameters (local scale to extended scale through
up-scaling procedure) approach.

- Lake and aquifer interaction studies and conjunctive use of surface
and groundwater for sustainable development of aquifer systems.

- Groundwater Flow and Mass Transport modeling for the assessment and
management of groundwater resources and contamination in porous and
fractured medium.

- Issues related to model calibration and validation when models are
used as decision-making tools.

- The role of models, modelers and managers in decisions making
processes.


TS-5 Arsenic and fluorine in groundwater

- Occurrences of arsenic and fluoride in sedimentary and hard-rock
aquifers

- Biogeochemistry of Arsenic and fluoride in soil and groundwater.

- Arsenic and fluoride in the food chain.

- Environmental health effects and risk assessment.

- Assessment of social and economic impacts.

- Remediation and management of As- and F-rich groundwaters.


TS-6 Management aspects of groundwater

- The impact of inter-basin water transfer and interlinking rivers on
groundwater regime with special reference to ecology and environment.

- Management of groundwater resources through scientific and community
participation approach with special reference to over exploited regions
in developing countries.

- Gender issues in management and use of groundwater resources.

- The role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and social
scientists in creating awareness among user community on the sustainable
development and management of groundwater resources

For the details of pre-registration and submission of abstracts please
visit the official conference website:

http://www.lwr.kth.se/personal/personer/bhattacharya_prosun/IGC-2006.htm

Conference Chairs (IGC-2006)

Dr. M. Thangarajan, NGRI, Hyderabad-500007, India Tel: +91-040-23434698
(O) or +91-040-27175156 (H) E-mail: mthangarajan @ hotmail.com or
mthangarajan @ eth.net

Dr. AL. Ramanathan, School of Environmental Sciences, JNU,New
Delhi-110067, India Tel: +91 (0) 11-26704314 or 26704316; Fax: +91 (0)
11-26106501 E-mail: alr_jnu @ yahoo.co.in

Dr. Prosun Bhattacharya, KTH-International Groundwater Arsenic Research
Group, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden Ph: +46 8
790 7399; Fax: +46 8 411 0775 E-mail: prosun @ kth.se

Conference Co-Chairs (IGC-2006)

Prof. D. Chandrasekharam, Department of Earth Sciences, Centre of
studies in Resources Engineering and Department of Earth Sciences, Indian
Institute of Technology-Bombay, Mumbai-400076 E-mail: dchandra @
geos.iitb.ac.in

Dr. A.K. Keshari, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of
Technology-Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110 016, India E-mail: akeshari
@ civil.iitd.ernet.in or akeshari @ hotmail.com

Prof. Dr. Jochen Bundschuh, International Technical Co-operation
Programme CIM (GTZ/BA), Frankfurt, Germany - Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad ICE, San José, Costa Rica; Universidad Nacional de Santiago del
Estero, Santiago del Estero, Argentina. E-mail: jochenbundschuh @
yahoo.com