Welcome

12^th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge

From Theory to Implementation and Operation

28 April – 2 May 2025 – Stellenbosch, South Africa

The 12th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR12) was held in the wine heartland of South Africa, Stellenbosch, from 28 April to 2 May 2025. The main theme “From Theory to Implementation and Operation” placed the focus on the latest research, implementation of MAR sites and the practicality of operating MAR schemes. The 8 Sub-themes covered multiple aspects in the field of MAR in the domestic/municipal, agricultural, and mining sectors. Oral and Poster presentations, multiple workshops and social interactions allowed the delegates to present innovative solutions and discuss pressing societal challenges. Pre-conference courses allowed the delegates to gain practical knowledge for expert presenters. 3 end-of-the-week excursions showcased the latest MAR sites and the landscape of the Cape Town and Saldanha areas. https://www.ismar12.org.za/

Organised by the IAH South Africa National Chapter

ISMAR 12´s Programme and Abstract Booklet

IAH-MAR. Online MAR Seminars

The IAH-MAR Commission organizes a series of monthly online seminars on different topics related to implementation and development of MAR applications.

The seminars can be attended online free of charge. Events section Access.

Last IAH-MAR Commission plenary. 2025 April 30^th, ISMAR 12.

The IAH-MAR Commission hosted the last plenary during ISMAR 12 conference.

AGENDA

1.Presentation of IAH-MAR Commission (Enrique)

Last memory of activities (2024 Next 2025 report (Enrique & Catalin).

2.Working Groups and Communities of Practise (WG & COPs leaders)

3.Invitation to ISMAR 13, 2028 (ISMAR 13 representative).

4.Election / Re-election of IAH-MAR Co-chairs (Julian Conrad)

5.IAH Certificates of Appreciation (IAH & IAH-MAR representatives)

6.Upcoming events (Catalin & Enrique)

7.Information Sharing: on going or recently finished MAR or MAR-related projects (Catalin & Enrique)

8.Future post-ISMAR 12 Journal. Special issue. Call for action (Catalin)

9.New publications on MAR. Short mention/presentation by authors

10.In memoriam (co-chairs)

11.Suggestions for new activities (all)

12.Call for volunteers to participate in existing and new activities (all)

13.Information sharing on MAR (not covered elsewhere, all)

Minutes of the plenary: https://recharge.iah.org/recent-iah-mar-plenaries

IAH-MAR Commission plenary during ISMAR 12. The current co-chairs have been re-elected

The last plenary has taken place in Stellenbosch, PROTEA hotel, 2025 April 30^th. 42 in-person members of the MAR group were congregated according to the program exposed in the previous newsletter, and an undefined number of participants in streaming.

The current co-chairs have been re-elected for the next “inter-ISMARs period”. The IAH Executive received neither more candidacies nor expressions of interest, therefore elections were not necessary, and the current co-chairs have been re-elected by the complete plenary.

The co-chairs want to express gratitude for the confidence, and begin a new three-year mandate. The next elections will take place during ISMAR 13´s plenary by 2027 in India.

Photo: IAH-MAR co-chairs, from left to right: Catalin, Yan and Enrique.

Plenary agenda. 2025 April 30^th

ISMAR 12. Certificates of appreciation 2025

2025 April 30^th. During ISMAR 12 Plenary, five new certificates of appreciation were awarded to prominent members of the MAR Community, who have carried out tasks deserving such a recognition.

It is a motivation tradition, and with these, 27 members of the IAH-MAR family count on an award, signed by our IAH President, Dr. Teodora Szoks, and General Secretary, Dr. Jane Dottridge. The prizes were recognized in person by the IAH Vicepresident Julian Conrad, and IAH-MAR co-chairs represented by Dr. Enrique Fdez. Escalante and Dr. Catalin Stefan.   THE  AWARDEES WERE:

• Alice Aureli
• Declan Page
• Fanus Fourie and ISMAR 12 Team
• Petri Jokela
• Roberto Navarro Venegas

CONGRATULATIONS, DEAR COLLEAGUES!!

IAH-MAR Commission. Report of activities 2024

The report has been submitted to IAH Executive by early 2025. Please, Reported actrivities included, at least, one member from our Commission participating in the listed events. Notice we consider the members of this commission all those subscribed in the IAH-MAR Forum and mailing list: https://lists.flinders.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/iah-mar.listcgs

Access the report: https://recharge.iah.org/files/2025/02/IAH-MAR-Annual-Report-2024.pdf

Managed Aquifer Recharge: Overview and Governance. IAH Special Publication.

Dillon, P., W. Alley, Y. Zheng, and J. Vanderzalm (editors), 2022, Managed Aquifer Recharge: Overview and Governance. IAH Special Publication (90p, 2.4 MB)

This book was produced as a joint effort of IAH, UNESCO and NGWA with encouragement of the Ground Water Project and published as a Special Publication of IAH in June 2022. Its three sections written by different teams give (1) an overview of purposes, types, source waters, advantages, challenges, and essential requirements of MAR; (2) an international synthesis of policy innovations to harness and encourage MAR in water resources management for sustainability in both developing and advanced jurisdictions; and (3) an overview of water quality management strategies for health and environmental protection in MAR from a variety of starting positions and capabilities. This helps to fill the major gaps in governance arrangements for MAR identified in Zheng et al (2021).

Content:

Section 1 Basic Concepts of Managed Aquifer Recharge
Section 2 Considerations for Water Resources Planning and Management
Section 3 Considerations for Water Quality Management

Download book

What the Future Has in Store: A New Paradigm for Water Storage

The most recent report of World Bank Group recognises the role of water storage through managed aquifer recharge as crucial tool for climate change adaptation. The report highlights that:

“What the Future Has in Store: A New Paradigm for Water Storage calls for developing and driving multi-sectoral solutions to the water storage gap, taking approaches that integrate needs and opportunities across the whole system, including natural, built, and hybrid storage, to support many instead of few, for generations to come.”

Read the very interesting report here: https://bit.ly/3I3rdNj.

The 21st century water quality challenges for managed aquifer recharge: towards a risk-based regulatory approach

The IAH-MAR Commission has contributed to the Hydrogeology Journal’s the Year of Groundwater essay topical collection by articulating the need to designate a subsurface attenuation zone in MAR regulations so that the 21st water quality challenges can be met. Over time, a risk-based regulatory approach has advantages over a prescriptive and qualitative approach and is thus recommended.

Download article:

Zheng, Y., Vanderzalm, J., Hartog, N., Fernández Escalante, E., Stefan, C. (2022) The 21st century water quality challenges for managed aquifer recharge: towards a risk‐based regulatory approach. Hydrogeology Journal.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-022-02543-z

International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge, ISMAR 11. Some facts and figures!

April 11^th to 15^th. Long Beach, California, USA. From 2022 April 11^th to 15^th has taken place in Long Beach, Hilton Hotel, the 11^th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR 11), hosted by GRA and co-hosted by AHS and OCWD; under the auspices of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), UNESCO and ASCE, among others, under the title: “Managed aquifer recharge: A key to sustainability”.

The symposium counted on 350 delegates from 27 countries, and has had 26 technical sessions, 123 oral presentations, 7 posters, 2 keynote presentations, side events, three first day short courses, two technical field trips, one after-conference course, and plenty of knowledge.

More info; https://ismar11.net/

ISMAR 11´s Agenda!

Further information and technical/scientific releases from the conference will be posted shortly.

ISMAR 11´s Post-conference Journal, Water special issue (MDPI). Finalised.

Selected papers presented at ISMAR 11 have been published in a Special Issue of the open-access journal WATER, continuing the tradition from previous symposia, including ISMAR 10. Access is open for all ISMAR 11 participants, and all members of the international MAR community.

The title of the special issue is: “Managed Aquifer Recharge: A key to Sustainability” and the included papers are available in electronic format. through this link: ttps://www.mdpi.com/journal/water/special_issues/Aquifer_Recharge.

Managing Aquifer Recharge: A Showcase for Resilience and Sustainability.
UNESCO-IAH Publication

In partnership with UNESCO-IHP and GRIPP, the IAH-MAR Commission has initiated the publication “Managing Aquifer Recharge: A Showcase for Resilience and Sustainability”.  This reflects the outputs of two working groups: MAR for Sustainable Development, and Economics of MAR.  The co-editors, Yan Zheng, Andrew Ross, Karen Villholth and Peter Dillon are grateful to the 28 MAR case studies contributors who went to enormous efforts to provide a detailed account from concept to implementation, enabling a cost-benefit analysis and a sustainability assessment reported in the synthesis.  The book showcase that precedent is no prerequisite, and that people at ground level who develop an understanding of their groundwater can design workable solutions to sustainably meet their needs using a wide range of MAR techniques. The MAR book, published in 2021, is a welcoming addition in anticipation to the ‘Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible’ theme, World Water Day 2022.

Download (30 MB): https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379962