Events
– U P C O M I N G E V E N T S –
(* = with IAH-MAR Plenary)
12th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR12)*
From Theory to Implementation and Operation
Stellenbosch, South Africa, 28 April – 2 May 2025
The 12th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR12) will be 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” places the focus on the latest research, implementation of MAR sites and the practicality of operating MAR schemes. The 8 Sub-themes cover multiple aspects in the field of MAR in the domestic/municipal, agricultural, and mining sectors. Oral and Poster presentations, multiple workshops and social interactions will allow the delegates to present innovative solutions and discuss pressing societal challenges. Various exhibit opportunities and sponsoring opportunities exist. Pre-conference courses will allow the delegates to gain practical knowledge for our expert presenters. 3 end-of-the-week excursions are planned to showcase the latest MAR sites and the landscape of the Cape Town and Saldanha areas with networking opportunities. https://www.ismar12.org.za/ will soon have more information and timelines.
Organised by the IAH South Africa National Chapter.
– P A S T E V E N T S –
50th IAH Congress*
Groundwater: A Matter of Scale
Cape Town, South Africa, 18-22 September 2023
After Brazil, Belgium and China, the next IAH Congress will be organised in Cape Town. South Africa. The topic of this congress is “Groundwater: A Matter of Scale”. Visit the conference website at: https://iah2023.org.za/.
International Riverbank Filtration Conference
RBF Conference (RBF2023)
Dresden, Germany, 16-18 October 2023
Add your contribution to the field of riverbank filtration (RBF): country-specific experiences on RBF application, clogging, hydraulic design, innovative site investigation techniques, operation and management, water quality aspects, post-treatment, environmental, social, economic and policy aspects, and awareness creation.
Join experts from Austria, Brazil, China, Egypt, Finland, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Vietnam and more countries and exchange experiences with them. Abstract submission and early-bird registration extended until 31 August 2023. More info: https://www.htw-dresden.de/rbfconf.
Download conference flyer.
MARISS2023
5th International Summer School on Managed Aquifer Recharge
Dresden, Germany, 3-14 July 2023
The Division of Water Sciences at the Dresden University of Applied Sciences organised the 5th International Summer School on “Managed Aquifer Recharge” (MARISS) from 3-14 July 2023. The two-week summer school is an advanced training course for Master’s students, Ph.D. students, and young engineers and scientists on applied aspects of managed aquifer recharge with a focus on bank filtration. The course included lectures, computer work, laboratory experiments, and technical field trips to MAR sites. More info here.
NGWA Conference on MAR
Managed Aquifer Recharge: Unleashing Resiliency, Protecting Groundwater Quality
San Antonio, Texas, USA, 24-25 April 2023
More info: https://www.ngwa.org/detail/event/2023/04/24/default-calendar/23apr5029.
UN Groundwater Summit 2022
Paris, France, 7-8 December 2022
The UN-Water Summit on Groundwater 2022 aimed to bring attention to groundwater at the highest international level. The Summit used the UN World Water Development Report 2022 as a baseline and the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework as a guideline to define actions towards more responsible and sustainable use and protection of this vital natural resource. Read more: https://groundwater-summit.org/.
MAR Con ’22
International Conference on current research results of the H2020 project MARSoluT
Barcelona, Spain, 19-20 October 2022
The objective of the conference was to bring together all interested parties from universities, research institutes, water authorities, water companies, and others from a variety of countries to learn more about the most recent research on Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) and its application in the frame of an integrated water resources management. Conference website: https://www.marsolut-itn.eu/news-events/network-events/conference/.
49th IAH Online Congress
Wuhan, China (online event), 19-23 September 2022
The theme of the 49th IAH Congress is “Groundwater Sustainability and Poverty Reduction”. Poverty reduction is a top priority for most countries in the world. Unfortunately, most of the poor countries and regions have been faced with serious problems of water scarcity and contamination. It is the mission and ultimate responsibility of the international community of hydrogeologists to help the people get access to sustainable safe supply of fresh groundwater. Conference website: https://www.iah2022.com/.
11th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR11)*
Managed Aquifer Recharge: A Key to Sustainability
Long Beach, California, USA, 11-15 April 2022
The 11th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR11) is hosted by the Groundwater Resources Association of California and co-hosted by the Arizona Hydrological Society and the Orange County Water District. For more details visit the symposium website: https://www.grac.org/events/272.
MAR is the Focus of University of Birmingham’s
Virtual Li Siguang Lecture
Online event, 28 October 2021
As a part of the University of Birmingham’s COP26 events, Prof. Yan Zheng of SUSTech, an IAH-MAR Commission co-chair, is invited to give the China Institute’s 2021 Li Siguang Lecture that will be broadcasted virtually on 28th October 2021. Watch the lecture here: China Institute: Annual Li Siguang Lecture – YouTube.
47th IAH Congress*
Sao Paolo, Brazil, 22-27 August 2021
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the 47th IAH Congress had to be organised online. A series of bi-weekly online seminars including marketing, technical and scientific, inspirational, and professional training themes are organised between 21 September 2020 and 27 August 2021. In August 2021, the organisers planned the organisation of a hybrid event, in coordination with the organisers of the 48th congress in Brussels. Read more at https://iah2021brazil.org/en/.
International Summer School on Managed Aquifer Recharge
Dresden, Germany, 22 August – 4 September 2021
The two-week course offers M.Sc./Ph.D./young professionals the opportunity to study basic, advanced and applied aspects of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) and Riverbank Filtration (RBF). The course focuses on sharing and exchanging knowledge and new ideas in the field of MAR and RBF. The course consists of expert lectures, MAR computer modelling practice, laboratory experiments and technical excursions supplemented by participant presentations and informal discussion sessions. For more information check the school website.
48th IAH Congress*
Inspiring Groundwater
Brussels, Belgium, 6-10 September 2021
The IAH Belgian Chapter, together with its partners, is organising the 48th IAH Congress in the heart of Europe, Brussels. Abstract submission is open until 23 march 2021. For more information visit the congress website at https://iah2021belgium.org.
INTERREG Online Seminar
Good Practices and Benchmark Analysis on MAR Solutions in the EU
Online event, 23 September 2020
Within the framework of the INTERREG project, a series of online seminars are planned in English, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian and Croatian languages. The first event will be organised by TU München on 23 September 2020 and it will be dedicated to good practices and benchmark analysis solutions in the EU. Read more.
17th Biennial Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (BSMAR17)
Resilience Through Recharge and Recovery
Online event, 5-9 October 2020
The 17th Biennial Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (BSMAR17) will be organised this year in conjunction with the Southwest Extreme Precipitation Symposium (SWEPSYM) as 5 day virtual conference between 5-9 October 2020. The symposium is jointly organised by the Arizona Hydrological Society and the Floodplain Management Association. Website: https://bsmar.site.
1st IWRA Online Conference (IWRA2020)
Addressing Groundwater Resilience under Climate Change
Online event, 29-30 October 2020
The first fully online conference organised by the International Water Resources Association )IWRA) includes themes. A session on managed aquifer recharge (no. 2.8) is included in Theme 2 “Climate change effects on groundwater resilience (pollution and remediation). Website: https://iwraonlineconference.org.
Online Seminar
Groundwater – Base Rock of Resilience
Online event, 25-26 August 2020
The Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP), coordinated by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), in collaboration with the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), and the University of Victoria, hosted a series of online seminars at this year’s virtual World Water Week. The aim of this webinar series is to discuss the role of groundwater in a resilient development pathway under climate change and other slow- or fast-onset global disrupters. Read more.
Online Seminar
Experiences and proposals for improvement of the management of Ica’s aquifers in Peru
Online event, 11 August 2020
On 11 August 2020, the Co-Chair of IAH MAR Commission, Dr. Enrique Fernandez Escalante contributed to an online seminar dedicated to groundwater management in Peru and Mexico. The seminar was organised by Comité Sur Ica and included four slots about IWRM and MAR in Ica aquifer, steps advanced and future issues. The concerns about permissions from water authorities were smoothed after the most recent MAR activities. An overview about MAR in Mexico was presented by the Latin-MAR coordinator.
EIP Side Event Workshop on MAR
Managed aquifer recharge as a real climate change adaptation mechanism. Examples and indicators from five countries
Zaragoza, Spain, 11 December 2019
The workshop was jointly organised by the IAH MAR Commission and the MARSOLUT project as side event within the EIP Water Innovation Conference 2019 “Accelerating action to tackle water pollution and enhance EU preparedness to water-related climate change impacts”. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) has been considered for a long time as an important solution to combat the adverse effects of climate change. The aim of this workshop was to support this statement on the basis of real sites, indicators and cases located all around the world. Download workshop proceedings.
Australasian Groundwater Conference (AGC2019)
Groundwater in a changing world
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 24-27 November 2019
The conference was organised around the topic “Groundwater in a changing world” and covered a broad range of applications to resources, infrastructure and environment. The conference included five panels: 1) Groundwater Groundwater in a Changing World; 2) Groundwater and the Environment; 3) Groundwater and Infrastructure; 4) Groundwater in Mining and Resources; 5) Indigenous groundwater connections, knowledge and values. Several presentations on managed aquifer recharge were given, including the paper by Peter Dillon et al.: Retrospective on 10 years of risk-based guidelines for managed aquifer recharge.
Website: https://www.groundwaterconference.com.au. For more information see the Book of Abstracts.
8th International Groundwater Conference (IGWC-2019)*
Sustainable Management of Soil-Water Resources
Roorkee, India, 21-24 October 2019
The IGWC-2019 Conference was organised by the Department of Hydrology of the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in association with the Association of Global Groundwater Scientists, the International Society for Porous Media (InterPore) and in collaboration with the NHP. The conference included a session dedicated to MAR entitled “TS-6 Rainwater harvesting, managed aquifer recharge”. Website: http://igwc2019.com.
46th IAH Congress
Groundwater Management and Governance – Coping with Water Scarcity
Malaga, Spain, 22-27 September 2019
The 46th Annual Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), organised by the IAH Spanish Chapter and the Center of Hydrogeology of the University of Malaga (CEHIUMA). Website: http://www.iah2019.org.
10th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR10)
MAR to solve the global water crisis
Madrid, Spain, 20-24 May 2019
This premier international symposium on MAR entitled MAR to solve the global water crisis has many outcomes . including poster paper compilation, videos of presentations, a Proceedings in progress and selected extended papers for publication in J Water. Read more. Website: https://www.ismar10.net.
45th IAH Congress
GROUNDWATER AND LIFE: Science and Technology into Action*
Daejeon, Korea, 9-14 September 2018
The 45th Annual Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists “GROUNDWATER AND LIFE : Science and Technology into Action” contained a session focussed on MAR and a record 25 papers on MAR – see a report of scientific highlights on and related to MAR. See also the notes of the Plenary of the IAH Commission on MAR, 10 Sept 2018.
16th Biennial Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (BSMAR16)
Recharge to the Rescue! Managed Aquifer Recharge (or MAR) as a water management tool
San Diego, California, USA, 5-7 March 2018
The 16th Biennial Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge was organised by the Groundwater Resources Association of California and Arizona Hydrological Society at The Dana on Mission Bay, San Diego. The symposium was attended by 148 participants.
7th International Groundwater Conference (IGWC-2017)
Groundwater Vision 2013: Water Security, Challenges and Climate Change Adaptation
Delhi, India, 11-13 December 2017
The IGWC-2017 conference was organised by the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India In association with the Association of Global Groundwater Scientists; Central Ground Water Board, India; and Texas A&M University, USA. The conference contained five scientific themes and included several papers on managed aquifer recharge.
44th IAH Congress
Groundwater Heritage and Sustainability
Dubrovnik, Croatia, 25-29 September 2017
The 44th Annual Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists was entitled “Groundwater Heritage and Sustainability”. More than 15 papers on MAR were presented at the congress, see also the notes from the Plenary of the IAH Commission on MAR on 25 September. Website: http://iah2017.org.
2nd INOWAS International Summer School on MAR
Junior Research Group INOWAS
Dresden, Germany, 4-15 September 2017
The Junior Research Group INOWAS at TU Dresden, Germany, and its international partners ran the 2nd International Summer School on Managed Aquifer Recharge, which was attended by 22 participants from 19 countries. They became familiar with different MAR techniques and were guided through steps in planning, operation and optimisation of MAR schemes from technical, policy-related and financial perspectives. The Summer School is intended to be run in different countries in future and requests to host may be sent to Catalin Stefan at TU Dresden. Website: https://www.tu-dresden.de/uw/inowas.
43rd IAH Congress
60th anniversary of the International Association of Hydrogeologists
Montpellier, France, 25-29 September 2016
The 43rd Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists was jointly organised by the French and German IAH chapters. The congress was very successful, with over 760 participants from almost 90 countries, and included two special sessions on managed aquifer recharge: “6.01 Managed Aquifer Recharge”, and “6.02 Water Reuse via aquifers”. At the same time, the IAH celebrated 60 years of existence with more than 4100 members of 125 countries from around the world. See the notes of the IAH-MAR Plenary.
9th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR9)
Mexico City, Mexico, 20-24 June 2016
The 9th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR9) was organised in conjunction with the Biennial Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (BSMAR15) by the the IAH MAR Commission, the Arizona Hydrological Society and the Groundwater Resources Association of California. Special features included: workshops led by Commission Working Groups on MAR for Development and on the global Inventory of MAR (in partnership with IGRAC); case studies on MAR opportunities in the Mexico Valley and courses on aquifer storage and recovery; basin infiltration; and water quality aspects of MAR. An IAH-MAR plenary session; a keynote presentation: Climatic variations and uncertainties in groundwater management and the role of MAR”- by William Alley; a special session on “Groundwater Management and Recharge Policy”; a technical excursion which includes Atotonilco wastewater management and land subsidence, or a visit to the ancient Teotihuacan Pyramids.
