John Chilton
John joined the British Geological Survey in 1972 and spent much of the early part of his career on regional water resource investigations in Libya, Yemen, Botswana and Korea. From 1980 to 1986, he led a project in Malawi supporting the government in its efforts to meet the country’s water supply needs. This resulted in a life-long interest in rural water supplies, and publications on the basement and regolith aquifers of Africa. From the late 1980s, John continued to travel widely for BGS, also working extensively in the UK on the impact of agriculture and on the development of groundwater quality monitoring programmes. The latter interest led to contributions to the work of several UN agencies and the EU Working Group providing guidance on implementation of the Water Framework Directive. John was awarded the Whitaker Medal of the Geological Society of London in 2008.
John joined IAH in 1988 and served as chair of the British chapter from 2000 to 2006. At the 1997 Congress he was responsible for publications, one pre-printed and distributed to participants and one afterwards in the International Contributions to Hydrogeology (Blue Book) Series. He was a Hydrogeology Journal Associate Editor from 2003 to 2007. Following retirement from BGS in 2008, John worked part time as IAH’s Executive Manager until 2017, leading the Secretariat team in its support for all parts of the association, particularly contributing to the Forward Look and guiding the Executive through a comprehensive review of our Rules. He frequently represented IAH externally as an excellent ambassador for IAH and for groundwater. For his long-term contribution to the work of the Association, John well deserves the award of Honorary Membership.
Shammy Puri
Shammy studied in Poland and the UK and has masters degrees in hydrogeology and engineering geology and also in civil engineering and water resource management. In his long career Shammy has worked for the UK water industry, consulting engineers, and in recent years as an independent consultant on numerous projects all over the world, in Latin America, Sub Saharan Africa, Middle East North Africa and Asia Pacific regions. He has considerable expertise in many branches of hydrogeology and is particularly well known for his work on transboundary aquifers. His work with the GEF funded Global Groundwater Project, in partnership with the FAO, UNESCO, World Bank and other international agencies, highlighted the plight of groundwater and its management throughout the world.
Shammy joined IAH in 1992 and from 1999 to 2011 was Chair of the Commission on Transboundary Aquifer Resource Management. Subsequently he was Chair of the IAH Commission on Transboundary Aquifers when this was established in September 2014. This Commission is part of UNESCO’s ISARM Programme, providing advanced scientific, policy and legal recommendations to UN Agencies, international and national organisations and governments worldwide. Shammy was elected Secretary General of IAH in 2008 before stepping down in 2016. For his long contribution to the work of the Association, Shammy fully deserves the award of Honorary Membership.
Shammy was unable to collect his award personally, having flown from Malaga to represent IAH at a conference in India. We were delighted instead to welcome his son to our General Assembly (pictured right), who collected the Award on Shammy’s behalf.
