IAH Stories

• Advancing Hydrogeological Characterization of Host Rocks for Deep Geological Repositories in Mudstones

  by Jean Croisé, Gerhard Mayer and Rémi de La Vaissière

  Croisé, Mayer and de La Vaissière recently presented in Hydrogeology Journal a transformative approach to characterizing the hydraulic properties of the Callovian–Oxfordian mudstone at ANDRA’s Centre de Meuse / Haute-Marne Underground Research Laboratory (France) at 500 meters below ground level (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-026-03043-0). By integrating long- and short-term in situ pressure measurements and... read the story...

• Australia’s first recorded groundwater well: 1629

  by Paul Whincup

  The Batavia shipwreck is an important event in Australia’s early colonial history. It has been the subject of many articles, books and films and is prominently displayed in both the Fremantle and Geraldton maritime museums in Western Australia. The journal of Pelsaert, the master of the Batavia, was first published... read the story...

• Understanding nitrate trends through groundwater age

  by Kevin Kuehner

  A study published in Hydrogeology Journal https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-024-02871-2 reveals new information about groundwater age (residence time) in the distinctive karst landscape within Minnesota’s Driftless Area, USA. Researchers examined current concentrations of a discontinued row-crop herbicide, popular in the 1970s and 1980s, in springs and wells, then compared these data against its... read the story...

• Effects of water table smoothing on simulated regional groundwater flow

  by Dr. Ronan Abhervé, Marc Laurencelle, Daniel Paradis, Olivier Bour, René Lefebvre

  Regional groundwater models often use smoothed topography to reduce computational burden—but what does this shortcut actually cost? Here, the team examines how “water table smoothing” propagates into simulated flow patterns and groundwater–river exchanges. Using a 95-km 2D cross-section based on the hydrogeology of Québec’s St. Lawrence south shore (Canada), they... read the story...

• Characterisation of a complex aquifer system: The Bolje Sestre karst spring, Montenegro

  by Prof. Zoran Stevanović (Past Chair of the IAH Karst Commission)

  The Bolje Sestre karst spring has been supplying potable water to the entire Montenegrin Coast since 2010, representing one of the largest water supply projects completed in the entire Mediterranean Basin over the last 50 years. The considerable depletion of spring discharge that occurred in the meantime required multidisciplinary research... read the story...

• A groundwater real-time prediction tool implemented for the City of Cape Town, South Africa

  The water supply of the City of Cape Town, South Africa, is highly dependent on surface water and therefore highly sensitive to drought. Since the 2015-2018 drought period, there has been a significant drive to identify and operationalize alternative water sources for the City of Cape Town (including groundwater).  A... read the story...

• Chemical Water Quality Fingerprinting Distinguishes Spring Water from Well Water in the Mojave Desert, USA.

  by Prof. David Kreamer

  Bonanza Spring in the Clipper Mountains (California U.S.A.) is the largest spring in the Eastern Mojave Desert.  There has been concern that the spring and its dependent ecosystem might be hydrogeologically linked with a wellfield 22 km downgradient.  This year-long study compared key spring and wellfield water quality parameters, with... read the story...

• A Nano Technology-Based Tracer For Fractured Aquifers

  by Prof. Alessandro Gargini and Ernesto Pugliese

  A nano technology-based synthetic DNA-labelled colloidal tracer was tested for the first time in a fractured calcarenite in the Northern Apennines (Italy). The analytical procedure is based upon the qPCR protocol. The results of the application, carried out by an interdisciplinary research group of hydrogeologists and molecular biologists from the... read the story...

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  My Experience at the 52nd IAH Groundwater Congress in Melbourne, Australia

  by Ashwani Kumar Tiwari

  I am excited to write about my experience during the 52nd International Association of Hydrogeologists Groundwater Congress in Melbourne, Australia, as an Early Career researcher in the domain of groundwater, and a Steering Committee member of the Early Career Hydrogeologists’ Network (ECHN), IAH. This was my third IAH Congress, and... read the story...

• Groundwater sustainability and land subsidence: Insights from the RESERVOIR Project

  by Concepción Pla

  Our recent publication in Hydrogeology Journal https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-025-02956-6 was developed within the framework of the RESERVOIR project (sustainable groundwater RESources managEment by integrating eaRth observation deriVed monitoring and flOw modelIng Results), funded by the PRIMA Programme and supported by the European Union (Grant Agreement 1924; https://reservoir-prima.org/). The project promotes innovative approaches... read the story...