After the sudden death of Louis Dubertret in 1979, President Phil LaMoreaux found an enthusiastic and energetic successor as Secretary General in the person of Erik Romijn. Erik was working with the Provincial Agency of Gelderland in The Netherlands and was also Secretary to the Dutch National Committee for IAH. By his efforts for the IAH, Erik hoped to be able to contribute substantially to the development of the field of (geo)hydrology, both in the Netherlands and worldwide: by organising congresses/symposia and by bringing together geologists and hydrologists from all over the world.
Together with Jaroslav Vrba from Czechoslovakia, Erik had just started the preparation of a new working group on groundwater and agriculture and was full of enthusiasm and energy. He brought renewed vigour to the Association at a time when, by good fortune, the global need for groundwater mapping and sound approaches to resource protection and sustainable aquifer management was rapidly accelerating. As a result, the Association entered a period of very strong international growth.
During his time as Secretary General, the familiar shield-design logo for IAH came into being, following discussions between Erik and Jaroslav Vrba in 1985. In 1987, at the initiative of Erik and Ramon Llamas, IAH’s President at the time, IAH’s now long-standing sponsored membership scheme was proposed by the Burdon Commission. Formalised and launched in 1989, this is one of the first such schemes established by a professional association. It has enabled individual members, national chapters and central funds to support many colleagues who, for economic or administrative reasons are unable to pay for their own membership.
Erik was Secretary General until 1989, when he was elected President of IAH. At this time, IAH was evolving rapidly with membership doubling in a decade, many new national chapters being formed and a blossoming array of membership services and publications. Erik wanted to establish a peer reviewed journal to advance both groundwater science and the standing of the Association. He encouraged Gene Simpson of Tucson, Arizona to be the inaugural editor of a quarterly international journal, Applied Hydrogeology, which began the success of what later became Hydrogeology Journal.
Erik remained as President until 1993 at which time he took on the ex-officio role of Past President and continued to serve the Association for a further 4 years in this capacity.
At IAH’s XXVII Congress in 1997 in Nottingham, UK, following his many years of dedicated service to the Association and its members, Erik was awarded the status of Honorary Member.
Adapted from “The International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH): reflecting on 60 years of contributions to groundwater science and water management”, published in Hydrogeology Journal (2016) 24: 1069–1086, by Willi Struckmeier, Ken Howard and John Chilton. With contributions from Carla Skinner.
