51st IAH Worldwide Groundwater Congress: “Interacting Groundwater”, Davos, Switzerland

ECHN welcomed you to the IAH World Groundwater Congress held in Davos on 8-13 September 2024. We met and socialized with early career hydrogeologists during the whole week and especially during the co-organized networkshop, the social event and the annual general meeting.

YOUTH HUB NETWORKSHOP – Managing Groundwater for a Sustainable Future

This was a special focus event, hosted by the Swiss Water Partnership (SWP) Youth, organized by the UNESCO Groundwater Youth Network (GWYN) and the ECHN. This event was particularly organized to have youth networking, and provided a platform for exchange of knowledge from senior experts and the younger professionals. The event encouraged engagement with experts from four different groundwater sectors (private, public, research and NGO) and allowed for an in-depth discussion on significant groundwater case studies which allowed an intergenerational exchange of ideas.

ECHN social event

On Wednesday, 11 September 2024, the ECHN-SC members hosted a networking event amongst early career hydrogeologists, which took place after a thrilling hockey match. The ECHN prepared a network game called “Hydrobingo”. This game encouraged participants to ask each other specific questions about their background, groundwater knowledge, and personal life. The goal was to fill out a bingo-style card by interacting with others and recording their answers. This activity successfully encouraged communication and networking between ECHN members and non-members, as well as junior and senior hydrogeologists, making it easier for congress participants to connect.

ECHN Annual General Meeting

The ECHN Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place in the afternoon of 9 September 2024, with the participation of about 20 attendees, most of whom were keen to learn more about how the network operates. The meeting was an opportunity to introduce the steering committee, present the different programmes maintained by the ECHN, such as IAH mentoring scheme programme, the funding opportunities to attend IAH Congresses, and the support for the creation of an ECHN Branch.

ECHN Oral and Poster Presentation Award

Among all the excellent scientific contributions from early career hydrogeologists running for the best oral and poster presentations, we were pleased to congratulate:

Best Oral Presentation:

Davide Furlanetto – University of Padova “Coping with structural uncertainty in a complex multilayer aquifer system”
Asadullah Farahmand – Ministry of Energy and Water of Afghanistan “Hydrogeochemical evolution and groundwater quality assessment in Herat Plain Aquifer, western Afghanistan”
Gita Lestari Putri – University of Technology in Sydney “Impact of climate variability on faecal contamination from on-site sanitation systems in shallow groundwater”

Best Poster Presentation:

Courtney Kilian – USGS “Machine learning predictions of groundwater salinity across the contiguous United States”
Elisa Mammoliti – Marche Polytechnic University “Advancements in Assessing Fracture Hydraulic Conductivity: Integrating Permeability Tests and Discrete Fracture Networks at the laboratory scale”