HydroEco 2009

Many ecological systems owe their existence to physical/chemical properties of groundwater and surface water, and can be damaged if water flow or water properties are changed by anthropogenic or natural processes. The ecological systems may be

• the terrestrial ecosystems we see every day, such as the riparian systems along the rivers, and wetlands found in headwaters as well as in low land areas or
  
• the subsurface ecological systems that maintain the groundwater that sustains so many people.

To address the resulting issues, this conference brings together engineers and researchers from engineering and ecological disciplines. The disciplines include, but are not limited to, hydrology, ecology, environmental engineering, biology, chemistry, geochemistry, environmental biogeochemistry, and subsurface microbiology. The unifying theme is the interaction between groundwater and (or) /surface water and ecological systems. A typical example is the hyporheic zone in riparian areas, where the ecological system interacts with water and chemical flows between surface and groundwater.

The goals of the conference are

(1) to provide information that will help that interactions between groundwater, surface water and ecology are better understood, measured, simulated, and managed, and

(2) to improve the technological basis for policy decisions (including WFD implementation) related to the reconstruction of ecologically valuable environments and the use of water resources in these environments.

For further information click here.