Hydrologists will be expected to work closely with other professionals, such as engineers and geologists, to design remediation systems for controlling air, surface, and ground water contaminants. More efficient monitoring of flow and mass transport using modern sensors will be required. Furthermore, “new Federal and State initiatives that integrate environmental activities into the business process itself, will result in a greater focus on waste minimization, resource recovery, pollution prevention, and the consideration of environmental effects during product development. This shift in focus to preventive management will provide many new opportunities for environmental scientists and hydrologists in consulting roles.”

            Assuming that improvement in the current economic outlook occurs over the next few years, this presents an opportunity for growth for AIH. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics warns that “few colleges and universities offer programs in hydrology, so the number of qualified workers may be limited.” Academia played a major role in the establishment of AIH, and it can do so again, but we must reach our young hydrologists. Our competitions at annual meetings for the best student papers, and the establishment of AIH student chapters at universities and colleges, are only two examples. Academia can play a larger role in providing educational materials to help prepare candidates aspiring for certification at several levels. This growth should not be limited to certification of a fraction of the newly trained hydrologists: there are far too many practicing hydrologists out there today that AIH has not yet certified. Our Hydrologic Technician certification program is also growing and holds great promise for future expansion in a vital supporting role. Every one of our certified hydrologists or hydrologic technicians is an ambassador for AIH, and should encourage colleagues that are qualified to apply for AIH certification, whether these are found in academia, industry or government. AIH will routinely post on our Web site any job opportunities that become available, as a service to our members and our readership: http://www.aih.engr.siu.edu/employment.htm
            We have experienced a difficult transition to a new location for our headquarters:  including the loss of some of our membership records and related files, and the ultimate resolution of financial discrepancies which are being addressed through legal proceedings.  We start the New Year with many new members of the Executive Committee, and both the newly-elected officers and the continuing officers are determined to move the Institute forward, while learning from our past mistakes. Our next Annual Meeting and Conference on “Managing Hydrologic Extremes,” is to be held at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, August 30 – September 2, 2009 in Scottsdale, Arizona. This joint symposium between the American Institute of Hydrology and the Arizona Hydrological Society (AHS) promises to be very well attended. For further and updated information please visit the symposium Web site: http://www.hydrosymposium.eventinterface.com/hydrosymposium/.

            On the international front, we are currently exploring joint ventures with our Canadian and Mexican neighbors that go well beyond holding conferences on topics of mutual interest across our borders.  There are plenty of global water issues of crisis proportions: more than 2.4 billion people lack access to sanitation; more than 1.2 billion are without potable water. Under even the most optimistic scenario, the sanitation deficit could be reduced to 1.9 billion by the year 2015.  Two years ago I led a team of 5 regional hydrologists (from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East) on a thorough review of UNESCO’s entire World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP), an organization which aims to improve the management of the world’s water resources through an ongoing assessment process conducted by representatives from twenty-four UN agencies.  As part of our evaluation, we visited river-basin agencies in Argentina, Austria, China, France, Japan, Namibia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Uganda. We recommended that UNESCO strengthen the scientific underpinning of WWAP, increase its cost-effectiveness, implement a peer-review process, add climate-change indicators, improve human capacity building in developing countries, and focus on the most relevant topics to be included in its World Water Development Reports, which are issued every three years. Transboundary waters, both surface and ground, involve technical, cultural, legal, economic, military, social, and political dimensions that are linked by the hydrologic cycle. The La Plata River Basin (3.1 million square kilometers) in South America, for example, collects water from rivers in five different countries, flows through Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay, and then discharges into the Atlantic Ocean. Beneath this river basin is the Guarani Aquifer. One of the world’s largest subsurface freshwater reserves, it covers about 1.2 million square kilometers and is deep enough to supply 300 liters of water per day per capita to 360 million people. Yet, it is being threatened by manmade contaminants. The Danube River in Europe flows from its upper reaches in Germany and the Czech Republic through 18 countries downstream (e.g., Austria, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria), drains 817,000 square kilometers, and discharges into the Black Sea. The algal blooms in the Black Sea, along with the sediment flowing into the Atlantic Ocean from the La Plata River, are of such magnitude that they are easily visible through satellite imagery. AIH has been active at holding international conferences in the past, we will continue to engage in this practice, and we believe our members have the expertise to contribute substantially from their experience to the dialog of finding practical solutions to many of these problems.

We invite you to play a major role in shaping the future of AIH: it is your organization, and its leadership serves at your discretion. We welcome your valuable input.