History of Hydrogeology

Lessons can be learnt from the past; from time to time it is useful for practitioners to look back over the historical developments of their science. Hydrogeology has developed from humble beginnings into the broad church of investigatory procedures which collectively form the modern-day hydrogeologist’s tool box. Hydrogeology remains a branch of the over-arching science of geology and today provides analysis of the sub-surface part of the water cycle within a holistic approach to problem solving.

The History of Hydrogeology, is a first attempt to bring the story of the evolution of the science of hydrogeology together from a country or region specific viewpoint. It does not cover history to the present day, nor does it deal with all countries involved in groundwater studies, but rather takes the story for specific key countries up and until about the period 1975 to 1980. This is when hydrogeology was still evolving and developing, and in some areas doing so quite rapidly.

The book has been written not only for practitioners of hydrogeology and hydrology but also for teachers and students to see the context of the evolution of the science around the globe. The History of Hydrogeology will also be of interest to science historians and all those interested in the role that individuals, institutes and nations have played over the years in defining modern day studies of groundwater.

Nicholas Howden is Senior Lecturer in Water in Queen’s School of Engineering at the University of Bristol. He studied Engineering at Durham University and hydrology, hydrogeology and geochemistry at Imperial College London, and then became a consultant in the mining, oil and gas industries. In 2007 he joined the UK’s National Soil Resources Institute (NSRI) at Cranfield University as Lecturer in Soil and Water Engineering and moved to Bristol in 2010. At Bristol he is Director of the MSc in Water and Environmental Management and is also Head of the Water and Environment Research Group in the Faculty of Engineering. Nicholas was awarded the Young Hydrogeologists’ Prize by the Geological Society in 2003, and has been a member of IAH since 2004. He is the author of 60 articles in the scientific and technical literature.

John Mather retired from the position of Lyell Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London in 2001. He currently lives near Exeter in south-west England where he makes functional stoneware pottery and writes on the history of hydrogeology. Educated at Liverpool University he joined the British Geological Survey in 1966, rising to the position of Assistant Director before moving to academia in 1990. He has been a member of IAH since 1973 and was chairman of the British Committee from 1991 to 1995 and co-chair of the 27th Congress held in Nottingham in 1997. He has undertaken research projects in the UK, Romania, China, West Indies, Central America and the Middle East and advised the European Community, OECD, IAEA and UK and US agencies on various aspects of groundwater development and waste management. During a career spanning nearly 50 years he has specialised in the geochemical aspects of hydrogeology and is the author of some 150 articles in the scientific and technical press.