A safe and sustainable supply of water is essential for human health, food security and economic growth in developing countries. Much of the world’s population depends on groundwater for its drinking water supplies, even as population growth, environmental change and other competing pressures put increasing stress on groundwater systems.

This session will examine the challenges posed by contamination in groundwater in developing countries. Contamination can be natural or anthropogenic in origin, and may be exacerbated by environmental change, groundwater abstraction regimes and other human activities. The session will seek to develop our understanding of such contamination and its impacts, as well as strategies and practical challenges for cost-effective and appropriate monitoring, mitigation and adaptation. Abstracts are invited addressing these topics in a developing country setting in relation to any contaminants – these might include arsenic, fluorides, salinity, human waste and other organic and inorganic substances.

The session is sponsored by the Geological Society of London (GSL) and the Geological Society of America (GSA). Our two organisations aim both to bring together a diverse group of scientists whose research will help to address the pressing challenge of sustainably meeting the demand for potable water in developing countries, and to highlight the value of these scientists’ work to wider scientific, political and public audiences. It will be promoted in the UK as part of GSL’s Year of Water in 2016.

We plan to include a short panel discussion within the oral session itself, in order to stimulate collaboration and dialogue among participants.

Nic Bilham (Geological Society of London)
Adrian Butler (Imperial College London)
Prosun Bhattacharya (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm)
Peter Knappett (Texas A&M University)