The 9th edition of International Groundwater Conference is organized by the Department of Hydrology, IIT Roorkee during November 02-04, 2022. The conference emphasized on the theme of “Effective Management of (Sub)-Surface Water Resources in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions”. At the outset, Prof. K K Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee inaugurated the conference, and highlighted exchanging ideas and deliberating the latest research & developments on surface water resources in arid and semi-arid regions with in-depth analysis will provide an opportunity to a never-ending string of scientists, researchers, students, and engineers. Prof Seyed Majid Hassanizadeh, Utrecht University, Prof. C. Mayilswami, President, AGGS and Prof. Brijesh Kumar Yadav, Head of Department and Convener IGWC provided valuable insights on instilling human resources for Sustainable Growth of Groundwater and its allied areas through knowledge sharing, logical thinking, and qualitative and quantitative analysis. All the dignitaries released the proceedings of the conference. The inauguration witnessed a grand participation of more than 300 delegates coming from 12 countries and the session ended with a vote of thanks by Prof. Brijesh Kumar Yadav.

Plenary Session was moderated by Prof. Perumal (IIT Roorkee) and Prof. N.K. Goel (IIT Roorkee) in which four key presentations were held. Prof Seyed Majid Hassanizadeh, Hydrogeology Department, Utrecht University, discussed how important to repair the microbially clean water, how virus can propagate and spread through the water on their own and with rigorous research approach how to suppress the virus spread through the water. Prof. V. P. Singh, Texas A &M University, deliberated on Ground water Use: where we are and where we are heading specific to the Indian conditions and various triggers related to depletion of the ground water resources within this country. Prof. Maurizio Polemio, CNR-IRPI, Italy gave a talk and stressed on the time series approaches for improving the knowledge of surface and groundwater dynamics. Prof. Mukund S Babel, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) talked about the water security and global challenges in the age of changing climate in different perspectives. Post lunch conference was divided into three parallel technical session. Session chairpersons, including Dr. Anupma Sharma and Dr. Deepak Khare discussed water resources assessment/quantification, site characterization, abstraction and monitoring; Micro plastics in soil-water, virus and colloidal transport, reactive transport modelling, and sea-water intrusion was chaired by Dr. Himanshu Joshi and Dr. Suchetana Bihu; Dr. V. P. Singh and Dr. Mritunjay Kumar Singh conducted a session on remediation techniques/measures for polluted sites and desalination practices; Applied groundwater flow and solute transport modelling for management of groundwater resources was chaired by Dr. P. K. Sharma and Dr. Sumant Singh; Heterogeneity in porous media, flow in fractured hard rocks, dual porosity/permeability modelling, Geo-statistical techniques was coordinated by Dr. Mahendra Singh and Dr. Ashutosh Chamoli; Climate change and (sub)-surface hydrology, land-atmosphere interactions, extreme events, forecasting and trend analysis was chaired by Dr. Sumit Sen and Dr. Ankit Agarwal.

The 2nd day of International Groundwater Conference started with three technical sessions and continued through the day. Session chairpersons, including Dr. V.C.Srivastava and Dr. KBVN Phanindra conducted and discussed Soil-water pollution sources, vulnerability, environmental impacts and isotope hydrology; Plant-soil-atmospheric continuum, water use efficiency, water footprint assessment and resilient agriculture, optimal cropping pattern was chaired by Dr. L.N. Thakural and Dr Hari Prasad; Dr. Manoj Kumar Jain and Dr. Siddhartha Khare conducted a session on GIS and RS applications in hydrological and hydrogeological studies; Water harvesting, managed aquifer recharge (MAR) and conjunctive use of surface & groundwater was chaired by Dr. Ranvir Singh and Dr. M. Polemio; Climate change and (sub)-surface hydrology, land-atmosphere interactions, extreme events, forecasting and trend analysis was chaired by Dr. Mahua Mukherjee and Dr. B. R. Gurjar; Dr. Zulfequar Ahmad and Dr. A. K.Lohani conducted a session on Watershed management, sediment transport, spring shed and Glacier hydrology. Post lunch, Dr. M. Perumal and Dr. C. S. P. Ojha chaired Water resources assessment, site characterization, abstraction and monitoring; Dr. Sudipta Sarkar and Dr. Bhaskar J.Deka discussed and conducted the session Remediation techniques for polluted sites and desalination practices; GIS and RS applications in hydrological and hydrogeological studies was chaired by Dr. Alok Bhardwaj and Dr. Saurabh Vijay; Applied groundwater flow and solute transport modelling for management of groundwater resources was chaired by Dr. M. K. Sharma and Dr. Sandeep Bhatt; Dr. M. Perumal and Dr. P.K. Singh chaired and discussed on Plant-soil-atmospheric continuum, water use efficiency, water footprint assessment and resilient agriculture, optimal cropping pattern; Applications of porous media in various disciplines + Base and environment flow, ecosystem services, restoration potential, and agroforestry and Wastewater recycling and utilization, Water management through hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics, rain-fed Agriculture was discussed and chaired by Dr. S. Majid Hassanizadeh and Dr. Ravi Sharma. The main highlight that stands unique is the keynote talk delivered by Prof. M. Perumal on Two simple river discharge estimation methods developed at Department of Hydrology, IIT Roorkee. Apart from such enlightening discussions and intriguing topics, 53 posters were presented on various facets of water rel ated challenges across the nation and globally chaired by Dr. D S Arya, Dr. Ashutosh Sharma and Dr Gopal Krishan.