WESTERVILLE, OH, Nov. 21, 2002 -- Registration for the National Ground Water Association's (NGWA) upcoming Ground Water Expo is setting a record pace, and the Expo has already established records for overall exhibitors and new exhibitors.
NGWA hosts the Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center Sunday, Dec. 8 through Wednesday, Dec. 11. To date, NGWA has registered more than 3,900 attendees for the event, and that figure marks the highest registration level the show has ever had at this point (17 days before the event).
The show, which has been in existence since 1948, set an attendance record of 5,093 in 1994. Attendees include water well drillers and pump installers, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, hydrologists, geologists, engineers, and regulators. Registrants also include many from the international community, with participants this year expected from Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Australia, and Mexico.
The number of exhibiting companies also has increased to 275, breaking the show's previous record for exhibitors, which was 264. That number includes 48 new exhibitors. The hours for the exhibit hall will be Dec. 9, 4:30-7 p.m., Dec. 10, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Dec. 11, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
In addition to the extensive exposition, the Ground Water Expo features a technical conference, new action demonstration sessions, and many professional development workshops offering something for all ground water professionals.
The technical conference is the Annual Meeting and Conference of the Association of Ground Water Scientists & Engineers, a division of NGWA. Its title this year is "Linking Surface and Subsurface Hydrology--From Science to Technology." The program offers eight featured speakers:
* Scott Bair, The Ohio State University: "Intoxicating Cases of Ground Water Under the Influence of Surface Water"
* Cliff Dahm, University of New Mexico: "Hydrogeology and Biogeochemistry of Surface Water and Ground Water Interfaces"
* David Pyne, ASR Systems LLC: "Aquifer Storage Recovery: Science, Technology, and Regulation."
* Bridget R. Scanlon, University of Texas: "Current and Innovative Approaches for Quantifying Recharge at the Watershed Scale."
* Edward Sudicky, University of Waterloo: "Fully-integrated Modeling of Surface and Subsurface Water Flow and Solute Transport: Model Overview and Applications."
* Garth Van Der Kamp, Environment Canada: "Detection and Measurement of Ground Water Discharge to Wetlands, Lakes, and Streams."
* Ingrid Verstraeten, U.S. Geological Survey: "Transport and Attenuation of Organic Contaminants Including Potential Endocrine Disrupters and Pharmaceuticals from Rivers through Ground Water into Drinking Water: A Case Study."
* William Woessner, University of Montana: "Exchange of Ground Water and Stream Systems: Conceptualization and Implications for Renaturalization."
Premiering this year will be Action Demonstration Sessions, a unique series of technology demonstrations sponsored by The HDD Well Team of Arvada, Colo., to showcase the latest in ground water monitoring equipment. These sessions are designed to facilitate technology transfer and application exchange.
Presenters for the demonstrations include HDD Well Team, Solinst Canada Ltd., In-Situ, In-Well Technologies, Mears/HDD, Roscoe Moss Manufacturing, Robertson Geologging, Columbia Analytical Services, Instrumentation Northwest Inc., QED/Michael Barcelona, and the NGWA Horizontal Well Interest Group. The sessions will run from 4:45-6:45 p.m. December 9, and 1-3 p.m. December 10 and December 11.
A small sampling of the workshops to be offered throughout the four-day event includes:
* Applications of the Dual Rotary Drilling Method
* Cost Benefits of Horizontal Well-Based Remediation Systems
* Geothermal Heat Pumps Roundtable Discussion
* Health and Safety at Drilling Sites
* Household Well Financing Programs and Other News from Washington
* Increasing Profit Margins and Lowering Taxes
* Protect the Hearing You have Left: Noise Training for Water Well Drillers
* Water Quality: Answering Your Customers' Questions
* Yucca Mountain Ground Water System
* GMS: Conceptual Modeling and MODFLOW2000
NGWA Certification exam testing also will be held December 11.
Another new element this year is the Technical Interactive Presentation (TIPs), an educational format for presentations designed to encourage the active exchange of ideas between presenters and interested conference attendees. TIPs consist of poster material, field equipment, site samples and computer displays. Every TIP will be on display for a specific day, and each presenter will also be assigned a 30-minute period in which to present.
NGWA also has added an auction to this year's Expo to raise funds for the National Ground Water Educational Foundation for scholarships. Seventy-five items have been donated for the event, which will be held after the President's Dinner on December 9. Among items generously donated by industry members are a Blue Ridge Mountains cabin weekend, a NASCAR race package, a mock aerial dogfight in a real fighter aircraft, a Pacific Northwest fishing experience, and NHL hockey tickets. All items up for auction are listed at the NGWA Web site, http://www.ngwa.org/convention/auctions.htm.
Sponsors for this year's Expo are HDD Well Team, Epley Enterprises Inc., IPC Communications Inc., The Hartford, Affinity Programs, and George E. Fern Company.
For the full schedule of events and details on any of the Expo activities, visit the Expo section of the NGWA Web site -- www.NGWA.org -- where visitors also can register for the show and find information on the sights and sounds of the Las Vegas area. Registration by phone is available by calling NGWA customer service at (800) 551-7379 (toll-free in the U.S., 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday-Thursday, and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday).
National Ground Water Association members include more than 15,500 U.S. and international ground water professionals -- contractors, equipment manufacturers and suppliers, and ground water scientists and engineers. NGWA provides members, government, and the general public with the scientific knowledge and economic guidance necessary to responsibly develop, protect, and manage the world's ground water resources.
