Hydrogeology
PANEL OF EXPERTS
01 Mission
02 Experts
03 Activity
04 EU Policy
Mission
Hydrogeology is a main topic among the technical and professional skills of the geologists, and it is probably the most strictly related to environmental protection and preservation. In the 21st century, the pursuit of the equilibrium between human needs and environmental sustainability involves as a main element the water resources, representing at the same time a resource and a risk. It is the task of modern geologists to contribute to the management and protection of water resources, with particular attention to groundwater. EFG PE on Hydrogeology mission is to contribute to the development and the sharing of knowledge, to the awareness of groundwater relevance in daily life, to the introduction of policies and to the technical improvement of professional geologists in this field. Groundwater resources are the main source for drinking water supply among Europe, and the optimization of their use is a fundamental need for building a modern and eco-friendly society, taking into account the progressive reduction of groundwater resources due to their use and to impact of global changes.
Experts
Dirk De Coster (Belgium), Alain Dassargues (Belgium), Antoine Bouvier (France), Alecos Demetriades (Greece), Peter Szucs (Hungary), Tamas Madarasz (Hungary), Kevin Th. Cullen (Ireland), Marco Petitta (Italy), Carlo E. Bravi (Italy), Peter Malik (Slovakia), Clive Carpenter (UK), Pierre Christe (Switzerland), Carlos Martínez (Spain), Myhaylo Gejchenko (Ukraine), Vesna Ristić Vakanjac (Serbia), Mihael Brenčič (Slovenia), Melhior Pregl (Slovenia), Nina Mali (Slovenia), Kosta Urumović (Croatia), Tatjana Vlahović (Croatia), Triantafillos Kaklis (Greece), Rastko Petrovic (Serbia), Bruno Sameiro Pereira (Portugal), Martin Shepley (UK), Jorge Dinis Oliveira (Portugal), Nenad Maric (Serbia), Gareth Digges La Touche
Paolo Cerutti
Coordinator of Hydrogeology
Antoine Bouvier
Pierre Christe
Alecos Demetriades
Tamas Madarasz
Carlos Martínez
Tatjana Vlahović
Kosta Urumović
Carlo E. Bravi
Dirk De Coster
Jorge Dinis Oliveira
Nina Mali
Marco Petitta
Melhior Pregl
Vesna Ristić Vakanjac
Mihael Brenčič
Kevin Th. Cullen
Myhaylo Gejchenko
Peter Malik
Bruno Sameiro Pereira
Martin Shepley
Clive Carpenter
Alain Dassargues
Triantafillos Kaklis
Nenad Maric
Rastko Petrovic
Peter Szucs
Activities
Latest activities
April 2026
Response to Revision of the EU Water Framework Directive
March 2026
Response to EU Artic Policy Update
March 2025
EFG has submitted a response to the Commission’s call for evidence regarding the Water Resilience Strategy.
Supporting EU policy in relation to Hydrogeology:
– Groundwater Directive
– EFG is a member of the EU Commission’s CIS Working Group on Groundwater (Marco Petitta)
Connecting global and European water initiatives to advance sustainable hydrogeology and resource management.
– Participation in the KINDRA project (Knowledge Inventory for hydrogeology research), founded by the Horizon 2020 programme
– EFG PE on Hydrogeology has worked in the European Commission, DG Environment, Working Group on Groundwater (WG C) on the preparation of Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) guidance on the definition of what constitutes an input to groundwater and how their impacts should be assessed.
Monitoring the EU policy
EU funding:
EU institutions involved:
Relevant EU documents:
– EU Water Framework Directive
– Report on the Review of the European Water Scarcity and Droughts Policy, 14/11/2012
– European Innovation Partnership on Water: Press release on the European Innovation Partnership on Water Communication, 14/05/2012
– Water Scarcity and Droughts, February 2008 www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/studies/download.do
– Groundwater ¨Protection in Europe, Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008
– Towards sustainable water management in the European Union – First stage in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC, March 2007
– Directive 2006/118/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration, December 2006
– Communication from the commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Communication on the future development of the EU Water Initiative and the modalities for the establishment of a Water Facility for ACP countries, January 2004.
– Communication for the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: Water management in developing countries policy and priorities for EU development cooperation,March 2002.
– Water Framework Directive – integrated river basin management for Europe, October 2000
Events
November 2024: Participation in COP29 – How geologists are driving climate solutions for a sustainable future
Publications
European Geologist journal 58 on Hydrogeology
November 2024: Launch of EFG Policy Manifesto: Geology’s Vital Contribution to European Competitiveness
Video selection
Other platforms we invite you to follow
Other Platforms
– Water Information System for Europe, WISE
– EU Water Initiative: Water for Life and EU Water Initiative
– Publication: “Water Technologies: Results and opportunities” A selection of projects financed during the FP5 is briefly presented in this publication to give examples of completed projects and their contribution to areas such as wastewater, drinking water or industrial water technologies.
– Europe’s Water: An indicator-based assessment.
UN and associated links
– UN Division of Sustainable Development, including WSSD Plan of Implementation.
– Unesco Water, including the World Water Assessment Programme for Development, Capacity Building and the Environment
Selected regional initiatives
– Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water Sector
– African Ministers Conference on Water (AMCOW)
– GLOWA-Volta home page
Other initiatives and projects
– Global Water Outlook to 2025
– Traditional Knowledge World Bank in Water management
– IRC – International Water and Sanitation Centre
