Almost every time water is used, released water has higher salt content than intake water, thus contributing to a growing salinity problem.  This phenomenon is illustrated in many groundwater basins, such as California’s Tulare Lake Basin in the Central Valley, which have a very limited ability to discharge salts.  Salts generated in and imported into these basins are accumulating in soil and water, and salinity impacts are gradually increasing.  Impacts of groundwater salinity are being felt throughout California, the semi-arid lands of the southwest and elsewhere globally from increasing chloride concentrations in groundwater used for municipal supplies, to retirement of hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land due to saline-sodic soils, and drainage problems from highly saline shallow groundwater.  Meanwhile, more and more resources are directed toward monitoring, treatment, and management of salinity by agricultural, industrial, and municipal dischargers.

The University of California Center for Water Resources and the Groundwater Resources Association of California seek to provide a forum for various stakeholder groups to express their perspectives and gain an appreciation of other groups’ interests on issues related to groundwater salinity. The focus will be on shared interests in assessing the scope of the problem and finding solutions, and on current practices for regulating and managing groundwater salinity.   

Join us March 24 and 25, 2009 at the Radisson Hotel in Sacramento, California for a UC Center for Water Resources & Groundwater Resources Association joint conference "Groundwater Salinity: A Groundwater Dilemma"

This conference is the 22nd in GRA’s Series on Groundwater Contaminants.  Conference sessions will cover a variety of topics, including but not limited to:
 
Impacts

• the nature and distribution of salt impacts
• trends and long-term projections
• salt balances and budgets for individual basins
• data sources, data gaps, and data quality
• impact of CVP and SWP on salinity
• impacts of increasing salinity on agriculture, urban water users, natural resources, industry, water providers, regulators, policy makers
• impacts from food processing, the dairy industry, agriculture, land application of wastewater, ponds and lagoons, and natural processes
  

Characterization and fate and transport:

• tracing sources of salinity in groundwater
• anthropogenic vs. natural sources of salts
• fate and transport of salts in the vadose zone and in aquifers
• salinity toxicity to crops
• salt accumulation in soils
• seawater intrusion
• groundwater monitoring at dairies

Regulatory management strategies:

• implementation of basin plans
• water quality objectives
• WDRs/permits
• defining the “salt inventory”; mass balance approaches
• anti-degradation policy, effluent limits

Technical management strategies: 

• brine lines and brine management
• integrated on-farm drainage management
• nutrient management
• source reduction
• land application
• desalinization technologies
• centralized treatment  (POTWs)
• deep well injection
• water softener control programs
• conjunctive use 

Experts from academia, consulting, regulatory agencies and industry will participate in moderated speaker sessions and posters sessions. The combination of invited speakers and experts from key areas, along with talks chosen from submitted abstracts, will make this an important event for all professionals grappling with salinity issues in groundwater applications.

Abstracts for Papers and Poster Presentations

GRA welcomes submittals of abstracts for papers and poster presentations on any topic related to salinity in groundwater. The deadline for submitting an abstract for an Oral or Poster Presentation is December 9, 2008. Please contact Michael Steiger (510-452-1549; msteiger@EKIconsult.com) or Jean Moran (925-423-1478; moran10@llnl.gov) if you would like to discuss your topic for this conference before submitting your abstract, or if you have any questions.

Guidelines for submitting an abstract for a Paper or Poster Presentation:

• Word 9.0 documents are preferred.
  
• Indicate the preferred presentation method (paper or poster) and the topic of the abstract
  
• Abstracts must be one page in length or less, and should be titled and include all contributing authors' names and affiliations. Please identify the name of the person who will be presenting the paper or poster, and add biographical sketches of the authors as a second page. The sketches should be 50 words or less in paragraph form, and full mailing and e-mail addresses and phone and fax numbers must be included.
  
• Margins should be 1-inch top, bottom, and right side and 1 ¼-inch left margin. The text should be single-spaced, 10-point size, Times-Roman font, with no pagination, footers and headers. Paragraphs should be justified.
  
• Major headings should be 12-point bold; minor headings should be 10-point italicized not bolded. There should be one blank line above and below all headings, except above major headings, which should have two blank lines.
  
• Graphics should not be used in Abstracts.
  

By virtue of submitting an abstract, the submitter(s) grants GRA the right to publish any accepted abstract or the right to decline any abstract. Please submit your abstract by email to: Mary Megarry, Groundwater Resources Association, mmegarry@nossaman.com no later than December 9, 2008. The Conference Committee will review abstracts and make final selections.

Sponsors and Exhibitors

If you are interested in exhibiting your organization's services or products, or being an event sponsor, please contact Mary Megarry at mmegarry@nossaman.com or 916-446-3626. UC Center for Water Resources and GRA welcome co-sponsors, lunch, refreshment and reception sponsors.