Stop, don't blink, 1996 is almost over. This fast-paced, action-packed year brought in our fifth year of existence. I am happy to say it has been a very successful year, albeit, not without growing pains. A brief overview of the year follows. 

State Officers
We started the year with three new state officers: Kent Parrish (Vice President), David Von Aspern (Secretary), and myself (President). This year was different, because unlike previous years, only one officer (Steve Goldberg, Treasurer) is also a Director. Through time, we developed a working arrangement to address this change. As a result of our efforts, we are considering revisions to our Bylaws which will further define the responsibilities and voting rights of State and Branch Officers (our Jan/Feb 1997 Hydrovisions will discuss this in more detail).

Executive Director Position
We also started the year with Jim Graham as Executive Director, a position created in 1995 to help advance our organization. Increasing demands from Jim's new legal practice resulted in Jim consolidating his priorities and resigning his position as GRA Executive Director. We wish Jim the best in his legal practice. The void created by Jim's absence has resulted in some of our membership experiencing difficulties in obtaining responses to their inquiries and in receiving notices and announcements. We apologize for these inconveniences. In the interim, many of GRA's administrative duties will be assumed by the following individuals:

1. Membership inquiries should be directed to Paula Noble at (916) 661- 0109 (voice) or (916) 661-6806 (fax). Tom Mohr and Maria Kamau have been updating our membership database. These tasks will be assumed by Paula. Membership questions can be directed via e-mail to admin@grac.org.

2. HYDROVISIONS production has been assumed by our new editor, Floyd Flood, with assistance from Brian Lewis and Anthony Saracino. David Abbott has been helping to remind contributors of the deadlines.

3. Our Web Page updates are being coordinated by Brian Lewis, Tim Parker and other Web Page Committee members.

We thank these individuals for their assistance. We are currently re-evaluating our need for an Executive Director position and will announce our findings in the January 1997 Hydrovisions. In the meantime, please make sure you direct all written correspondence to: GRA, P.O. Box 1446, Sacramento, CA 95812; mail should no longer be sent to Jim Graham's office.

Accomplishments for 1996

I am pleased to say as a five-year-old organization, we have accomplished many things this past year; including: 

1. Increased our membership from about 600 last year to almost 700 this year.

2. Produced a successful Fifth Annual Meeting, held for the first time in Southern California (more about this meeting later).

3. Co-sponsored two events...a workshop on "Ground Water Management: Who's Carrying the Ball?" at the Association of California Water Agencies' Spring Conference and a "Bay Delta Institutional Issues Assembly," coordinated by the California Assembly Process, POWER, and the Water Education Foundation.

4. Developed a Web Page so that information could readily be disseminated to our membership. Our new URL is http://www.grac.org. Special thanks to Brian Lewis, Tim Parker and other Web Page Committee members, for developing the page.

5. Produced four editions of HYDROVISIONS, containing technically informative articles contributed by a variety of technical experts throughout the state.

6. Planned an excellent seminar on "Rapid Site Characterization: Process, Tools and Data Quality," where Dr. John Cherry from the University of Waterloo was the keynote speaker.

GRA's Fifth Annual Meeting
GRA's Fifth Annual Meeting on "Multi-Disciplinary Solutions to California Groundwater Issues" was a resounding success (in my humble, biased opinion). The meeting accomplished our objectives of providing a forum for technical exchange and for discussing potential solutions to groundwater issues that face us in the groundwater industry. Informative presentations were given by the various speakers on talks, including arsenic and the Safe Drinking Water Act; Wellhead Protection; Legal Implications Associated with Surface Water and Groundwater Interactions; Reclaimed Water Issues; Groundwater Management Plans; Insitu Remediation Techniques; and Risk-Based Corrective Action. In addition to our speakers, we had a few poster presentations that were very professionally presented and quite informative. Our keynote speakers provided stimulating discussions that carried on into other talks (See Dr. Joseph Birman's presentation in this Hydrovisions). As a result of these keynote presentations, many of us are armed for performing interplanetary groundwater evaluations for the next millennium (Dr. David Senske's presentation on Jupiter's Moons). Our Exhibitors, once again, out did themselves and provided technically focused exhibits that satiated our scientific curiosity (see our list of Exhibitors in this issue of HYDROVISIONS).

GRA thanks all our speakers, poster session presenters, exhibitors, meeting sponsors, moderators and other helpers for making the annual meeting such a memorable event. We would like to provide special acknowledgments to Carl Hauge of the California Department of Water Resources for assisting us in developing a strong speaker program, and Dr. E. Essi Esmaili of Foster Wheeler Environmental for an excellent Risk-Based Corrective Action Workshop. GRA would also like to thank the Southern California Branch for producing the annual meeting. In particular, we would like to thank Jim Carter, Mark Cutler, Carmen Guzman, and Lou Reimer for all their efforts. Special thanks to Bas (Berge Basmadgian) for the wonderful graphics. A heartfelt thanks goes to Vicki Kretsinger for support and advice. Lastly, I would like to thank my employer, Foster Wheeler Environmental for all their assistance in finalizing the publications for the meeting and for supporting my efforts concerning the annual meeting.

Forthcoming Events
Our 1997 Annual Meeting will be held during the third week of September 1997, in Sacramento, California. The meeting will be held jointly with the University of California Water Resources Center's Biennial Ground Water Conference. We look forward to this event and are seeking individuals to assist on GRA's Planning Committee. Interested individuals should contact Anthony Saracino, GRA's 1997 Annual Meeting Chair. 

Also forthcoming in 1997, there will be two Seminars/Workshops. We are currently seeking individuals who can assist in organizing these technically informative one-day events. Contact me if you are interested. 

Thank you for the wonderful year as President. I have enjoyed working with all of you this year and look forward to working with you in 1997. Have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season.

Exhibitors:

Identified below are the Exhibitors for GRA's Fifth Annual Meeting. GRA thanks these individuals for their continued support. The Exhibitors are listed below in alphabetical order.

Colorado Silica Sand Inc.
P. O. Box 15615
Colorado Springs, CO 80935
PH. 719/390-7969
Fax 719/390-5517

Columbia Analytical Services
6925 Canoga Avenue
Canoga Park, CA 91304
PH. 800/695-7222
Fax 818/587-5555

Gregg Drilling & Testing
2475 Cerritos California
Signal Hill, CA 90806
PH. 310/427-6899
Fax 310/427-3314

Instrumentation Northwest, Inc.
4620 Northgate Blvd., Suite 170
Sacramento, CA 95834
PH. 800/776-9355
Fax 916/648-7766

Johnson Screens
P. O. Box
Saint Paul, MN
PH. 612/638-3159
Fax 612/638-3140

Layne Christensen Company
16018 Valley Blvd.
Fontana, CA 92335
PH. 909/355-3355
Fax 909/355-7640

Roscoe Moss Company
4360 Worth Street
Los Angeles CA 90063
PH. 213/263-4111
Fax 213/263-4497

SPL Laboratories
1511 E. Orangethorpe Ave.
Fullerton, CA 92831
PH. 714/447-6868
Fax 714/447-6800

Welenco, Inc.
4817 District Blvd.
Bakersfield, CA 93313
PH. 805/834-8100
Fax 805/834-2550

Westbay Instruments, Inc.
#115-949 West Third Street
North Vancouver, BC V7P 37P
PH. 604/984-4215
Fax 604/984-3538