PRESIDENT’S FAREWELL MESSAGE
BY SUSAN GARCIA

I have had a wonderful time these past two years serving you as GRA Statewide President. How fortunate I have been to have worked with an excellent team of Officers, Directors, and Volunteers. Through our combined efforts, GRA has advanced forward as an advocate of groundwater issues. Within the past few years, we have worked jointly with a variety of organizations in achieving common educational goals, such as the Water Education Foundation, the California Department of Water Resources, Cal/EPAÕs Department of Toxic Substances Control and Regional Water Quality Control Boards, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). In addition to these entities, we have cosponsored a variety of courses with the University of Davis Continuing Education Department and have participated in local groundwater festivals. I thank these organizations, and others that I have not mentioned, for providing GRA the opportunity to work with you.
During 1996 and 1997, we have accomplished our objective to provide low cost, high quality technical programs for our membership. Seminars that we have sponsored that come readily to mind are the Rapid Site Characterization Seminar held in November 1996 and the more recent Innovative Monitoring and Remediation Applications Seminar held in September 1997. Both these seminars were well received by attendees. In addition to the seminars, our annual meeting technical programs have been quite informative and well received. I thank all the speakers, instructors and volunteers that have worked so hard to make our seminars and annual meetings such successes. In particular, I would like to thank Vicki Kretsinger of Luhdorf and Scalamini and Brian Lewis of the DTSC for their tremendous efforts to assure success for these events. We look forward to continue providing you with such fine technical programs.

Although I’ve briefly discussed some positive accomplishments for GRA, not everything has been rosy these past two years. We have experienced some growing pains as an organization, that have been compounded by the changing environment of our maturing industry. During these past few years, we have seen many organizations downsize, merge, and/or close shop. This has resulted in many individuals being preoccupied with seeking a new livelihood, accomplishing the work of many individuals, and/or leaving the industry for more lucrative territories. These external pressures have resulted in our membership growth leveling out, a reduction in new volunteers, a decrease in dinner meeting attendance within some Branches, a loss of some of our past sponsors, and the periodic inability of some of our volunteers to meet their organizational commitments. These items appear to be a reflection of the change occurring within our industry and should not be viewed solely as a reflection of GRA. They just mean that as an organization, we must work harder to assure we continue to grow and provide quality programs. I apologize to our membership for any inconveniences that have been experienced during our growth.

Acknowledgment of Volunteers
I contacted the various GRA Branches and have asked them to please identify individuals that should be recognized for all their volunteer services for GRA. These individuals have been dedicated toward assuring the continued success of GRA. Please recognize the following individuals:

• Sacramento Branch: David Von Aspern, Tom Mohr and Tim Parker
• San Francisco Branch: David Abbott, Jim Jacobs, Mary Keane, and Marcus Niebank
• Central Coast Branch: Tim Thompson, Deanna Cummings, and Kevin Kneese
• Southern California Branch: Jim Carter, Carmen Guzman and Lou Reimer
• South San Joaquin Valley Branch: Gary Corbell
• North-Central California Branch: Tom Venus

My apologies to any individuals that I may have overlooked. I thank you for your assistance.
On a statewide level, I would like to thank Bart Simmons of the DTSC for his Chemist Corner contributions to HydroVisions and all other contributors to the newsletter as well as our Editor, Floyd Flood. Also on a Statewide level, I would like to thank Carl Hauge of the California Department of Water Resources for all his assistance in our technical programs and as a mentor for GRA. Thank you everyone.

Newly Elected Statewide Officers
On November 10, 1997, we elected our new slate of Statewide officers. Join me in welcoming our new officers:

• President, Brian Lewis
• Vice President, Tim Parker
• Secretary, Paul Dorey
• Treasurer, David von Aspern

Best wishes for your 1998 term.

California Water Issues
In the last HydroVisions (Fall 1997, see Web page for edition), I asked GRA members to please provide us with their thoughts on what they believed were the most pressing water issues facing California today and in the future. Comments were to be printed in HydroVisions and later forwarded to the Honorable Cruz M. Bustamante, Speaker of the California Assembly. We have extended the time period for this request until February 15, 1998, so that we can include more of your comments. Please send your comments to GRA or e-mail them to editor@grac.org. I encourage you to provide us with your comments so that we can include your opinion.

Susan has served GRA well in her two years as President. Our by-laws have term limits. At our annual meeting, Susan was given an award for her contributions. We look forward to Susan’s continued involvement with GRA.