Communicating Groundwater - Bringing understanding to the water table
Agenda (PDF 56kb)
Attendee List_2013 (PDF 32kb)
Presentations:
2012 - That was the year that was! (pdf 1.5MB)
Andrew Mckenzie, BGS
Drought 2010 - 2012 (pdf 341 kb)
Pauline Smith, Environment Agency
Communicating Groundwater Science - Drought 2012 (pdf 752 kb)
Richard Aylard, Thames Water
'Going viral' - the power and the pain
Alan MacDonald, Principal Hydrogeologist, BGS
Down the Pipeline - How we respond to drought communications (pdf 535 kb)
Rebecca Pearce, Social Scientist, University of Exeter
Workshop Outputs:
Groundwater Communication Kaleidoscope (pdf 516kb)
Twyford Waterworks Video
Lucy Roberts, Environment Agency
Conference Podcasts:
Also, check out the Science Media Centre website to find out hints and tips on engaging with the media.
Conference Information
With 2013 the UN’s International Year of Water Cooperation the UK Groundwater Forum’s annual event was on ‘Communicating Groundwater’ and was held jointly with the Hydrogeological Group of the Geological Society. The event was supported by BGS and the NERC Water Security KE programme.
2012 was a year of unprecedented weather and hydrological extremes that made groundwater front page news. Groundwater professionals engaged with the media to explain the complexity of the ‘wettest drought on record’ and many are now communicating the risk of groundwater flooding after a rather abrupt and dramatic end to the drought.
The increased media exposure during 2012 highlights the challenge in communicating the complexity of groundwater science to the non-expert. How well did we do? What lessons can we learn? How can we maintain its profile?
The day will reflect on the lessons to be learnt from the extremes and events of 2012 but will consider more widely strategies and techniques to communicate and engage with non-experts on groundwater issues so that they are better informed.
This year our event included more interactive discussion and workshop sessions to give everyone the opportunity to participate more fully throughout the day and to share views and experiences.
Four themes were covered on the day:
- Communication lessons from the extremes and experiences of 2012
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Communication strategies to the non-expert
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Case studies, tools and techniques for groundwater communication
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Maintaining the spotlight on groundwater
We highlighted a range of case studies, tools and techniques related to aspects of communicating groundwater science during short workshop sessions. The outputs from these workshops will be uploaded soon.
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