More than 240 scientists from 56 countries are in Beijing to attend the 34th Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), which opens today and will focus on groundwater management and preservation.

Participants will discuss groundwater quality, groundwater safety and contamination recovery, and groundwater management in the context of rural and urban development.

Groundwater is any water found below ground. It exists almost everywhere underground, for example in the space between particles of rock and soil or in crevices and cracks in rocks.

Representatives from UN agencies that conduct groundwater programs will make presentations at the congress.

"The congress is an important forum for China to learn groundwater management from other countries," Yin Yueping, an organizing committee member, said on Sunday.

The congress will promote the survey, assessment, utilization, protection and management of groundwater in China and its role in sustainable social economic development, Yin said.

The congress, which ends on Friday, is organized by the IAH, and the Ministry of Land and Resources.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2006)