More than 240 scientists from 56 countries will gather in Beijing Monday to discuss groundwater and propose strategies for groundwater management.

The 34th Congress of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), to be held in Beijing from Monday to Friday, 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 the land surface. It exists almost everywhere underground, for example in the space between particles of rock and soil or in crevices and cracks in rock.

Representatives from United Nation agencies with important groundwater programs will make presentations.

"The congress is an important forum for China to learn groundwater management from other countries," said Yin Yueping, member of the organizing committee of the congress, 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 has been organized by the IAH and the Ministry of Land and Resources.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2006)