A delegation of ground water professionals, led by National Ground Water Association executive director Kevin McCray, will visit Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, Oct. 13-22 under the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program.

Subjects of particular interest to the delegation include:

• National and/or regional schemes for monitoring ground water quantity and quality
  
• Efforts to locate and develop new ground water reserves
  
• Impacts of oil and gas exploration and development on ground water resources, particularly with respect to hydraulic fracturing techniques, salt water intrusion, and brackish water usage
  
• Carbon sequestration plans and their impact on ground water resources
  
• Remediation of contaminated ground water and environmental restoration of contaminated soils, especially impacts of ash dumps on ground water quality and other ground water-pollution control initiatives
  
• Stabilization of rising ground water levels in urban and industrial regions
  
• Overexploitation and subsequent management responses, including artificial recharge
  
• National human resources to provide, protect, remediate and manage ground water
  
• Utilization of geothermal heat pump technology for heating and cooling, as well as aquifer thermal energy storage and borehole thermal energy storage
  
• Water well maintenance and rehabilitation, including well acidization
  
• Dewatering of marshy lands.

While the itinerary still is being shaped, it could include visits to the Federal Agency for Water Resources, the Institute for Water Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sysin Scientific and Research Institute of Human Ecology and Environmental Hygiene at St. Petersburg State University, and those engaged in water well construction and in the manufacture of water well industry equipment, such as rigs and pumps.

Ground water professionals interested in participating can learn more at www.peopletopeople.com/kevinmccray.

Founded in 1956 by President Dwight Eisenhower as a vehicle to expand international relations beyond the structure of government agencies, People to People International is a nonpolitical, private-sector organization dedicated to promoting international peace and understanding. As citizen ambassadors, participants will represent their profession, while continuing in the tradition of high-level professionals who have helped shape, during the past 50 years, international dialogue within the industry.