After an article with the participation of the hydrogeology department was already honoured as an Hydrogeology Journal Editors‘ Choice in 2022, another publication has now received this distinction. The article “Flooding and flood water storage in karst systems of the Mediterranean region” is one of the five selected Editors’ Choice articles in the Hydrogeology Journal 2024.

Bastian Habbel was awarded the prize for outstanding theses at the Darmstadt Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management Colloquium on February 26, 2025. His Master's thesis entitled “Simulation and evaluation of initial measures for hydromorphological watercourse development” impressed the jury with its good presentation of the extensive investigation of a complex process with a concrete, clear result.

Die Dienstleistungseinheit Projektträger Karlsruhe (PTKA) sucht in Zusammenarbeit mit der Abteilung Hydrogeologie eine Mitarbeiterin bzw. einen Mitarbeiter (m/w/d) in der Wissenschaft mit der Möglichkeit zur berufsbegleitenden Promotion für den Themenbereich „Risikoanalyse von Wasserressourcen“.

The current newsletter of the KIT Center for Climate and Environment offers exciting insights into groundwater and karst spring research. One article is dedicated to the successfully completed KARMA project, which investigated karst aquifers in the Mediterranean region with regard to water availability, water quality and climate change. Researchers from the geosciences, including Prof. Dr. Goldscheider, are also presented.

Prof. Nico Goldscheider has been a member of the Cantonal Expert Group on Safety (KES) since September 2024, which deals with safety issues relating to the planned deep geological repository for radioactive waste in Switzerland. According to current plans, the Swiss repository is to be built in the Opalinus Clay at a depth of 900 m, south of the High Rhine in the canton of Zurich.

The book "Karst: Environment and Management of Aquifers" was published as part of "The Groundwater Project" and is available for free. The book provides an introduction to karst and is aimed at a broad audience to provide a deeper understanding of karst areas.

Prof Goldscheider was appointed an Honorary Member of the Geological Society of America (GSA) in 2024. This programme was established by the GSA Council in 1909 and since then one or more honorary members have been appointed each year. Honorary members are international geoscientists who have made outstanding contributions to science.

We have been cooperating with colleagues from Israel for many years and declare our full solidarity with our friends in Israel in this terrible situation. We therefore support the statement on the situation in Israel that KIT published as part of the Alliance of Science Organizations.

On 20.08.2023, the ZDF show "Terra X" dealt with the question of the origin and importance of water as a resource. Among other things, the tracer marking experiments carried out by the KIT in the Blautopf cave system on the Swabian Alb were featured (from minute 15:50).

The TV station SWR has also published an article focusing on increasing groundwater extraction as a result of climate change. The article gets to the bottom of the question of how much various user groups want to extract today today and in the future, and how this may be campatible with sustainability.

The current cover story of the SPIEGEL (30/2023) is about water shortages in Germany. Prof. Nico Goldscheider is quoted several times in connection with our cooperation with the state water supply in Langenau, which supplies 3 million people with drinking water, as well as with general statements about groundwater, water availability and the nitrate problem. (Article unfortunately behind paywall)