British Hydrological Society

The British Hydrological Society (BHS) was formed in 1983 in response to a clear need for a new, broad-based national society for the advancement of hydrology. The Society caters for everyone interested in the inter-disciplinary subject of hydrology. We aim to encourage good practice and scholarship in scientific and applied aspects of hydrology and to foster the involvement of members in national and international activities. An Initial Planning Group to assess the feasibility of setting up a British Hydrological Society met in 1982 at the close of the IAHS Scientific Assembly in Exeter. The aim of this Group was to found an organisation which would be truly inter-disciplinary in its outlook and activities, to develop a broad and lively interest in the very many facets of water and the water cycle, both the natural cycle and that modified by man. The Institution of Engineers, through its Hydrology Group, and the NERC Institute of Hydrology both agreed to sponsor the Society by providing administrative support.  An Inaugural Meeting of the new Society was held at the Royal Society on 1st November 1983, with 143 members present, nearly half of the membership at that time. Links with the Royal Society were to be maintained through the Hydrological Sub-Committee concerned with furthering the aims of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) (claimed to be the oldest and foremost of the international, non-governmental organisations dealing with hydrology and water resources), a component body of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. The Society is managed on behalf of its members by an elected committee. BHS continued with the practice of the ICE Hydrology Group in organising discussion meetings on specific topics presented by 2-3 invited speakers but holding them at various locations round the country. The first residential British Hydrological Society National Hydrology Symposium was held at the University of Hull in 1987; similar events have been held every other year since then. The Newsletter Circulation mailed to individual members was launched in 1984.