The research progress and developing tendency of karst water

International conference on groundwater in karst was held in the Birmingham University, June 2015. Hundreds of scholars around the world took part in it and presented their newest studies. As the hosts, University of Birmingham and British Geological Survey showed their new progress on karst research in UK. It is believed that the important presentations in the conference may be representative for the development of karst hydrogeology in the future. Five topics were involved in the conference, including lithological, structural & stratigraphical influence on karst groundwater, karst groundwater system modeling, ecological system of karst groundwater, human-karst groundwater interaction, as well as technologies for karst groundwater exploration. According to the presentations, new knowledge emerged one after another. For example, a new modeling method was tried to predict the position of main flow paths in a karst massif. The distributed hybrid model was discussed widely for karst water. An invertebrate ecology of Chalk groundwater was identified by the support from BGS, which set a good example for further study in this topic. A holistic perspective of karst environment was noted. In the future, research on ecosystem in karst environment will be noticeable. The accuracy of modeling prediction will be enhanced obviously. Karst environmental problems, which were closely related to human life, will be solved gradually. The current projects arranged by Chinese Geological Survey should follow the new trend appearing in the conference and obtain more functions of predicting and optimal management to serve the society actively.