This book contains the proceedings of the first workshop held at Monte VeritA near Ascona, Switzerland on September 24-29, 1989. The workshop was designed to survey the current understanding of water and solute transport through unsaturated soils under field conditions, and to foster research by discussing some unresolved key issues relative to transport modeling and experimentation in four "Think Tank" groups. The first part of this book consists of the reports prepared by the Think Tank groups, who discussed the following topics: modeling approaches, effective large scale properties, evaluation of filed properties, and the role preferential flow. The second part contains a selection of reviewed original contributions presented at the workshop, with topics ranging from the presentation of results from large scale experiments, to improved or new modeling approaches, and to legal or policy aspects. This book is intended for researchers in soil science, hydrology, and environmental engineering who have an interest in transport and reaction processes in the unsaturated zone. It will provide them with a representative sample of current research activities, and with a group discussion of future research directions in four important areas of water and solute transport.

This book contains the proceedings of the first workshop held at Monte Verita near Ascona, Switzerland on September 24-29, 1989. The workshop was designed to survey the current understanding of water and solute transport through unsaturated soils under field conditions, and to foster research by discussing some unresolved key issues relative to transport modeling and experimentation in four "Think Tank" groups. The first part of this book consists of the reports prepared by the Think Tank groups, who discussed the following topics: modeling approaches, effective large scale properties, evaluation of filed properties, and the role preferential flow. The second part contains a selection of reviewed original contributions presented at the workshop, with topics ranging from the presentation of results from large scale experiments, to improved or new modeling approaches, and to legal or policy aspects. This book is intended for researchers in soil science, hydrology, and environmental engineering who have an interest in transport and reaction processes in the unsaturated zone. It will provide them with a representative sample of current research activities, and with a group discussion of future research directions in four important areas of water and solute transport.

Hannes Fluhler Das Symposium Die Alpen- Naturpark oder Opfer des kunftigen Europas und die hier ver- oeffentlichten Referate sollen die Diskussion uber die kunftigen Auswirkungen der europaischen Vertrage und Absprachen auf unsere Umwelt in eine breitere OEffentlichkeit hinaustragen. Wich- tige Umweltfragen aus der Sicht der Wissenschaft aufzugreifen und sichtbar zu machen, ist eine der Aufgaben des ETHZ Forums fur Umweltfragen. Dass wir die Alpen stellvertretend fur die Umweltfrage als Tagungsthema wahlten, begrunden wir mit der besonderen Verletzlichkeit dieser Natur- und Kulturlandschaft und mit ihrer zentralen geographischen Lage im europai- schen Wirtschaftsraum. Der Titel des Symposiums ist provokativ gewahlt und hat zu prononcierten Stellungnahmen ge- fuhrt. Mit der Wahl dieses Themas wollen und durfen wir uns nicht in regionale Kompetenzen einmischen. Wir stellen das Beispiel der Alpen ins Zentrum, weil es ein multinationaler Pro- blemkomplex ist und sich deshalb fur europaische Projektionen eignet. Die Titelfrage ist eine etwas uberzeichnete Alternative, welche sich in der Wirklichkeit etwas differenzierter stellt.