A conference may be defined as a meeting for an interchange of views, and it is with this definition in mind that I come to join you. For, in preparing this talk, it soon became evidentto me that most of you in the Southwest are rather intimately acquainted with the ground-water resource, you have first-hand knowledge of many of the problems associated with its development,and you doubtless are as concerned with its wise management as is any similar group anywhere in the country. And so, I look forward not only to addressing you on a subject vital to all of us but,in turn, learning from you during this interchange of views today and tomorrow.