John D. Bredehoeft, Ph.D., a former editor-in-chief of the National Ground Water Association’s flagship technical journal, Groundwater®, died on January 1, 2023, at his home in Sausalito, California. He was 89.
He is survived by his wife, Beth, and four children, John F., Martha, Paul, and Chris.
Bredehoeft served as the editor-in-chief of Groundwater from 1992-1995. He earned NGWA’s Life Member Award in 1997 and the Association’s M. King Hubbert Award in 1991. The Hubbert Award is presented to a person who has made major science or engineering contributions to the groundwater industry through research, technical papers, teaching, and practical applications.
He was also a member of NGWA’s Association for Groundwater Scientists and Engineers Board of Directors from 1992-1996.
Bredehoeft devoted the majority of his professional career to scientific research and high-level management positions with the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS). When he retired from the USGS in 1995 as a senior research geologist, he established The Hydrodynamics Group in Sausalito where he continued to offer consulting services.
While at the USGS, Bredehoeft worked with George Pinder and developed and published award-winning models such as the first widely utilized numerical groundwater flow model and the first widely used contaminant transport model.
During his career in research, Bredehoeft worked on a variety of other topics including analytical methods for the field determination of aquifer parameters and geophysical experiments for both the prediction and control of earthquakes. He published more than 100 papers in a variety of research journals.
Bredehoeft was born on February 28, 1933, in St. Louis, Missouri, and earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois.
“John was a giant in the groundwater field and a veritable fountain of original ideas,” said current Groundwater Editor-in-Chief Leonard Konikow, Ph.D. “He also was a generous mentor and supporter of graduate students and early career scientists. He was responsible for the successful careers of numerous now-leading groundwater scientists — including myself. John saw the potential in each of us that we didn’t realize we had — and he steered us in directions that let us grow and excel.”