In 2020, the Department of Hydrogeology of St. Petersburg (Leningrad) State University celebrated its 90th anniversary. The first head of the department (at that time - the Department of Groundwater) was Boris Leonidovich Lichkov - an outstanding scientist, philosopher, generalist, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences (1942), an honorary member of the Geographical Society. B.L. Lichkov is the founder of the scientific school of hydrogeologists at the Leningrad State University. Over the years of its existence, the Department of Hydrogeology has trained a large number of specialists needed by the country, but at present, not the best times have come to the Department. Does the country need hydrogeologists? Will the Second Hydrogeological Congress take place?