International Desalination Association Announces Members of Environmental Task Force and Dates for Environmental Symposium
The International Desalination Association (IDA) announced that nine distinguished scientists have joined its Environmental Task Force to explore possible impacts of desalination in the Arabian Gulf and make recommendations to mitigate potential effects. IDA also announced the members of the Task Force’s Steering Committee as well as dates for the upcoming Environmental Symposium in Bahrain.
Topsfield, MA (PRWEB) April 24, 2010
Nine distinguished scientists, all experts in the environmental and desalination fields, have joined the International Desalination Association’s (http://www. idadesal. org)(IDA) Environmental Task Force, which was formed to review possible impacts of desalination (http://www. idadesal. org/images/state%20of%20desalination_final_nov_09.pdf) in the Arabian Gulf and make recommendations to mitigate potential effects. A Task Force Steering Committee is also in place, consisting of Dr. Abdulmajeed Ali Alawadhi, Task Force Chairman; Lisa Henthorne, Co-Chair; Michel Canet, Ghassan Ejjeh, Fady Juez and Tom Pankratz.
IDA also announced that it will hold an Environmental Symposium (http://www. idadesal. org/t-calendar_160.aspx), “Desalination and the Arabian Gulf: The Relationship between the Environment and Meeting the Region's Water Needs” on December 6-7 in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain. Through virtual workshops and the Environmental Symposium, IDA will develop a “Blue Paper” that includes strategies to address potential environmental impacts that are identified as part of its work.
“Desalination plays a critical role in sustaining the people and economies of the Arabian Gulf. IDA is dedicated to a clean, healthy Gulf, and we look forward to facilitating discussions between stakeholders and environmental experts to ensure the well-being of the Gulf ecosystem for this and future generations,” said Ms. Henthorne, Co-Chair of the Environmental Task Force and Past President of the International Desalination Association.
Following are members of the IDA Environmental Task Force.
Dr. Mahmoud Abdel-Jawad is Principal Research Scientist at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), specialized in Water Desalination and Water Treatments. He obtained his Ph. D. in inorganic chemistry (Kinetics and Mechanisms in Aqueous Solutions) from London University in 1974, and joined the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW), Kuwait. He served the Ministry for 10 years before joining KISR in 1984 as the Water Desalination Program Manager, where he established the Doha Water Desalination Research Plant in Kuwait and led many successful projects at the MEW and KISR. Dr. Abdel-Jawad also served as the principal investigator of the consultancy work for the Sulaibiya Wastewater Treatment Plant Project.
He is a member of the editorial board of the Desalination and Water Treatment - Science and Engineering Journal and served as a member of the editorial board of the International Journal on the Science and Technology of Desalting and Water Purification (Desalination) for more than 25 years. He has participated in many international congresses, conferences, symposia and workshops in the field of Water treatment and Desalination and has more than 100 scientific publications as scientific papers in refereed journals and technical reports.
Dr. Samer Adham is Managing Director of the Global Water Sustainability Center (GWSC) in Qatar, a co-venture between ConocoPhillips Water Technology Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of ConocoPhillips, and GE Water and Process Technologies, a unit of General Electric Company. He brings to the Task Force more than 20 years experience in the development of innovative solutions to the environmental challenges in the fields of water and wastewater treatment, and water reclamation. He has also been involved in evaluating the feasibility of emerging technologies and treatment of key contaminants of concern at bench-, pilot-, and full-scale applications.
Dr. Adham has received several national and international awards of excellence and participated in various conferences worldwide as a global expert on membrane technologies. He has more than 30 journal publications, 200 conference papers, and 20 invited presentations/workshops. He received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Masters of Science in Environmental Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia. He also received his Ph. D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993.
Dr. Gary Amy is Director of the Water Desalination and Reuse Center, and Professor of Environmental Engineering at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. He was most recently Professor of Water Supply Engineering at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands and formerly served as Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado, USA and, earlier, at the University of Arizona, USA.
Dr. Amy’s main areas of expertise are drinking water treatment and wastewater reclamation/reuse, with specific expertise in membrane rejection and fouling, selective adsorption, natural organic matter characterization, disinfection by-product formation and control, and natural systems. At UNESCO-IHE, he was involved in various European Union (EU) and other sponsored projects on membrane-based desalination, membrane bioreactors, natural drinking water and wastewater treatment processes, and organic and inorganic micropollutants. Over a career of almost 30 years, he has published over 180 articles in refereed publications, and supervised almost 40 PhD students. He was a recipient of a Fulbright Award for Germany (2003-2004), was invited as Distinguished Lecturer, Korea Brain 21 Program (2002), and was appointed Visiting Scholar at Kyoto University, Japan (2001).
Dr. Shawki Barghouti is Director General, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). ICBA is the host institute for the recently established Arab Water Academy (AWA). Both ICBA and AWA work on research and capacity building for scientists and executive managers in the water and agricultural sector, and also work closely with the Arab Water Council and the United Arab Emirates water and environment agencies, including the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi.
A Jordanian national educated in Egypt and the USA, he has served in several international assignments since receiving his Ph. D. in Agricultural Science and Development from The University of Wisconsin, Madison. His career includes assignments with the Government of Jordan, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the Ford Foundation, and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).
Dr. Barghouti worked for the World Bank for 25 years as senior advisor for science and technology and manager of the agriculture and rural portfolio, and also managed the Bank’s portfolio in water and agriculture. He also served as Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Hyderabad, India.
Mr. Raed Bashitialshaaer is a researcher and staff member at Lund University-LTH, Water Engineering. Currently completing his doctoral studies in Sweden, he has a B. Sc in civil engineering B. Sc and an M. Sc in wastewater management and reuse. He also holds diplomas in electrical engineering and chemical and mechanical engineering. His experience and research are focused on brine discharge, environmental impact, mixing time, exchange volume, cost analysis and water reuse, especially in the Arabian Gulf. He has worked extensively on projects involving the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, Arabian Gulf and the Dead Sea.
Dr. Paul Frederick Holthus is founding Executive Director of the World Ocean Council, which brings together the international ocean business community to catalyze leadership and collaboration in addressing marine environmental issues in support of improved industry operations.
Dr. Holthus works with the private sector and market forces to develop practical solutions for achieving sustainable development and addressing marine environmental issues. He has worked on projects in over 30 countries in Asia, the Pacific, Central America, Europe and Africa. Past positions include Senior Program Officer of the UNEP South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); Deputy Director for the IUCN Global Marine and Coastal Program; Senior Officer of The Nature Conservancy Asia-Pacific Program; and Founding Executive Director of the Marine Aquarium Council.
Dr. Sabine Lattemann is a Marine Scientist specialized in environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies. Her main areas of work include the desalination of seawater, offshore wind energy projects, and maritime shipping. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Marine Science from Otago University (New Zealand) and a Masters Degree in Marine Environmental Science from the University of Oldenburg (Germany). She has recently completed her dissertation on the Development of an Environmental Impact Assessment and Decision Support System for Seawater Desalination Plants and has been awarded a Doctorate degree by the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and Delft University of Technology in an agreement with University of Oldenburg.
Dr. Lattemann also holds a post with the German Environmental Protection Agency. In the past, she chaired the environmental working group of the World Health Organization Project “Desalination for Safe Water Supply” from 2004-2007 and is the main author of the book Seawater Desalination: Impacts of Brine and Chemical Discharges on the Marine Environment and of the Resources and Guidance Manual for Environmental Impact Assessment of Desalination Projects published by the United Nations Environment Programme.
Mr. Mark Silverton is currently a lead Environmental Consultant with 5 Capitals and has a many years experience in environmental consultancy within the Middle East, acting within both project manager and technical capacities on a diverse range of projects. He has worked on number of large environmental assessment projects specializing in power and desalination, and has worked in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and the UAE. His work in the Middle East region follows a number of Due Diligence roles in the UK, including the privatization of the London Underground and the purchase of power plants in Africa.
Mr. Silverton has worked on EIAs involving a diverse range of Consortia from a wide background of specialties, and he is also currently involved in the environmental auditing of several large power/water projects in the region during their construction. He has a Masters Degree from Imperial College, London in Environmental Technology and is an active member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment.
Mr. Jos van Gils has 24 years experience in applied research and specialist consultancy projects related to water quality and its management at Delft Hydraulics (now Deltares). He has a wide experience in both inland and coastal water studies, and is an expert in water quality modeling, working in the Arabian Gulf region, Europe and Hong Kong. In recent years, he has been active as a water quality expert in studies conducted by Deltares/Delft Hydraulics for many of the major coastal developments in Dubai as well as in studies supporting various Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) in the Arabian Gulf region. During these studies, he developed an in-depth understanding of the Arabian Gulf area, the locally intense anthropogenic pressure on the area (related to drinking water and energy production) and the subsequent ecological impacts. Additionally, Mr. van Gils has considerable experience as a teacher and trainer. He is a graduate of the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.
About IDA
The International Desalination Association (www. idadesal. org) is a non-profit association of over 2,300 members in 60 countries. The membership is comprised of scientists, end-users, engineers, consultants and researchers from governments, corporations and academia. IDA is associated with the United Nations as part of a growing international network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
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