Water. desalination + reuse

IntervIeW New IDA president seeks sustainability D&WR interviews Corrado Sommariva, new president of the International Desalination Association (IDA) You campaigned quite hard to become IDA president. Why was it so important to you? As you know, IDA is the world���s leading organization dedicated to desalination and water reuse. With a membership comprising many of the global desalination community���s leading companies and individuals, a strong and growing affiliate network, a clear and focused mission, and a strong leadership team, IDA is in a unique position to positively impact the role of desalination in solving the world���s water issues. Our Environmental Task Force, Energy Task Force, Humanitarian Outreach Committee and our new Desalination Academy are meaningful examples of how we have mobilized our resources to produce positive outcomes. Holding the office of President of IDA is, in my opinion, an extraordinary opportunity not only to bolster support for these initiatives but also to help advance innovative programs aimed at fulfilling IDA���s mission in new ways. I take seriously the trust and confidence that my colleagues have placed in me. This is a fantastic opportunity for me to contribute to the industry, and this assignment is extremely important. I hope to bring forward my philosophy, which is to contribute to the development of the industry and through this, contribute to the positive development of the environment and society in which we live and operate. How do you see the future of desalination in the short and long terms? All aspects related to water are going to be more and more important, and so is desalination. Today, desalination is an essential part of the world���s water management strategies. It is practiced in 150 countries, and we estimate that more than 300 million people around the world rely on desalinated water for some or all their daily needs. The challenge is to make desalination even more sustainable. In this scenario, satisfying the growing demand for water in a sustainable way is a major challenge ��� and opportunity ��� for the desalination community. Reducing the cost of water in the given energy footprint is the greatest test that we will face in the next 20-25 years. Improving energy consumption is essential to address the issues related to sustainability, but it will not have a significant impact on water tariff for the time being. Particularly in the Middle East, the price of energy used for desalination technologies is very low, and with such a low price, the installation of more sophisticated energyefficient strategies becomes commercially unattractive. With this said, there has also been a strong drive towards the development of solar desalination in the region. This has been moved | 10 | Desalination & Water Reuse | February-March 2012 Corrado Sommariva: ���Our goals relate to improving energy, environment and life-cycle cost.��� forward by a generally more environmental and energy conscious approach to the power and desalination market in the region. We have already seen tremendous emphasis on environmental stewardship and the use of renewable energy in other parts of the world, and the success of those efforts certainly influences the practice of desalination in other regions. Going back to the Middle East, the successful application of renewable energy in the region will depend on several factors, and primarily the capacity of creating a strong platform of interest that involves researchers and investors as well as the governments, including a set of policies that seriously promotes this application further. You have been long associated with evaporative processes. Do they still have a future? I started my career as a designer of thermal systems, and I still hold training courses on thermal desalination. However, for more than ten years I have worked on both membrane and thermal projects. These two processes are, and will be, in the near future competing for business. While RO is more efficient from the capital expenditure and energy point of view, thermal processes are still more robust. Typically, they have a longer lifetime and require fewer chemicals; so there are plus and minuses. The great difference is the flexibility and

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