Water, the essence of life — an international congress on desalination and water reuse

Water, the Essence of Life was the theme of the International Congress on Desalination and Water Reuse which was held in Manama, Bahrain from November 29 through December 3,198l. This conference was sponsored by the International Desalination and Environmental Association (IDEA) and the State of Bahrain’s Ministry of Works, Power, and Water. The conference celebrated the 10th anniversary of the founding of IDEA. It was fitting that IDEA, which was formed on the small island of St. Croix in the Caribbean in 1971, chose another island, Bahrain, as a location to celebrate its first decade of existence. After several small meetings in the Caribbean, IDEA began its international conferences 5 years ago with a conference in Mexico City, and the format established there has been successfully repeated in Tokyo, Nice, and now Manama, the capital of the State of Bahrain. This format has generally consisted of: 1) Co-sponsorship by a group representing the host country, 2) Three to four days of technical sessions, 3) Planned social events for most evenings, 4) Field trips to nearby desalination facilities_ This has resulted in a series of very successful conferences which have provided professionals involved in desalination with opportunities to meet and exchange information and ideas. Concurrently, each conference has helped to promote international understanding and has been of considerable value to the country hosting the conference. The meetings have been conducted with a minimum of commercialization by confining the distribution of commercial literature to display tables which form only a minor part of the conference.