Fady Juez, Managing Director, Metito took a few minutes from his busy schedule at the IDA World Congress 2009 to speak to H20 about his recent election to the IDA Board of Directors and issues surrounding water management in the Middle East with a personal touch.
Fady Juez sat down squarely on the couch, cutting a rather imposing figure. As the chairman of the organising committee for this IDA World Congress in Dubai, how would he rate the event? Without hesitation, Fady replied: “I am extremely pleased. I think the people here did a great job, and that includes everyone at TechnoPark and EZW. Given that we had some concerns arising due to the financial crisis, I would say the outcome has been nothing less than great. This, by far, is also the largest Congress we have had, at least that’s my feel. If you look around, this place (Atlantis on the Palm Jumeirah) is packed from early in the morning. I am very happy.” What about his successful election to the IDA Board of Directors? Fady beamed: “I am happy, I am pleased. This is a worldwide election, democratically held, and it makes me proud to know that people believe that I can do a good job.”
As a freshly minted IDA Director, what does Fady hope to achieve during his term in office? Pat came the answer “I am a strong believer in the environment and water. This dovetails extremely well with IDA, which is all about desalination and water reuse. I am right now in the heart of the only organisation in the world that promotes professional standards in desalination and water reuse. In addition to the biannual Congress, IDA also participates in up to 14 workshops and seminars each year. Meetings are currently underway for the formation of committees.
I am not sure exactly what I will be involved in, but I will surely carry out my responsibilities in the next two years.” New duties aside, Fady did elaborate on what he thought were the pressing issues facing the desalination industry in the Middle East. “Everything we do as human beings impact the environment one way or another,” he said. “Since we have to extract water from the environment, we need to do it in a way that is neutral to the environment. Otherwise we would have to make sure that the process has minimum impact. Desalination is only going to increase; therefore, it is only right that while we increase our desalination capacity, we do not harm the environment. When we recycle water, it is also our responsibility that we recycle properly. The IDA has committed a taskforce made up of leading scientists, environmental experts, government representative and members of the desalination industry to look into the environment effect of desalination on the Arabian Gulf.
We will also hold a symposium on desalination and the environment in 2010 in the Gulf region. We can do it, and we will continue working on it.” Fady also weighed in on the current tug-of-war between RO and thermal desalination technologies. He said: “I personally believe that membrane technology will become the most dominant in the region. But that said, we are still going to have to do a lot more for membrane technology by making it more efficient and lowering the costs associated with it. Available data indicates that it has the highest growth in applied technology and continues to grow. I am also a firm believer in demand management. I really believe we can do a lot more in reducing consumption. The logic is simple. If we reduce consumption, we reduce cost and consequently, we reduce the amount that we desalinate. When that happens, we lower our impact on the environment. If I could, I would love to concentrate on promoting demand management.
