DUBAI, UAE – Dubai has been announced as the bid winner for the International Desalination Association’s (IDA) World Congress 2019.
Returning to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after 10 years, Dubai was selected from a total of eight proposals.
The IDA said details about dates and venue for the 2019 World Congress will be announced shortly.
Announcing the news, the association said its “site Selection Committee conducted a rigorous review of eight proposals from around the world that included thorough analysis of information detailed on a numeric scorecard, followed by site visits to four final candidates and a vote by the IDA Board of Directors.”
The event was first held in Dubai in 2009, shortly after moving to Perth, Australia in 2011; Tianjin, China in 2013; California, US in 2015 and then São Paulo, Brazil later this year.
Although previous events have largely focused on desalination, the controversial move to Brazil – where desalination is in its infancy – signalled a shift in focus for the event onto water reuse.
The 2017 World Congress in São Paulo, Brazil will take place on October 15-20.
This follows a small event held in Rio de Janeiro in March 2015 by the IDA called “Water Reuse and Desalination for Latin American Development”, which it said was a “highly successful conference”.
With desalination activity heating back up in Middle East nations such as Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, moving the event back to the region will no doubt be welcomed by the global desalination community.
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