Celebrating its 10th birthday, Afriwater - the largest water, waste and environmental technology exhibition of its kind in South Africa - will open its doors at Sandton Convention Centre between 10 and 12 August, 2005.
Supplying clean water to individuals and companies worldwide is now a $400 billion per annum industry - 40% the size of the oil sector and one third larger than the global pharmaceutical industry. And in South Africa, of the estimated 45 million people presently living here, 6 million still do not have access to this life-giving source, and nearly 16 million people are still without adequate sanitation.
With the pressure now on for the local water and sanitation industry to meet targets for management, protection and delivery to all, and additional emphasis now being placed on ensuring the sustainability of the resource to guarantee the continuing growth and prosperity of both our people and our country, Afriwater 2005 is positioned to confront the industry's challenges and offer up some answers. The exhibition will showcase the best practices, achievements, innovative ideas and solutions emerging within the industry.
Running alongside this exhibition, three international conferences will be hosted in an attempt to enable South African and other African water practitioners to become more closely aligned to First World trends in water and sanitation management. The organisers of two of these major conferences have recently posted their calls for papers.
The first of these conferences - the Diffuse Pollution Specialist Conference - is being hosted by the International Water Association. The Diffuse Pollution group of IWA is organised for scientific and professional study of Diffuse Pollution. The objectives of this group are to promote research, disseminate information, and support the development of policy to understand and solve contamination of natural resources by Diffuse Pollution sources.
Spearheaded by the IWA Chairman of Diffuse Pollution, Dr Ralph Heath, and working in close collaboration with the Water Institute of Southern Africa, the 2005 Diffuse Pollution international conference will concentrate on international technologies, as well as locally developed solutions, for measuring and managing the world's major pollution source.
The major themes of the Diffuse Pollution Specialist Conference are especially relevant to a developing country like South Africa and include:
* Runoff from informal/un-serviced areas.
* Agricultural runoff.
* Mine waste runoff and impacts urban drainage and runoff.
* How to measure, predict and manage diffuse pollution.
* The role of public consultation.
The second conference is the Management of Residues Emanating from Water and Wastewater Treatment Conference. This conference will focus on the sustainable management of all residues emanating from the treatment of water and wastewater ie, sludges emanating from the treatment of potable water, domestic wastewater and industrial effluents and processes generating concentrates and brines. The conference will therefore focus on both organic and inorganic residues emanating from the treatment of water and wastewater (domestic and industrial).
Themes of this conference include:
* Sustainable management of residues emanating from water and wastewater treatment.
* Management aspects: including the challenges, policies, legislation and environmental management of residues. Minimising water and wastewater residues. Characterisation of water and wastewater residues.
* Treatment technologies: Innovation, dewatering, stabilisation, hazardous substances, re-use/final disposal (including sustainable disposal), changing residues into a resource, sustainable management, product recovery.
* Sustainable management in developing countries.
* Economical aspects.
* Case studies.
Both conferences promise a technical programme of international standards. Some of the world leaders in the field have committed themselves to these conferences.
For more information contact Lynn Kennedy, Exhibitions for Africa, 011 886 3734, [email protected], www.afriwater.co.za
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