International environmental symposium concludes

The symposium organized by Dubai Municipality in cooperation with the Environmental Center for Arab Towns was addressed by ten world class speakers in the field of environment including environmental engineers and consultants from Luxembourg, Turkey, Australia and the USA, environmental health professors from the University of Texas and Wageningen University (Netherlands), researchers from Egypt and the UAE, in addition to waste management specialists from Greece, Germany and Kuwait.

The activities of the second day started with a session on Environmental and health procedures for wastewater recycling. The first paper in the session, "Stand-alone water reuse concepts with fertilizer and energy production for urban areas," was presented by Ralf Otterpohl, Professor in the University of Applied Sciences, Erfurt, Germany. He also presented another paper later in the day called "Oasis City, Highest water and energy efficiency through the combination of traditional city development and latest technology."

It was followed by a paper by Rasheed Ahmed, Manager Khafra Engineering Consultants, Atlanta, USA, who talked about Membrane process applications in wastewater recycling in the US.

The third speaker of the day, Wim Rulkens , Professor in Wageningen University, Netherlands, presented a paper called, "Sustainable sewage sludge management - what are the current options?" It was followed by a paper by Sohair Elela, Professor at the National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt, who spoke on the water management in Egyption industry.

The next paper, "Modern waste logistics for the GCC" was presented by Armin Vogel, Director of FAUN, Germany. Peter Wray of HTCW Universal Technical Services Ltd, Celle, Germany dwelt on the Environmental sound and safe treatment and the utilization of all types of waste high temperature melting gasification.

Dr. Pierre LUTGEN of Luxembourg Senior Auditors presented a paper called "Europe economical aspects of different waste handling approaches." It was followed by a speech by Bassam Khair, Director of Environmental Affairs, Damascus, who talked about the contemporary challenges for solid waste management in Syria.

Peter Wilson, Director of WSP Middle East, Dubai, presented a paper called "UAE Responsible Waste Management - Where does responsibility for waste lie?"

The Sama Dubai paper called Sama Dubai Environmental Project was presented by Ghida Sinawi, senior environmental specialist, whereas Ashraf Ayyad, Director of Tadweer gave an introduction to Tadweer.