Hosted by Global Water Intelligence and the International Desalination Association, this annual gathering of water and desalination experts from around the globe takes place in a different vibrant and exciting city each year. 

The Zurich Marriott Hotel was the venue for the 2009 event which saw hundreds of experts in the field of Water and Desalination gather to exchange ideas and learn about new technologies which are being developed to help the World deal with one of the most dangerous and pressing problems of our time - the desperate lack of fresh water.

The prestigious Water Technology Idol award, sponsored by Norit, is particularly poignant as its award is based on votes cast by the delegates present, experts in the field of water and desalination, after a short ‘show and tell’ by each finalist company.  DTI-r was proud to have been shortlisted for the award - in winning DTI-r now clearly understands the expression ‘shock and awe’

The finalists:

    Oasys Water                     - A desalination technology using ‘Forward Osmosis’ to draw fresh water out of Seawater

    DXV Water Technologies    - Membrane desalination using the natural pressure of deep water to drive the process

    Aquaporin                         - Replicating the way Nature removes water from salt water using bio-engineering

    University of Illinois        - A non-fouling membrane bio reactor system for water re use

    ZDD ※                                - A zero liquid discharge system to recover value from desalination brine

    DTI-r                                  - Irrigation Technology which makes use of Phase Change Permeation™ through a novel plastic

The voting was tight and each of these technologies has the potential to be a huge benefit to the water and desalination industries, industries which are going to be pressured to become more efficient, more economic and more environmental as well as producing more and more fresh water for individual, business, manufacturing and agricultural use.

DTI-r would like to thank the organisers of the Blue Green & Gold - Global Water Intelligence & International Desalination Association - conference as well as the delegates who voted for their preference of Water Technology Idol 2009.  The two days were informative and interesting, the round table sessions producing intriguing debate and good networking opportunities.

Enough backslapping - back to the real world - we have to get on with the work of implementation of our technologies . . . . .

Just one more thing first:  DTI-r would like to thank Christopher Gasson - publisher of Global Water Intelligence - for inviting DTI-r to take part in the event and for his comments to WIRED - quoted here:

( ※ My apologies to Tom Davis and ZDD -

    DTI-r cannot find a web address)

Christopher Gasson from Global Water Intelligence magazine says that the competition was a three-way tie last year but this year, the winner stood out. "The dRHS irrigation system addressed a bigger problem than the other technology that it was competing against," he said. "Agriculture water is where 70 per cent of water goes. By 2025 two thirds of the world’s population will experience water shortages and so farming will be badly hit.

"Salination is a huge problem. Already 97.5 per cent of the water in the World is salty, and this is becoming more of a problem as people in poor countries recycle water, sometimes leaving the soil with a salty crust. This system will help a lot."