Tue, 10/17/2017 - 11:14

Sao Paulo, Brazil – The International Desalination Association (IDA) announces that Miguel Angel Sanz, director of strategic development for Treatment Infrastructure Division of SUEZ, has been elected president of IDA for the 2017-2019 term. In addition, IDA announced that Rachid Ghamraoui, vice president of BESIX, has been named 1st vice president, and Li Youqing, chief executive officer of Harbin ROPV Industry Development, has been named 2nd vice president. Mr. Sanz has 34 years of professional experience in desalination as well as in the drinking water and wastewater fields. He joined Degrémont Group in 1983, in Spain, where he held several positions including technical and project director in Spain, desalination manager and deputy technical director for Degrémont Group, business development director in Degrémont Iberia, and director of development and innovation of Degrémont based in France. In January 2015, Degrémont and all companies of the group became SUEZ. Working with SUEZ Group, Mr. Sanz has been involved in promoting innovation in the field of membrane desalination. He has taken part in the design, build or operation of more than 40 brackish or seawater desalination plants worldwide. Mr. Sanz has been a member of the IDA Board of Directors since 2009. He serves as chairman of the 2017 São Paulo World Congress Technical Program Committee and has been the AEDyR representative on the IDA Board of Directors for the 2015-2017 term. In previous terms, he served as 2nd vice president and served on several committees including Technical Program Committee as co-chair. He has been session co-chair in four IDA World Congresses and was a member of the Technical Committee of the 2013 IDA World Congress in Tianjin, China. In addition, he promoted the organization of the first IDA conference in Algeria in 2010; was chairman of the first IDA conference in Morocco, held in Casablanca in 2012; and was co-chairman of the first IDA conference in Latin America, held in Rio de Janeiro in March 2015. In the last two World Water Forums, he has participated or co-organized the Desalination and Reuse sessions representing IDA. In summary, Mr. Sanz has participated as contributor, organizer, speaker or chairman in over 25 events organized or supported by IDA in the last years. Moreover, he has helped promote and create other desalination and reuse organizations such as the Latin American Desalination and Reuse Association (ALADyR). He is active among IDA’s affiliate organizations, being for eight years a member of the Board of Directors of the European Desalination Society (EDS) and the Spanish Desalination and Reuse Association AEDyR, where he has been vice president for four years. He is also a member of other desalination or water associations and has served as a member of the Editorial Board of Water.desalination+reuse, IDA’s official member magazine. Mr. Sanz received a master's degree in industrial engineering in 1981 from Bilbao High Technical School of Engineers. He has published over 50 papers on desalination and water treatment. “IDA has over 40 years promoting desalination and reuse worldwide, contributing to promote and develop solutions to supply drinking water to the world’s population or for industrial applications. Today, reuse and desalination solutions are widely applied in more than 150 countries, and they are well known and accepted,” he said. “But the world is facing important changes and challenges like climate change, scarcity of natural resources and growing populations in emerging regions of Asia, Africa or Latin America. IDA needs to be adapted to these new challenges and help these regions to apply the best and more sustainable and economical solutions, with new and more efficient technologies, and especially training the new generations to take the relay in this mission. IDA, our Affiliate Associations and our Board of Directors must work as a united team to give solutions to these challenges, helping all stakeholders of the reuse and desalination market,” he added.