The Arabian Gulf University’s Higher Studies College Dean and Professor of water resources studies Dr. Waleed Zubari joined 400 international experts in the 26th Arab Engineering Conference opened in Jeddah on Sunday under the title of “Water Resources in the Arab World: Challenges and Reality” under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Monarch of the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Zubari participated with a paper on “sustainable management of water resources in the GC countries: appraisal, challenges and proposed frame” in which he reviewed the concept of sustainable management of water resources in the GCC countries and most significant indicators, available water resources in the GCC for instance groundwater, desalinated and treated water and water usage in the main sectors.
The first day of the conference includes three sessions: the first discusses water security in which a paper discussing Arab rights in water in the occupied territories. Second paper discusses groundwater in the Kingdom and challenges for its sustainability. The third paper discusses the issue of comprehensive projects and their role in water security. The second session discussed the topic of non-conventional desalinated water in which Italian expert Dr. Enrico di Ryali was keynote speaker whose paper discussed “new trends in compression and distillation membranes for water desalination and treatment. The paper presented in the final session on the first day of the conference discussed “water and electricity conservation and saving plan in the higher education sector in the Kingdom”. Another paper discussed management of water sector in the GCC countries through application of the principles of integrated management of water resources”.
The conference discussed successful experiences, experiments and lessons learned in order to exchange ideas and to come up with recommendations which upgrade the role of engineers and to make a success of this type of projects and building engineering capabilities and their successful role in supervision of projects and making suitable decisions.
The conference reviewed case studies and lessons learned in similar projects in the Kingdom of Bahrain and in the Arab countries and worldwide. The conference is a good opportunity for all participants to develop through perusal and listening to latest developments in the field of water and global research efforts.