Advances in Water Treatment and Enviromental Management

Chapter 15WATER TREATMENTTECHNOLOGIES FOR THECHALLENGES OF THE NINETIESF Flessinger (Zenon Environmental Inc., Burlington, Ontario,Canada)INTRODUCTIONIn early 1985,1 wrote with a group of researchers from Lyonnaise des Eaux ResearchCenter, a general paper (1) on where we felt the technologies of water treatmentwere heading on to. This paper was first presented at a workshop on “EnvironmentalTechnology Assessment” held at the University of Cambridge in England on April24,1985. It was reproduced at the end of 1985 in the “Water Research Quarterly” ofthe AWWA Research Foundation and through this it got an unexpected butconsiderable publicity throughout the United States. The title of the paper but alsoits content had been greatly influenced by the famous book and # 1 bestseller,Megatrends of John Naisbitt (2). This book was identifying trends and pressureswhich would likely force the world to change.Five years later the trends have not significantly changed and this “global” approachstill appears the most sensible for a keynote paper. Rather than attempting topredict the emergence of specific technologies, I would like, in this generalpresentation, point out probable changes which may occur and draw from thesethe potential emergence of new technologies. It does not pretend to be the review ofall foreseeable evolutions, but rather a presentation of a few trends in water treatmenttechnologies, which seem most likely to develop in the course of the coming decade.THE CHALLENGES OF THE NINETIESAll around the world, the water sector is undergoing accelerating changes. Thesechanges are due in part to the strategy of the organizations themselves. They arehowever, primarily created by external forces beyond their control. Ten of theseforces can be easily identified (4). Their importance varies considerably from onecountry and even one region to another, the list is not comprehensive and each ofthem may interact with the others.i) The reinforcement of quality standards accompanied by an increasingdemand for high quality water and a cleaner environment from the generalpublic.ii) The emergence of stronger (“greener”) pressure groups.© 1991 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd, EnglandWater Treatment- Proceedings of the 1st International Conference, pp. 157–164157