Advances in Water Treatment and Enviromental Management

158 WATER TREATMENTiii)iv)The progress in technology, such as electronics, biotechnology, polymerscience, membrane separation, etc…The spin-offs from the development of treatment of water for specificapplications, such as ultra-pure water for laboratories, water for theelectronic industry, for enhanced oil recoveries, bottled water etc…v) The quantitive and qualitive reduction in water resources. This is sometimerelated to pressure for a better environment.vi)The need to recycle water (e.g. in the buildings in Tokyo).vii) The economic pressure exerted to reduce energy, labour costs and increaseproductivity.viii) The development of privatization resulting in increasing competitionbetween water organizations. This forces public cervices to look for newmarkets and therefore develop a policy of diversification. The most commonone is water treatment. This in turn will result in the development of“large” water organizations.ix)The emergence of more and more innovative and broader flexible financingand operating options for water facilities.x) The changes in the mentality of waterworks personnel: No more“hierarchy”, but more team work, etc…Today, more than ever it seems that in this list the strongest trends enhancingchanges in water treatment are the following:• The need for quality and the new U.S. regulations.• The progress in technology and in turn the demand for “high-Tech”,• The development of privatization more particularly in Europe, where thecompletion of the single market after 1992 might accelerate changes.The conjunction of several of these forces might literally create “window ofopportunities” for specific technologies in the coming few years and it is likely infact that most of the changes will occur in the early part of the 1990’s.THE RESEARCH ORIENTATIONSThe second part of the previous decade has seen a rise (4) in R&D expenditures,and the increasing involvement of the water utilities themselves in carrying out thisresearch. In these expenditures, R&D in water treatment, usually represents morethan one third and frequently one half of the total. In the coming decade it is thusexpected that water treatment will reap the fruits of these efforts.Another observation in the trends to change is the fact that after several years ofwork more focused on wastewater treatment, it appears that the drinking waterinvestigations are now becoming more important. This is probably related to theinfluence of the new regulations such as the U.S. “Safe Drinking Water Act” (SDWA).Industrial wastewater treatment remains also of great importance and its highspecificity (see also vi above) triggers sophisticated technology spin-offs.