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IDA HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS
By Dr. Jim Birkett
The previous article in this series covered IDA’s ancestry, including the interaction of the International Desalination and Environmental Association (IDEA), the Water Supply Improvement Association (WSIA) and the Working Party for Fresh Water from the Sea (WP). It concluded with the formation of IDA through the amalgamation of IDEA with WSIA and the first elections of the infant IDA in Bermuda in 1985.
Remember that this was in the days before e-mail and even before the wide-spread use of fax. Nearly every communication was by Telex, a cumbersome medium. Attached as Exhibit I is a copy of a Telex from Floyd to Isam Jamjoom in March of 1984. It gives an idea of the complexity of the process and the many individuals pitching in.
But it was not an easy birth. Many details had to be sorted out and agreed upon by members of IDEA and WSIA. If there was a key individual during this period, it was most likely the late Floyd Meller (Ionics, Inc., USA). As President of WSIA and interim Co-President of IDA, Floyd had a calm, easy-to-work-with manner that smoothed the rough edges of the many participants. Remember that this was in the days before e-mail and even before the wide-spread use of fax. Nearly every communication was by Telex, a cumbersome medium. Attached as Exhibit I is a copy of a Telex from Floyd to Isam Jamjoom in March of 1984. It gives an idea of the complexity of the process and the many individuals pitching in.
Financial Arrangements for the Merger
Until the merger, IDEA had been operated wholly by volunteer labor and had no office nor the expenses related thereto. As a result it had accumulated some $140,000 from the net profits of its conferences and from dues. In contrast, WSIA maintained an office and a paid Secretary General. Net profit on conferences and dues was enough to keep its office going but its operating surplus was modest. As a result it was feared by some at IDEA that the merger was merely an attempt by WSIA to get its hands on IDEA’s money. This issue was ultimately solved by putting most of IDEA’s cash into a dedicated scholarship account honoring the memory of the late K. C. Channabasapa. “Channa” had been the Chief of Membrane Processes at the Office of Water Research and Technology (OWRT), U.S Department of Interior. He was a great advocate of membrane technology and highly influential in getting funding in this direction. However he died unexpectedly while at OWRT and his loss was felt throughout the desalination community. The scholarship continues to this day.
Of course the new IDA the regional affiliate, NWSIA (now AMTA), needed some “seed money” as well. As a result some of WSIA’s modest cash balance was transferred to NWIA, the remaining going to the new IDA.
Thus IDA started out with probably less than $100,000 in the bank in the hopes that the ensuing Bermuda World Congress (1985) revenues would improve their situation. (It did.)
The Constitution
As mentioned previously, Leon Awerbuch and Kris Buros, representing WSIA and IDEA respectively, worked feverishly to prepare a Constitution supporting the best interests and ambitions of the two merging groups. Of course it included the usual “housekeeping” language but a few points bear mention.
Article II, Section 1, “Goals”, specifies the goals to be “the development and promotion of …..desalination….in water supply, water reuse, …..: Thus water reuse was within IDA’s original writ. This was of only marginal interest in IDA’s early days but it has become increasing important in recent years.
Article II, Section 3, “Principles” contains the language “Maintaining neutrality whereby all members are treated fairly and impartially without regard to religion, race, sex, political beliefs or nationality.” As well as “keeping and maintaining neutrality with regard to governmental or corporate policies and the politics of countries, agencies, companies and others.” Such principles are very laudable. However, in the real world executing on these principles to the letter is difficult.
Article IV, Affiliate Membership The merger agreement itself included the provision that those members of the original WSIA who had a more regional than international interest in desalination and water reuse would be accommodated in an affiliated regional association. The Constitution, once approved, defined this “…the policy of the Association (IDA) to promote and encourage the formation and/or cooperation of other membership organizations whose goals are in harmony with those of the Association.”
A qualifying regional association must have a minimum membership of 50, at least 25 of whom must be members of IDA. It should have a defined geographical orientation and this should not be less than one country. The Regional Affiliate would run programs and meetings within its region so as to avoid conflict with IDA activities. (It was the undocumented hope of IDA that while it itself would run major international programs every two years, the Regional Affiliates would run their major regional programs in the alternate years. For the first few years, it actually worked out that way!)
There was also (and still is) a looser category of “Association Affiliate”, aimed at associations not significantly interested in desalination but whose “Objectives and goals in harmony with the purposes of the Association”.
Early Financial Structure
As stated earlier, IDA was born with limited financial resources. While the Constitution specified that the Treasurer and Comptroller ensured that the recordkeeping of financial matters be accurate and in keeping with good practices, it did not give any hints as to the Association’s fiscal policy.
In February 1987 the budget showed a surplus of $20,000 on total income of $135,000. It was the President’s recommendation that, with the major World Congress’s occurring every two years, the financial planning be done in two year increments. That is to say, acknowledging alternating fat and lean years. While a lean year might show an operating shortfall that might be acceptable if the following fat year could confidently be expected to return a margin in excess of that shortfall. The goal would be to always have a two-year cumulative positive margin. This would make it possible to build up a “cushion” of funds allowing IDA to ride out any unforeseen hard times. It was estimated that such a cushion would provide a defensive interval (cushion divided by annual fixed expenses) of about 12 months. This policy is still in place today.
The Working Party (WP) again
In his letter above, the President also touched upon the question of IDA’s continuing cooperation with the WP, an informal relationship inherited from IDEA, and its impact on IDA’s finances. It appeared that IDEA had many years ago established a policy whereby every alternate biennial international conference would be organized by the WP and held in Europe. The WP was now expecting IDA to hold to that earlier agreement. At first the new IDA tried to be accommodating. The World Congresses in Bermuda (1985), and
Cannes (1987) all included the WP as CoOrganizer but the WP insisted on a share of the income and a larger share of the organization. IDA resisted. Not only did this agreement hurt IDA’s finances, but it required that every other World Congress be held in Europe, limiting IDA’s desire to move the Congresses around the world. In the spring of 1987 the IDA Board voted to terminate its relationship with the WP, following the Kuwait World Congress in 1989 (already in planning stages). (We will hear about the WP once more when we discuss our regional affiliates)
Office(s)
The main office of the IDA remains in eastern Massachusetts, USA, as did that of WSIA and its predecessors. It has moved over the years from Ipswich to Topsfield and now to Danvers but always just a stone’s throw away. In IDA’s earliest years an effort was made to keep a part time office in Glasgow, Scotland to better serve its European members. This experiment lasted only a few years and never was really successful.
Publications
For a brief period (spring of 1986 to the winter of 1968) IDA published 10 issues of The IDA Magazine which gave association news, affiliate news, regional news and some technical papers. Ad revenue never covered costs and it was abandoned in 1968. It is still however a good source of early IDA history.
Affiliates proliferated
The creation of IDA Affiliate organizations has surpassed the founders‘ dreams. At last count they numbered nine Regional and seven Association affiliates. This is both a blessing and a curse. It demonstrates IDA’s leadership
position in the fields of desalination and water reuse and offers a template for creation of regional organizations. Yet it has a down-side as well. Each Regional Association (depending on its size) may delegate one (voting) Director to the IDA Board. Each Association Affiliate may delegate one (non-voting) Director to the board as well. Three especially were established shortly after IDA’s birth.
Of course the “new” WSIA, the North American Affiliate, was born on paper simultaneously with IDA’s birth in January, 1985. However be served was the Arabian Gulf region with
creation and approval of a constitution took some time and WSIA was not incorporated until December, 1985. The first president was David Furukawa and their first conference was held in Washington, DC, USA in 1986. The organization’s name was changed to the American Desalting Association (ADA) in 1983 and again to the American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) in 2000.
The European Desalination Association (EDA) was likewise formed in 1986 with Dr. Tom Temperley as its first President. In 1993 it merged with the European Desalination Society (EDS), a like group which had been Working Party (WP)! In 1996 IDA recognized the reconstituted EDS as the Regional Affiliate officially representing the European region.
The Middle East desalination community as early as 1984 had discussed having some form of association and the IDEA/ WSIA merger process with its possibility of Regional Affiliates provided the incentive to proceed. Key individuals promoting this were H.E. Abdullah Al Ghulaighah of SWCC and Abdulaziz Al Sheikh of Amiantit, Inc. A draft constitution was prepared in 1985 and the name Water Sciences and Technology Association (WSTA) chosen. The territory to
formed by individuals previously active in the the headquarters in Bahrain. The first General Meeting was scheduled for Al Khobar, KSA, in October of 1986.
Although the three above named associations formed the original core of IDA’s Regional Affiliate program, many more soon followed. There were eventually even sub-regional affiliates formed within Regional Affiliates, prompting Dr. Bill Hanbury of Glasgow in an issue of The IDA Magazine to quote Augustus de Morgan’s poem -
“Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ‘em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.”
What’s next?
It makes sense to close out this period of IDA’s history in 1995. That marked the tenth year of IDA activity and coincided with the 5th World Congress in Abu Dhabi. That was also a turning point for the IDA World Congresses.
Errata The Winter, 2020, issue of Connections contained the article “IDA’s Genealogy. The author thanks Leon Awerbuch for pointing out that the first Vice President was not Dr. Adil Bushnak, as stated. The first Vice President was Adrian Veenman of the Netherlands. However Veenman resigned from the IDA Board prior to the Cannes World Congress and Bushnak was there elected to be IDA’s second President. Leon also points out that the date of the WP conference on Gran Canaria was 1978.
Suddenly exhibitors were pounding on the door, begging for space. Space ran out. Tents had to be set up to accommodate everybody and their displays. It was pandemonium on
About the Author
Dr. Birkett’s admirable career includes more than 50 years’ experience in the study of desalination, advanced water treatment, and membrane separation industries and technologies with Arthur D. Little and West every level. And IDA suddenly realized that the market wanted to exhibit alongside a stellar technical program to optimize commercial
aspects of their activities. Neck Strategies. He is a Past President and Director of IDA, recipient of the IDA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the former editor of “The IDA Journal on Desalination and Water Reuse.”
