Published on IDRA Global Connections Spring 2019 Issue

• For more than half a century, Dr. Miriam Balaban has been a pillar of the global desalination community. IDRA Global Connections spoke with Ms. Balaban to get a look at the woman behind the legend.

Q. Please tell us about your background and how you got involved with desalination.

After studying chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, I got into the field of science editing and became very involved with the editor’s
associations. Eventually, I became the President of the International Federation of Science Editors. So this was the entrance into desalination. How? Because in 1965 there was an International Symposium on Water Desalination in Washington, D.C., organized by OSW, the Office of Saline Water. It was the first big conference on desalination, when I was told “There’s no journal.” “Oh,” I said, “I’ll make one!”

That was the way I got into desalination. Being a science editor and also in the field of chemistry, I enlisted some of the prominent people at the time to gather an editorial board. Then I went to Elsevier and I said, “I want to make a journal.” I gave it to them for free – can you imagine – and that’s how it started. I also handled the composition, the preparation of the articles, and the editing of the journal, which was called Desalination. That’s how I got into the field.

Q. Well we’re very glad you did. 

The first issue of Desalination was published in 1966 and was presented to US Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. In 1967, I attended the first international conference on desalination in Athens, sponsored by the European Federation of Chemical Engineering. There, I met some key players, like Professor Robert Silver from Glasgow, who invented the multi-stage flash system, and also Sidney Loeb, famous for his work in membranes and reverse osmosis. I was off to a good start to a whole career in desalination. Six more conferences were held in this series and in 1975 I attended the meeting of IDEA (International Desalination and Environment Association) in Ponce, Puerto Rico organized by
Prof Robert Bakish. This was the forerunner of IDRA which boosted the international participation of the desalination community and led to joint
collaboration.

The journal was called Desalination for 45 years. But then in 2009, I founded a new journal, Desalination and Water Treatment, which I have edited and published to this day. Within those 45 years, I published within Desalination the proceedings from about 80 events, and that has become the archival record of all the first desalination conferences over those years. In fact, I insisted that the proceedings be printed inside
the journal, because I prepared the papers that I received for the conferences for publication prior to the meeting itself, and they were printed and made available to all participants on site. If I remember correctly, this really contributed to the success of the journal.

Q. Please tell us what you’re doing now.

Too much! Every time I do one thing, it becomes three or five. But right now, first of all I’m editing the journal, Desalination and Water Treatment, which covers research and development from about 100 countries around the world including proceedings or papers that were presented there. I am pleased that this journal has helped raise the impact factor of the Desalination journal. I also maintain a website,
desline.com, which I established in the 70s to keep track of experts, events and further information in desalination and water treatment which can be used freely for exchange of information.

Primarily, as Secretary General, I run the European Desalination Society (EDS). Our major efforts are organization of conferences in Europe, dissemination of information worldwide, provision of courses and collaborations around the world. EDS is a partner in several projects of the European Union for dissemination of information. I’m looking forward to the time that somebody else will continue this work. The society is the center of a wide range of activities and international collaboration.

Q. Let’s talk about the industry. How much has it changed and what are the biggest changes that you’ve witnessed?

I got into the field in its infancy. Since then it has grown in so many ways – more people who develop more technologies, more application of the technologies and more use. I think the main thing is that it has grown tremendously in terms of its significant innovations and scope in response to the great need for clean affordable water. In the early days, desalination plants were producing about 90 thousand cubic meters a day of water, and now it’s over 95 million.

The field has also grown in terms of processes. There is significantly growing interest in universities around the world and, of course, greater growth in industry and business.

So, I think the main change is that there’s just more desalination, and that creates different ramifications, more research, more technology, more innovation, more activity, and businesses finding their niche in very specific parts of the industry.

Q. What do you think are the greatest challenges and the greatest opportunities for the industry today?

I think it’s just improving the product and reducing the cost – I mean, lowering energy requirements. This is where renewable energy comes in. Solar desalination, once considered too expensive and land-consuming, is now a growing process, but we have to make it more accessible and reasonably priced. Of course, solar, like many things, depends on the location, the geography, the possibilities. There are so many areas that are water deficient, like North Africa, and the Middle East, the Southwest in the United States, and so on. Fortunately, solar processes in those places are becoming an option.

Q. Getting back to your career – what do you consider your greatest accomplishments? 

Maybe as someone who over half a century helped document development of the science and technology of desalination and water treatment. I am most proud of my ability to connect the community behind the innovations and developments and help disseminate their knowledge.

I am most grateful to receive recognition for my work from different parts of the community. Those include:
2003 Honorary Member of the European Membrane Society (EMS)
2009 Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Desalination and Reuse Association (IDRA)
2012 Order of the Star of Italy (Knighthood) from the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano
2014 Sidney Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Desalination Society (EDS)
2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Desalination Branch of the China Water Enterprises Confederation
2016 Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award from the Philadelphia High School for Girls Miriam receiving IDRA Lifetime Achievement Award at
2009 IDRA World Congress, in Dubai
2016 50th year of the journal Desalination dedicated to Miriam, its founding editor and editor for 45 years
2017 IDRA Presidential Award
2017 S. Korea appreciation for great contribution to the International Desalination Workshop (IDW) and world community

Q. Overall, what has been the most rewarding aspect of your career? 

First, I would say that I’ve worked in an industry that’s good for people. I remember Pat O’Meara from OSW once said, “I can sleep at night. I’m working on a good cause – water.”

I have enjoyed serving as Secretary General of the European Desalination Society and Associate to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT with Prof. John Lienhard, who has revived desalination studies and built a major center following the pioneering early days with Prof. Ronald Probstein. Also, special thanks to Prof. Diego Barba, desalination pioneer, for providing a home for EDS at the Faculty of Engineering, UCBM University in Rome.

I’ve also established and run two successful journals and an extensive database www.desline.com to build up that part of the industry where scientists and technologists can exchange information and provide an archive. And I have developed relationships with so many people from different countries – and I am still meeting new young experts joining the field. Feeling the mutual regard of these people has been especially rewarding. It has also been most rewarding to help disseminate accumulated knowledge, bring people together, and help close the gap so that clean water will be widely available and affordable.

Q. What advice would you give to young professionals who are entering the business? 

Consider the objective and don’t leave until tomorrow what has to be done today. Have a passion for what you’re doing. Be aware of the
science and the business. And most important, work as collaboratively and compassionately as possible.

Q. What do you see in your future?

I would like to be able to clear my desk at the end of each day while still being involved in our challenging field and continue to be in contact with great colleagues around the world. I also finally would like to have time for leisure and my many other interests.

Q. Finally, what would you like your legacy to be? How do you want to be remembered? 

Perhaps as someone who over half a century helped document the development of the science and technology of desalination and water
treatment and helped connect the community behind the innovations and developments. And hopefully dissemination of knowledge will help
lead to affordable water for all of the growing population and, just as water knows no borders, help people to live in peace within and across
borders.