International Centre for Water and Energy Systems (ICWES) Summary

Sustainability has been a subject of great interest in recent times in many quarters. It is relevant to systems acting as components in the grand system of the planet earth and is studied and interpreted in a variety of ways, each addressed to the particular cases and situations of interest. Part I of this overview introduces the basic concepts of sustainability with a view to establish a basis for Part II, which is concerned sustainability of desalination systems to which this course is devoted. Water and energy are the primary drivers for life and development. Therefore, the importance of sustainability of these primary life support (biophysical processes as the very basis of life) systems cannot be overemphasized. In many arid parts of the world desalination happens to be a major means of augmenting freshwater resources. Part II is devoted to a discussion on desalination systems, which are inherently energy intensive. The close coupling between energy and desalination systems requires a holistic consideration of the various issues with reference to sustainability. Sustainability considerations involve the processes at various stages in the life cycle of the system from cradle to grave for their interactions with the outside world. The construction should involve selection of appropriate materials to render it sustainable by extending the life time of the plant. Reuse and recycling further extend the time horizon to close the linear open-ended life structure to a closed cycle