The world needs to develop a means of securing the supply of clean fresh water within the next 10 years if we are to tackle a looming water shortage, says a leading expert on water purification and director of the National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Centre for Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water.

Dr. Mark Shannon is giving a speech at the 2nd Global Innovation Imperatives (Gii) conference in New Delhi, India on 19-20 June 2008 and will warn top scientists, government, industrialists, academics and business people that just as food shortages have led to fierce fighting and unrest in parts of the world, water shortages triggered by climate change, population growth and poor water management will be next unless tackled now.

Since 1900, the world’s population has tripled and is expected to rise by another 50% within the next 50 years. In India, where the conference is being held, it is estimated that two thirds of its population does not have access to proper sanitation and that 2.1 million children die by the age of five due to lack of clean water.

Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) chief executive Andrew Ladds says: “Water availability, supply and quality are issues facing every one of us – the recent unprecedented move to ship clean drinking water to Barcelona to tackle the city’s worst drought in decades may be a herald of things to come.

“I believe that science and innovation are the keys to finding a solution. We are increasingly part of a global community and we must call on this community to work together, sharing and exchanging ideas, research and innovation to solve this together and ensure that all of the world’s population has access to clean water for all its needs.”

Speakers will include the assistant vice president of Development Alternatives, Dr Vijaya Lakshmi who will be giving a talk on portable water and solutions for the removal of contamination; Dr Srikumar Banerjee from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre will discuss water desalination for agriculture application; and Dr Tapan Chakrabarti, the acting director for the National Environment Engineering Research Institute who will be presenting a talk on the scope for innovation in water quality management.

Some of the names who will be attending in support of the event are the Central Pollution Control Board; Indian Merchants’ Chamber; Basic Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics Export Promotion Council (Chemexcil) – an organisation set up by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India; Chemtech Foundation (Jasubhai Media); Indian Chemical Council; Society of Dyers & Colourist (SDC); Indian Water Works Association; Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI); Chemical Weekly (media partner); and Frost & Sullivan (knowledge partner).

The Gii Global Water Solutions – Sharing Innovations conference will take place on 19-20 June 2008 at the Raunaq Room, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry , PHD House, 4/2 Siri Institutional Area, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi 110 016, India.