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Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan (1999)

Chapter: Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
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Appendix G
Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle East Biographical Sketches

GILBERT F. WHITE received his S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. in geography from the University of Chicago in 1932, 1934, and 1942, respectively. His research covers natural resources management, environmental policy, and natural hazards. He has served as vice chair of the U.S. President's Water Resources Policy Commission, president of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), and chair of various water studies, including a review for the Lower Mekong Commission, the United Nations (UN) Development Programme review of African water projects, and the UN Environment Programme diagnostic study of the Aral Sea Basin. Presently, he is distinguished professor emeritus of geography at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

YOUSIF ATALLA ABU SAFIEH received his B.S. in biology-chemistry in 1972 and his M.Sc. in parasitology in 1977; both from the American University of Beirut. He received his Ph.D. in environmental sciences from the University of Texas, Houston, in 1986. He is currently Minister of State for the Environment. He is also acting vice president for academic affairs at Al-Azhar University, Gaza, and a core team member and water quality expert for the Gaza Environmental Profile. Dr. Abu-Safieh is a member of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology.

AYMAN A. AL-HASSAN holds an M.S. in chemical engineering. Since 1983 he has held various positions at the Royal Scientific Society as a researcher, head of the air pollution unit, and of the air pollution and hazardous chemicals division. Currently he is director of the Environmental

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
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Research Center. As director, he manages, plans, and directs research work and studies related to enhancement of water quality and prevention of water resources degradation, assessment of air quality, and solid and hazardous waste management.

RADWAN A. AL-WESHAH has a Ph.D. in civil engineering-water resources and hydrology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is an assistant professor of hydrology and water resources at the Department of Civil Engineering and a researcher at the Water and Environment Research and Study Center, University of Jordan. He is involved in many projects related to water resources, hydrologic studies, and hydrologic/ hydraulic design in Jordan and abroad. Dr. Al-Weshah has international experience in water resources management and planning, surface hydrology, wetland hydrology, and water resource issues in the Middle East. He was the co-chair and main coordinator for the International Symposium on Water Resources in the Middle East, held at the University of Illinois in 1993.

KAREN ASSAF received her B.S. in science-geology and her M.S. in earth science-geology from Iowa State University in 1967 and 1968, respectively. She received her Ph.D. in environmental science-hydrology from the University of Texas in 1976. Her specialties and interests include environmental science-/hydrology, public health, and statistics. Dr. Assaf currently is director of the Department of Water Planning at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, working in the Palestinian Water Authority, Palestinian Interim Self-Government Authority. Previously she was research scientist and director of Water Division and Publications at the Arab Scientific Institute for Research and Transfer of Technology, where she conducted studies in water, health, food, and nutrition. From 1979 to 1987 she was project coordinator for the Water, Sanitation and Health Projects for Save the Children where she directed the basic needs sector (water, sanitation, and health) for projects funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dr. Assaf is a board member of the International Water Resources Association.

YORAM AVNIMELECH received his M.Sc. in soil microbiology and his Ph.D. in soil physical chemistry from the Weizmann Institute and the hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently S. Gurney chair and professor of agricultural engineering at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. His academic background led to strong multidisciplinary interests, covering topics from microbiology to physical chemistry, and from agronomy to health studies, with a specialty in soil sciences. From 1989 to 1994, he was chief scientist of the Israeli Ministry of the Environment. He published more than 100 scientific papers in the environmental sciences.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×

EDITH BROWN WEISS received her A.B. from Stanford University, LL.B. from Harvard Law School, and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. She is Francis Cabell Brown Professor of International Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where she has taught international law, international environmental law, water law, and environmental law. From 1990 to 1992, she was on leave to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where she served as associate general counsel for International Activities and established a new division to address international legal issues. Dr. Brown Weiss was president of the American Society of International Law from 1994 to 1996, and chaired the Social Science Research Council's Committee on Research in Global Environmental Change from 1989 to 1994. She is a special legal advisor to the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation and a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations. Her book, In Fairness to Future Generations, received the Certificate of Merit from the American Society of International Law in 1990. She received the Elizabeth Haub Prize awarded by the Free University of Brussels and the International Council on Environmental Law for exceptional achievement in International Environmental Law. Dr. Brown Weiss was a member of the U.S. National Research Council's (NRC) Water Science and Technology Board from 1985 to 1988 and has served on several NRC committees. She was a member of the NRC's Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources from 1992 to 1995.

CHARLES D. D. HOWARD is a civil engineering graduate of the University of Alberta (B.Sc. in 1960 and M.Sc. in 1962), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.S., 1966). Since 1975, he has been president of the water resources engineering firm Charles Howard and Associates, Ltd., specializing in applications of systems analysis. He is a consultant to water sewerage and hydroelectric power utilities, provincial, state, and federal governments in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and to the World Bank. From 1986 to 1996 he was a member of an NRC committee that addressed irrigation-induced water quality problems in the western United States. He is a member of the NRC's Water Science and Technology Board.

IRWIN H. KANTROWITZ holds degrees in geology from Brooklyn College (B.S., in 1958) and the Ohio State University (M.S., in 1959). He retired from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 1995, after serving as a geologist and hydrologist for 36 years. He conducted and directed hydrologic resource appraisal and research programs in New York, Maryland, and Florida and was a member of the Water Resources Science Advisory Committee. He also served as a member of the USGS Ground-Water Quality Delegation to the People's Republic of China and as a member of the Middle East Water Data Banks Delegation as part of the Multilateral

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×

Working Group on Water Resources. He is a recipient of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Meritorious and Distinguished Service awards.

RAYMOND LOEHR received his B.S. and M.S. from Case Institute of Technology in 1953 and 1956, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in sanitary engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1961. His area of expertise is environmental engineering. His research includes environmental health engineering, water and wastewater treatment, hazardous waste treatment, industrial waste management, and land treatment of wastes. Currently he is H. M. Alharthy Centennial Chair and Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Previously, he was professor of agriculture engineering and civil engineering at Cornell University. He has been a consultant to numerous industries, agencies, and engineering firms on matters dealing with industrial and hazardous waste management, particularly in the petroleum, petrochemical, food processing, and pulp and paper industries. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.

AYMAN I. RABI received his B.S. in hydrogeological engineering from Dokuz Eylul University at Izmir, Turkey, in 1987. He received his M.S. in water resource systems engineering from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1993. He is a water resource systems engineer. He has more than six years of experience in rural development issues and strategies, especially those related to water resources development. Mr. Rabi is the founder of the Palestinian Hydrology Group (PHG). He has supervised the execution of most of the water projects implemented by the group over the past seven years. He also has experience in institutional management practices and currently is acting as the executive manager of the PHG. Mr. Rabi is currently supervising a research project to establish water information and water resource monitoring systems in the West Bank. This project is considered the first real project that will gather and process various types of data related to water resources planning and management in Palestine.

URIEL N. SAFRIEL received his M.Sc. in zoology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1964 and his D.Phil. in ecology from Oxford University in 1967. Since 1969 he has been on the faculty of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since 1983 he has been a visiting scientist (part time) at Ben Gurion University, where he has been head of the Mitrani Center for Desert Ecology at the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research. Since 1974 he has been curator of birds at the Museum of Zoology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was chief scientist and director of the Science and Management Division at the Israel Nature Reserves Authority from 1989 to 1991. Since 1992 he has been a member of the National Committee for Climate Change, an appointment by the Ministry of the Environment, and since 1993 he has represented Israel in the Intergovernmental

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×

Negotiating Committee on the Convention to Combat Desertification. Since 1996 he has been the director of the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research.

ELIAS SALAMEH obtained his D.Sc. in hydrogeology and hydrochemistry from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in 1974. Dr. Salameh is a professor of hydrogeology and hydrochemistry at the University of Jordan. In 1982-1983, he headed the Department of Geology at the University of Jordan, and in 1983 founded the Water Research and Study Center, serving as its director from 1983 to 1992. In 1990, he chaired the Water and Agriculture Sector of the Higher Council of Science and Technology in Jordan. From 1975 until 1992, he published more than 100 articles in hydrogeology, hydrochemistry, and water resources of the Middle East, primarily in international journals.

JOSEPH SHALHEVET received his B.S. in agriculture from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1954. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in soil science from Cornell University in 1955 and 1958, respectively. Currently he is director of the Jordan Valley Research and Development Organization. In 1979, he was awarded the first Y. Ratner Award given by the Agricultural Research Organization in Israel for outstanding achievement in soils and water research. He was the recipient of the 1989 American Society of Agronomy Fellow Award and the 1989 Soil Science Society of American Fellow Award. He served as chief scientist and director of the Agricultural Research Organization of the Ministry of the Agriculture from 1986 to 1990. From 1990 to 1992 he was the director of the Liaison Office of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Beijing, China, and following the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Israel, served as counsellor for Science and Technology at the Embassy of Israel, Beijing (1992). He was chairman of the board of directors of the U.S. Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development fund (1987-1988) and chairman of the board of directors and scientific consultant to the International Irrigation Information Center from 1976 to 1986.

HENRY VAUX received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan in 1973. He is professor of resource economics at the University of California, Riverside. He currently serves as associate vice president of agricultural and natural resource programs for the University of California system. He previously served as director of the University of California Water Resource Center. His principal research interests are the economics of water use and water quality. Prior to joining the University of California, he worked at the Office of Management and Budget and served on the staff of the National Water Commission. Dr. Vaux has been a member of the NRC's Water Science and Technology Board since 1994 and is its current chair.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×

National Research Council Staff

SHEILA D. DAVID serves as a consultant for the Water Science and Technology Board's Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle East. Currently she is a fellow and project manager at the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. Until August 1997, she was a senior program officer at the Water Science and Technology Board. On the staff of the National Research Council NRC since 1976, she served as staff director for approximately 30 NRC study projects, including studies on coastal erosion, ground-water protection, water quality and water reuse, wetlands, and natural resources protection and river management in the Grand Canyon.

DAVID POLICANSKY has a B.A. in biology from Stanford University and an M.S. and Ph.D., biology, from the University of Oregon. He is associate director of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology at the National Research Council. Formerly, he taught and conducted research at the University of Chicago, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, and the Grey Herbarium of Harvard University. He was a visiting scientist at the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Center. He is a member of the Ecological Society of America and the American Fisheries Society, and chairs the advisory councils to the University of Alaska's School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre. He was a member of the editorial board of BioScience. His interests include genetics, evolution, and ecology, particularly the effects of fishing on fish populations, ecological risk assessment, and natural resource management. He has directed approximately 20 projects at the NRC on natural resources and ecological risk assessment.

JEANNE AQUILINO is the NRC administrative specialist for the Water Science and Technology Board and the Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle East. She has been on the NRC staff since 1979, helping to manage a wide variety of studies, including Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems, Managing Coastal Erosion, and Ground Water Models: Scientific and Regulatory Applications.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×
Page 221
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×
Page 222
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×
Page 223
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×
Page 224
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×
Page 225
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Committee on Sustainable Water Supplies for the Middle east Biographical Sketches." National Academy of Sciences. 1999. Water for the Future: The West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel, and Jordan. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6031.
×
Page 226
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This book is the result of a joint research effort led by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and involving the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the Palestine Health Council. It discusses opportunities for enhancement of water supplies and avoidance of overexploitation of water resources in the Middle East. Based on the concept that ecosystem goods and services are essential to maintaining water quality and quantity, the book emphasizes conservation, improved use of current technologies, and water management approaches that are compatible with environmental quality.

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