AUK Economics & Marketing Students Visit KISR Water Research Center
20th Apr 2016 | by the Department of PR & Marketing
The College of Business & Economics (CBE) at AUK organized a fieldtrip for students enrolled in the Environmental & Natural Resource Economics and Marketing Capstone courses to visit a state of the art experimental facility built and run by KISR Water Research Center. During the visit, the students attended a presentation conducted by the Center's researchers and toured the water desalinization and bottling facility.
KISR Water Research Center engages in research to articulate cost effective sustainable water production alternatives in Kuwait. The KISR facility visited uses reverse osmosis to produce potable water from beach groundwater wells. This year's trip came just days after the KISR commissioned a new state-of-the-art facility. The presentation highlighted Kuwait's water supply based on thermo desalinization of sea water. This large scale and energy-intensive process is primarily used to produce Kuwait electric energy but it also produces distilled water as a by-product. The distilled water is then mixed with groundwater to reconstitute the potable water delivered throughout Kuwait. The presentation also emphasized the small scale water production scheme currently being developed by KISR using reverse osmosis technology to reduce salt content of water drawn from beach wells. Following the presentation and discussions, the students toured the small scale experimental water desalinization and bottling facility, which produces and bottles high quality natural beach water under the brand name Kadhmah.
The visit was organized by Dr. Ali Aljamal, Chair of the Department of Economics at AUK, and Dr. Mark Speece, Associate Professor of Marketing at AUK.
"AUK is grateful to KISR Water Research Center and its scientists foroffering our students an opportunity to reflect on their classroom learning. It also allow students to gain deeper insight into how water is produced in the arid dry Kuwait environment.Water is a vital resource for the growth and sustainability of Kuwait economy and so it is imperative that we, as an academic community, engage scientists and professionals at all levels in this vital sector in Kuwait economy," said Dr. Aljamal.
This was the second fieldtrip organized for CBE students by the Department of Economics since 2013. CBE hopes that these fieldtrips would bridge the divide between the textbooks and real world application. "Such collaboration efforts will help develop a cadre of students who understand Kuwait water issues and appreciate the intricate role of economics and marketing in promoting sustainable and viable water supply in Kuwait," Dr. Speece explained.
The fieldtrip to the KISR Water Research Center goes in line with the themes of the ECON 363 course offered in spring 2016; Sustainability of Kuwait Water Resources and the Market Perspective, and the theme ofthe MRKT 413 course; the emergence of a Kuwaiti natural water (as opposed to manufactured water) bottle brand.
AUK's shares a strong relationship with Water Research Center at KISR. Over the past two years, KISR has organized two field trips for AUK students and engaged the students in the water research at the KISR Desalination Research Plant, located in Doha, Kuwait. KISR experts have also presented guest lectures in CBE classes.
Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 20th April 2016
