Saad Jasim will become the director of the International Joint Commission’s (IJC) Great Lakes regional office in Windsor. Saad is also assuming the chairmanship of the International Ozone Associations PAG in 2010. He was the director of water quality and production for the Windsor Utilities Commission until 2005 and was responsible for introducing ozone water treatment to Windsor in 2001.
The four-year appointment to the IJC office will give the drinking water expert a chance to use his experience in a broader context. The IJC, which was formed under a 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty between Canada and the United States, looks at both water quality and quantity. More than 30 million people receive their drinking water from the Great Lakes.
He starts his job in Windsor only days after ending his term as the first CEO of the Walkerton Clean Water Centre. It was established in 2004 to train drinking water system operators across the province. During his five-year term there, the centre grew to have 20 staff, trained more than 23,000 people and created a new 19,000-square-foot facility which officially opens in June.
Walkerton became a household name when its water supply was contaminated by E. coli in 2000 and seven people died.
Jasim suggested the idea of treating Windsor’s water with ozone a year before the Walkerton tragedy and it was implemented in 2001. He said ozone would have eliminated the deadly E. coli and many cities followed Windsor’s lead and adopted the ozone system.