Mr. Davis S. van der Merwe

Born 1940, obtained his B.Sc. (Agriculture Engineering) and M.Sc. (Ag. Eng.) degrees from University of Pretoria, South Africa and started his career as an Agricultural Engineer. From 1963-67, he taught at the University of Pretoria and in 1969 registered as a Professional Engineer. He joined the Water Research Commission (WRC) as Chief Project Development Officer in 1976 and was promoted as Senior Adviser to WRC in 1979. Mr. van der Merwe has been involved in various research activities in irrigation, climatology, hydrology, groundwater, salinisation etc. He is a member of several professional societies in South Africa and aborad, including the American Society of Agricultural Engineers and South African Irrigation Institution.

Mr. van der Merwe has attended several ICID International Congresses and was instrumental in South Africa becoming a member of ICID. He is also the Chairman of the South African National Committee of ICID and a member of ICID Permanent Committee for Technical Activities, Vice Chairman of Africa Focus Group and Chairman of Working Group on Impacts of Drought on Irrigated Agriculture. He is also ICID Strategy Theme Leader on the subject: Systems. Currently Mr. van der Merwe is Deputy Executive Director of WRC since 1981. He is Vice President of ICID from 1997-2000..