This international journal is dedicated to keeping pace with developments in the water desalting and purification field in all its aspects: theoretical and applied research, technological and industrial development, and the experience of operators and users.Desalination welcomes original research papers and state-of-the-art reviews on all aspects of the field and encourages papers on new and advanced technologies for water treatment and for the development of integrated systems. Desalination covers all desalting fields - distillation, membranes, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, ion exchange, freezing, water purification, water reuse and wastewater treatment - and aims to provide a forum for any innovative concept or practice. Call for Papers: The Eighth World Filtration Congress The Eighth World Filtration Congress will take place 3-7 April 2000 in Brighton, UK Papers are invited for oral and poster presentation on the themes of the conference. Abstracts should be submitted to the Conference Secretariat by 1 June 1999. For full details see the conference website or contact Amy Richardson, e-mail: a.richardson@elsevier.co.uk at the WFC8 Conference Secretariat.