The U.S. Army receives two Solar Powered Ultra Filtration water treatment units
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., March 17, 2009 — Spectra Watermakers Inc., a leader in energy-efficient water treatment systems and energy recovery pumps, delivered two of their Solar Powered Ultra Filtration Units to the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. These water treatment units purify contaminated fresh water while producing up to 5000 gallons (20,000 Liters) per day each. The unit, ideal for use in harsh and remote locations, is complete with a feed water pump, battery bank, controls, back-flushing pre-filtration, self-cleaning UF and is powered by a tracking photovoltaic array.
Spectra Watermakers produces a range of products that are being used worldwide for disaster relief, military, NGO, and village-level water supply applications. Their energy efficiency and reliability is proven over ten years and thousands of installations in the marine environment. Spectra's Land Based systems either purify contaminated surface and ground water by fresh water ultra-filtration or they desalinate ocean water and brackish water from saline wells, river estuaries, or inland aquifers. The desalination units employ the reverse osmosis process to treat the water and Spectra's proprietary energy recovery pump technology enables the use of solar and wind to power them.
The U.S. military devotes a great deal of their assets to emergency preparedness and disaster relief. The front line of these humanitarian operations is providing clean water. During the aftermath of a natural or manmade disaster, the deployment of life-saving supplies requires a tremendous logistical effort, and a vast amount of fuel, time, and manpower is assigned to water transport. Military and relief agencies commonly airlift bottled water, tanker-truck to the point of need, or use inefficient diesel generator powered treatment plants. Today, Spectra Land Based can provide mobile water treatment units that are more energy-efficient, independent, and onsite, while saving valuable resources.
"The solar panels are working great," said Maj. Jeffrey O'Sandnick, in an email from Afghanistan, regarding a Spectra water unit.
The U.S. military also funds research and development of essential life-saving technology like water purification. Through DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), Spectra is participating in the ongoing need to develop better equipment for military and civilian use. Spectra's new Pearson Pump energy recovery technology will be part of a new DARPA study and will also be an important element of an Office of Naval Research project to improve Navy shipboard desalination. Recently SOUTHCOM participated with the Chilean military that tested a mobile solar and wind powered water desalination unit provided by Spectra Watermakers. This program culminated with WHIX (Western Hemisphere Information Exchange), a conference on renewable energy utilization and disaster relief.
Spectra's Pearson Pump is a new high-pressure pump innovation that has been developed for energy-efficient reverse osmosis desalination of sea water and brackish water. The Pearson Pump is a breakthrough enhancement of reciprocating pump design. This unique pump system combines feed water pumping and energy recovery into a single unit.
The "Energy Recovery" feature of the Pearson Pump recycles valuable energy entrained in the waste stream which is normally discarded, recovering as much as 80% of the energy wasted in a conventional system. This fact dramatically increases Spectra efficiency, bringing energy requirements down to an impressive 10 Watt Hours per Gallon for a significant savings in fuel and fuel transportation cost.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO: http://www.spectralandbased.com
Contact:
Rick Wood
1.510.812.5833
1.415.526.2780
# # #