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Evaluation of low cost water purification systems for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR)

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Abstract

Following a natural disaster, access to safe drinking water by the affected population is a high priority. Low cost water purification systems, which can be used for both short-term (immediate) and long-term (sustainable) response to serve the needs of the affected communities, are ideal for these scenarios. The University of Hawaii has developed three low cost water purification technologies for use during humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) missions. A UH team participated in joint USA and partner nation training exercises, such as Crimson Viper 2010 and 2011, organized by the Marine Corps Forces Pacific Experimentation Center (MEC) in Sattahip, Thailand, to demonstrate the effectiveness of these technologies to purify water from local sources. Three technologies were selected for Crimson Viper 2010: (1) a backpack filter unit, (2) a bicycle pump powered reverse osmosis (RO) unit, and (3) a model slow sand filtration unit. For Crimson Viper 2011, improved versions of the backpack and RO units were deployed. This article discusses and evaluates the results obtained during the demonstration of the three technologies at these exercises.

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Abbreviations

APIX:

Asia Pacific Information Exchange

DSTD:

Defense Science Technology Division

DR:

Disaster relief

FHA:

Foreign humanitarian assistance

HA:

Humanitarian assistance

HTDV:

Hawaii Technology Development Venture

LED:

Light emitting diode

MEC:

Marine Corps Forces Pacific Experimentation Center

NADESCOM:

National Development Support Command

ONR:

Office of Naval Research

PFC:

Perfluorochemicals

PICHTR:

Pacific International Center for High Technology Research

RO:

Reverse osmosis

UH:

University of Hawaii

USPACOM:

United States Pacific Command

UV:

UltraViolet

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR)/Hawaii Technology Development Venture (HTDV) through the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The authors would like to acknowledge the United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) and the Marine Corps Forces Pacific Experimentation Center (MEC) for their support for this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Resources Research Center and Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2540 Dole Street, Holmes Hall 286, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Chittaranjan Ray

  2. University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 163, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Ashish Babbar

  3. University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2540 Dole Street, Holmes Hall 285, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Bunnie Yoneyama

  4. University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 170, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Lukas Sheild

  5. University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2540 Dole Street, Holmes Hall 180, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Benjamin Respicio

  6. University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 162, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Cheryl Ishii

Authors
  1. Chittaranjan Ray
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  2. Ashish Babbar
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  3. Bunnie Yoneyama
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  4. Lukas Sheild
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  5. Benjamin Respicio
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  6. Cheryl Ishii
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Correspondence to Chittaranjan Ray.

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Ray, C., Babbar, A., Yoneyama, B. et al. Evaluation of low cost water purification systems for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR). Clean Techn Environ Policy 15, 345–357 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-012-0530-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-012-0530-1

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