Aquatec Water Purification News

European Development Report on Sustainable Water Supplies

The recent drought in the UK has only served to further highlight the importance of finding sustainable ways to conserve water.

The European Development Report (EDR) deals with this important topic as managing water, and environmental energy, is an urgent concern.

As well as pricing natural resources correctly, creating inclusive land policies and effectively managing existing resources, it is necessary to effect a "radical reduction" in consumption among developed countries, according to the report.

This also includes making the rights to use a piece of land, and its water separate as they are different rights.

Furthermore legislation has to protect land rights as many tracts of land, especially in Africa, belong to people even though there are no title deeds.

This can only be done by a concerted attempt to coordinate the efforts of the private and public sectors across the EU in order to get together the necessary business, models, funding opportunities and infrastructure framework.

Meanwhile UN general secretary Ban Ki-moon launched the Sustainable Energy for All initiative to ensure universal access to water and other energy sources by 2030.

Leading Investors Attracted to Water Purification

A water purification company in Asia is drawing massive interest from investors.

Woongjin Coway is the leading water purifier company in South Korea and its forthcoming 30% sale has been watched closely by heavy hitters including Goldman Sachs, Siemens, Philips and a number private equity firms.

These investors and more see the appeal of a company with a strong presence in South East Asia and which is involved in a burgeoning industry, selling water purification equipment to local homes to ensure they have access to pure water.

Not only does Woongjin have a 15% operating profit margin, but it benefits from 13,000 sales agents who have an estimated 3.4 million households on their books.

Such a wide reach, approximately 20% of the South Korean consumer market, not only allows them to sell water purifiers but also cross sell other related products. Furthermore the company benefits from having excellent labour relations with its employees.

World Water Day

Tomorrow is World Water Day when we can stop and consider the importance of water and how to conserve water supplies for future generations.

The shocking fact remains that unclean water results in the death of 5,000 children a year globally, and one fifth of the world population has no access to clean water. While pure water is listed by the World Health Organisation as a basic human right, too many people around the globe are still forced to bath, cook with and drink unsanitary water. This is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions.

In most parts of the Europe we don’t even think about how lucky we are to be able to wash our hands, get clean water out of the tap at will or buy bottled water whenever we need it.

Since 1993, March 22 has been designated as World Water Day by the United Nations General Assembly. Today the Pure Water for the World campaign is using social media and PR to engage and spread the message about World Water Day, urging people not to waste water in their own neighbourhoods and to donate to water purification programmes abroad.

Pure Water for the World has been active since 1994 with volunteers in Central America deciding to help change the shocking living conditions of many locals. They installed solar water purification units, which were the best way to purify water in the villages, and helped to create a sanitation infrastructure. That emphasis on learning continues today as Pure Water for the World aims to teaches people about the importance of sanitizing water and related hygiene issues.

 

The organization is now focusing its efforts on Haiti, where 42% of residents can’t access clean water, and Honduras where 50,000 of children die under the age of 5 die each year from unclean drinking water. The Dow Chemical Company has donated two water purification units to Haiti which will provide safe water to two hospitals - each unit provides an average of 15,000-20,000 gallons of water per day.

 

If you are concerned about the quality of your drinking water please contact Aquatec today and book a free water test. We have 18 years of experience in the water purification industry.

 

Water Purification becomes top priority in India

The Economic Times has said that Water Purification is becoming a top priority of the Indian government.

In a country where many people struggle to get access to clean water, water purification systems are an invaluable way to prevent disease at its source.

Recently a host of major Indian companies have seen investment from private equity sectors to create water purification plants that allow local people to access pure water.

The water filtration plants that are being set up in villages and allow for the filtration of 24,000-100,000 litres of water per day, removing harmful contaminants like nitrates, fluoride and arsenic, chloride for water supplies.

Although private companies are doing their best to deliver filtered water to the population, India needs to draw up a new national water policy and fast as the country’s ability to deliver pure water too its people is becoming dangerously stressed.

Kuwait Builds Water Purification Plant

A water purification plant is being built in the oil rich nation of Kuwait with completion of the project scheduled for the end of next month.

The Kuwait National Petroleum Company is pumping 55 million Kuwaiti dollars into the project to create a water purifier solution for an industry that has a massive environmental impact.

In fact the Kuwait National Petroleum Company will spend around one fifth of its budget on eco-friendly projects, while also pushing through massive oil refinery projects.

The pure water project started at the Abdullah Port refinery and is in the initial operation stage. The completion date for the project should coincide with the new government coming into power. Having dedicated commercial water purification is vital as Kuwait is stepping up oil production from 936,000 barrels-a-day to 1.4 million barrels-a-day.

The Kuwaiti Oil Minister said that it was in the best interest of the country to make sure that these projects go through without a hitch. He also said they were a vital boost to the local economy and a source of job creation.

Drugs In Drinking Water, Swedish Study Shows

A study carried out in Sweden has identified high levels of pharmaceutical drugs in the country’s drinking water.

More than 100 different types of drugs, including the anti-inflammatory substance diclofenac, had not been screened out of the water despite it going through waste water treatment plants.

Mr Christiansson added that wastewater plants need to do a better job of breaking down compounds so they don’t jeopardize our health and environment via direct emissions or via sludge from wastewater treatment.

The study focused on the drug levels in drinking water, runoff water and even fish that had been caught in the wild. Of the seven samples of 10 perch, 23 different types of pharmaceutical drugs were identified.

Speaking for Umea University Jerker Fick said: “We’re aware of the problem with diclofenac. The study shows further that there are other compounds than diclofenac that we should be monitoring and studying more closely.”

Although some scientists say that the traces of such drugs are in too small a concentration to be harmful, we all take a risk by leaving water purification up to the relevant authorities. For guaranteed pure water in your home, consider buying an Aquatec water purification system which removes 98% of all harmful organic and inorganic compounds including lead, mercury, chlorine, iron and hydrogen sulphide.

How Hard Water Quickly Becomes A Major Problem.

Figures show that hard water and the resultant lime scale have a massive incremental increase in the amount of energy used by homes.

In fact for every millimetre of lime scale you can expect approximately a 10% increase in the amount of energy used, up from 10.6% energy increase for one millimetre of limescale to a 29.4% energy increase in limescale for 3 millimetres of limescale.

Limescale is caused by latent deposits of lime and chalk (which are made up of the chemical elements magnesium and calcium). Because limescale is quickly built up at the rate of 1.5 millimetres per year, this is a problem that rapidly escalates, rather than going away at any point.

Such shocking facts make it unsurprising that the UK government has singled out water treatment as a major way of saving the lifespan of home water purification systems. A new act released in April 2007 said that all boilers fitted in households must have water treatment beforehand.

Procter & Gamble Develops Lifesaving Water Purification Technology

The firm Procter and Gamble has persisted with producing a massively beneficial water purification product despite the fact it was not proving profitable for the company. The company had formed a partnership with a number of non profit organisations to supply the developing world with water purification technology. They then signed an agreement with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to test and develop water-purification products. At first their product tasted of chlorine which meant it was not well received by the local population. But by the end of 2006 P&G had developed a sachet of powder called PUR which purified water on contact, making it clean and safe for drinking. They came across this amazing development almost by chance after reverse engineering a municipal water treatment process. Even selling the sachets at 4 cents, which is the cost of production, was turning into a loss, but once they engaged the humanitarian organisation market they were selling an extra 54 million sachets per year. The product was being sold as part of a social mission to educate poor people about the dangers of drinking unclean water. Therefore as the project was not demonstrating financial viability, they decided to turn it into their CSR, or Corporate Social Responsibility Programme.

US Water Treatment Systems Hit by Hackers

In what will no doubt be called a terrorist attack by America, hackers obtained secret password information and used it to turn a pipe on and off, eventually breaking it.

He said: "At this time there is no credible corroborated data that indicates a risk to critical infrastructure entities or a threat to public safety.”

Then his comments were quickly followed by a hacker claiming that they could pull off the same trick with another US water treatment facility. The hacker posted online plans that showed he had seen the interior control panel for a water purification system in Houston.

That means that the South Houston Water and Sewer Department will now be on high alert. They are not the first organisation that is equipped with Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems to be put on alert from possible hacker infiltrations.

Although these problems are usually thought to take place on critical infrastructures such as weapons or nuclear programmes, the targeting of water shows how important a resource it has become to the wider world.

Israel Invents Water Purification System

Pure water is especially vital in this desert country while being even scarcer in their neighbouring Palestine.

They invented special biofilters to take bacteria, as well as harmful nitrates, out of drinking water.

Yaacov Michlin, the CEO of Yissum, said that that this new technology was cost effective as well as novel and could be used in a variety of water purification systems – everything from turning sea water into clean drinking water and using filtered water for agricultural purposes.

It can even be used to make sure that aquariums have the right quality of water so that fish can live in them.

Mr Michlin commented: “The invention developed by the Hebrew University researchers highlights the commitment of the university for researching clean, environmentally-friendly and efficient solutions for global needs. Water quality is of utmost important for every aspect of life.”

The water purification system was built in conjunction with the department of Food and the Environment and the Department of Biochemistry. It has been successfully tested at the WATEC Conference in Tel Aviv where it reduced nitrate content for various commercial water applications.