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WASHINGTON
(Army News Service, Sept. 16, 2005) – Army
engineers are using new technology to generate more than 100,000
gallons of potable water per day for the hospital in Biloxi,
Miss., and area residents affected by Hurricane Katrina.
An advanced Expeditionary Unit Water Purifier has been set up
on the beach in Biloxi to provide water for the nearby Biloxi Regional
Medical Center. After the hurricane hit, the hospital had been without water
or relying on bottled drinking water for patients and staff.
The Expeditionary Unit Water Purifier is the world's
largest transportable desalination system, officials said. The relief
mission in Mississippi is the second deployment of the EUWP in a real-world disaster
relief scenario.
Engineers from the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering
Center, known as TARDEC, began using the new water
purifier earlier this week to assist the Federal Emergency Management
Agency in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
The new Expeditionary Unit Water Purifier is capable of generating 100,000
gallons per day. In addition, two 600-gallon-per-hour Reverse
Osmosis Water Purification Units, known as ROWPU and
one 1,500-gallon-per-hour Tactical Water Purification System have
been deployed
to the region.
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Two
sites in Waveland, Miss., are being set up
to support local residents. The systems are being operated
by engineers from TARDEC and U.S.
Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation among
others.
The Expeditionary Unit Water Purifier was designed to deliver
potable water in humanitarian relief missions around the world as well as in
forward locations on the battlefield. Development of this technology is a collaborative
effort with input from other partners including: the Environmental Protection
Agency, U.S. Navy and NASA, as well as private academia.
“We are pleased this emerging technology will be put to use to help the
local residents who have suffered from the effects of the most devastating hurricane
in this country’s history,” said Dr. Richard E. McClelland, director
of TARDEC. “Years of research, design and engineering
have gone into the development of this technology so that it can be helpful in
such a critical situation today.”
Previously, an EUWP unit was put in place at Port Clarence,
Alaska, Coast Guard station, where it produced approximately 250,000
gallons of purified water in three days, after a storm surge flooded
the area’s
fresh water ponds.
(Editor's note: Information taken from a TARDEC news release.)
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