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

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.