The new mobile water treatment plant TWA 15 UF, recently developed by Berkefeld, a subsidiary of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, together with the federal German technical disaster relief organization THW (Technisches Hilfswerk), has successfully passed its first major deployment under real-life conditions.
The modular system, which includes ceramic ultrafiltration, was requested for the town of Hellental in Lower Saxony (Germany). The reason: Considerable impurities were noticed in the local drinking water. The THW, which had acquired two plants of this type, put the system in operation in a few hours, according to the company.
Initially, a clouding of the water in Hellental was noticed. Then over the following days, the water quality fluctuated strongly, but its cause could not be explained. In order to eliminate chemical and biological impurities, the operator added chlorine; and people affected were asked to boil the water before using it. When the existing treatment plant could no longer filter out the pollution, the utility in Stadtoldendorf asked the THW for help.
The THW, with drinking water experts for national and international relief operations, set up the mobile plant and provided water for cleaning and disinfection of the two water reservoirs. In addition, the task force filled each of the reservoirs with 100,000 L and provided the local inhabitants with an extra 30,000 L of drinking water a day. The system was used for two weeks until the local utility solved the problem.
Source: Veolia
