The system which has been indigenously developed by R & DE (Engrs) supplies drinking water from any surface water source at short notice. The drinking water supply systems currently are stationary and bulky. Therefore they cannot be moved to different At short notice, R&d (e) team leaves with the magic system locations. This mobile system is capable of delivering 13,500 litres per hour from any natural source like rivers, canals or wells.

According to Y P Pathak, director of R & DE (Engrs), this system would help provide sterlised water from any raw source and could prove to be useful in times of such natural calamities. The premier DRDO laboratory has already applied for a patent for its filtration unit.

Pathak said that the research laboratory has already supplied similar systems to the army and hoped that these would be pressed into service in the rescue and rehabilitation operations in Orissa.

Giving details about the system, Pathak mentioned that this equipment is skid mounted and can be carried in a lorry to any place including forward locations. It can be used from sea-level conditions to an altitude of upto 4400 metres, desert and marshy lands. The system can be pressed into service within 30 minutes after positioning it near any sweet water source. Run on a diesel engine, the system is self-sustaining and uses the Krishalkar powder as the filteration media to take care of the odour and the particles gathered in the water.

The system consists of a pumping set, a filter unit, a sterlisation unit and a filter aider unit. The raw water to be filtered is passed under pressure through a bed formed by the filter powder on filter elements. The powder gets coated on the elements and a filter bed is formed. The suspended impurities are filtered and only clear water passes in the upper chamber of the filter. As the filtration progresses, back pressure increases. When the pressure reached 5.2 kg/sq cm suspended particles are removed by backwashing of filter elements by reversal of flow of water under pressure.

If the turbidity of the water is high, the filter powder is fed in the raw water by filter aider. This powder mixes with the suspended particles and gets deposited on filter bed thereby preventing the build up of an impervious film, which causes rapid choking of the filter bed. The sterlisation of water is done before filteration.

Pathak believed that this equipment is quite promising and is now awaiting a report from his team in Orissa.