Question:
I am looking for information on portable water purification systems.I would like to find a system with these characteristics:

- transportable in 3/4 ton truck - does not require special training to operate - can produce 500-2000 gallons of purified water per day - ideally a reverse-osmosis system that could process highly contaminated water or saltwater. - requires minimal maintenance during a 2 month expedition

If anyone could help me identify such a system, or point me in thedirection of other helpful sources I would be very grateful.

Answer: The company is called Global Water. They sell water purification units ina few different sizes. The National Disaster Medical System recently ordered anumber of them to equip the DMATs (Disaster Medical Assistance Teams).

The company sells a system that is small enough to be carried and set up by acouple of people and also sells a system that is large and sits on a trailer.

One such system the LS3 is a mobile system such as what you are looking for.It handles 2000-20,000 gallons of water per day. It operates on 12Volt, 110VACor solar power from it's own solar panels. The units from this company willdraw from water under pressure (ie: contaminated municipal water supply) aswell as draw from ponds, rivers and wells. They filter particulates, cysts(amoeba, paramecium, giardia and cryptosporidium), heavy metals and othernaturally occuring contaminants (lead, arsenic, etc.) as well as man madecontaminants (insecticides & fertilizers). The systems use a UV light todisinfect bacteria and viruses from the water as it passes through thepurifier. I have seen the units in operation and am quite impressed bythem. They can be easily set up by someone just reading the manual andfollowing the steps. I watched a demo of the unit in San Antonio where theyput the siphon into the San Antonio river and then we drank the purifiedproduct. Couldn't tell it apart from the water the Marriot served at dinner!