“Water is the driving force of all nature”
Leonardo da Vinci
We are all very much aware of the need for safe drinking water; this is no great secret. Without water we can’t live.
For those situations where you are off grid and disconnected from a trusted piped supply, bottled water has for decades been the method of having a safe source of drinking water. However, the logistical cost and risk of bottled water can be staggering from purchasing of the product through to deployment, not to mention the pollution from such an oil hungry process.
In response to the problem, Wananchi has developed a line of point of use mobile water purification systems using;
`Séon Water Purification Technology`
Tough, reliable, easy to use mobile water purification systems designed to withstand the harshest of environments to produce fresh, drinking water direct from source.
The systems have to “do what it is says on the tin”. They are intended to be relied on to provide water for human survival.
Choosing the right system
The Team at Wananchi work directly with all of our customers to fully understand their projects and ensure the best suited system is chosen; projects are always as individual as the people working them but generally offer the same questions.
- Where will the system be used?
- How many people will be needing water?
- Is there a known daily required volume of water?
- What is the water source(s) likely to be?
- Will the water be used for purposes other than drinking?
There is a Séon water purifier to fit almost every need.
- Portable, back of car for small groups
- Compact, high output for large groups
- Trailer mounted, high output for large groups
- High output mobile containerised systems
- All sizes have choice for fresh water and seawater capability.
- All systems have a static version for off-grid buildings
Reduced Cost and Risk
Compared to purchasing and shipping water bottles, portable water purification provides huge savings in cost and risk. In fact, a Séon water purifier can offer a return of investment measurable in days with risk reduced to almost zero; not forgetting the reduced carbon footprint
Typically, deployed bottled water for international disaster relief and military environments costs between $1.7 to $2.1 per litre. For local or national response it can cost in the region of $0.5 per litre. The cost for a litre of water produced by a Séon UV water purifier is typically $0.05 per litre and can be as low as $0.004 per litre; with our larger systems this can get even lower.
Counting the cost
- One set of system filter cartridges weighing 0.7kg will typically replace up to 1500 litre bottles.
- This is equivalent to $2,550 to $3,150 of bottled water.
Note: the quality of the source water to be purified dictates filter life (see Filter Life below) which in turn affects cost per litre.
- Clear source water = lower cost per litre
- Dirty source water = higher cost per litre
The risk involved in deploying water can be high, traversing a harsh environment with poor or no roads brings its own set of problems. Throw in security issues of a war zone where the water will need to be protected to ensure the end user survives, you can imagine the logistical challenge that this presents. Water can be over 50% of total war theatre logistical cost.
Power
Power should always be considered for a mobile water purifier. All Séon purifiers need power to function whilst our small groups systems coming with integral battery packs and our trailered and containerised products with their own generators.
Consideration should always be made for how long and how often they need to operate. This will help understand fuel requirements for power equipment sizing and/or fuel.
All of our systems have been designed for efficiency to operate on minimal power requirements. All systems are able to run on low or zero carbon power sources such as solar to reduce the reliance on carbon generated power.
With the ability to cut the pollution and carbon footprint of plastic bottles down to zero, cutting the energy carbon footprint using solar makes Séon extremely sustainable and efficient.
Wananchi can provide Solar options from fully flexible and foldable solar mats through to prepared containerised solar systems. Contact the Team to learn more.
Filter Life
One of the first questions anyone ever asks is “how long do the filters last”? Quite simply, this is dictated by the quality and the volume of water processed, The clearer or less turbid the water, the less work the filter cartridges have to do. If purifying water from a muddy puddle, expect the cartridges to clog quickly, purify an untrusted municipal water supply and expect ten’s of thousands of litres of drinking water to be produced between cartridge changes.
To put simply though:
- Clear water = long filter life
- Dirty water = shortened filter life
Our Seawolf systems use reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Instead of trapping the dirty water like filter cartridges, they reject it in a side stream which we call ‘dump’ water. Instead of changing out they need a periodic clean. With good maintenance RO membranes will last 5-7 years.
Our large group systems have pre-filtration which have an automatic back wash cycle at the touch of a button. This completely removes the need for replacement filter cartridges.
Some of our systems use a combination of all of the above methods.
All of our systems use UVC LED lamps. These lamps sterilise microbial ‘bugs’ in the water to stop them causing harm and illness. The Led lamps have infinite on-off cycles and will last for 10,000 hours continuous use. As they only switch on whilst water is flowing we expect under normal use for these to last Séon’s operational life.
Read our information page “The Golden Question” to learn more about source water quality and filter life.
Water Quality
Without doubt, the most important aspect of a portable water purifier, is the quality of the water it produces.
Séon water purification systems have been developed using only the highest quality components. Stringent manufacturing and procurement processes ensure that our products are built to exacting standards.
Filter cartridges, RO membranes and LED UVC lamps are manufactured by world leading brands with reputations built on decades of delivering the highest quality products world over.
All of our systems tested by UKAS laboratories to certify their product water quality. Water quality in all Séon water purifiers, meets or exceed the standards set by the World Health Organisation for drinking water quality.
Wananchi adheres to a strict ISO9001;2015 quality system aligned for the manufacture of water purification systems. We are audited annually by an independent, international auditor, SGS ltd, to ensure our compliance. See our certification here.
Product design on all of our systems has had focus on ensuring that the systems are resistant to misuse and mishandling to ensure the user or the conditions that they operate in do not negatively affect water quality.
Séon mobile water purifiers are designed and manufactured to provide life saving drinking water; they are built for survival.
Product Support
Wananchi works with all of its customers on a one-to-one basis to fully understand their water purification requirement. We will help ensure you choose the best suited system and build re-supply programmes that meet your project requirements. We can supplement this with calculations for cost per litre and return of investment to qualify your savings when investing in Séon water purifiers.
Wananchi can offer full product training including ‘best use practice’ and system maintenance at its facilities in the UK. Optional remote monitoring is available on some of its larger systems.
Séon water purifiers are all available with a static version for use in permanent, off-grid installations.
Wananchi can also offer bespoke systems to specific project requirements.
No More Plastic Bottles
As mentioned above, mobile water purification systems remove the waste from plastic bottles. For every hour using Séon UVC, you can prevent the need for over 3000 plastic water bottles being distributed. Just take a moment to think about it.
If you operated Séon UVC in a disaster zone for just 5 hours a day over the course of 1 week, the distribution and subsequent waste of over 100,000 water bottles can be eliminated.
The total carbon footprint of one 500 ml (16.9 oz) bottle of water is 828g of carbon dioxide. Now add the CO2 emissions of flying and trucking the bottles to where they are needed (a truck is 404g per mile, a cargo plane is 90kg per hour)
Now try to imagine what 2 or 3 months worth of bottles would look like during a crisis.
We shall leave you to try and picture that…