The ROWPU 3000 Water Treatment System

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By Timothy Cox


Many people in the world have little or no clean water. They live in high population areas where groundwater, lakes, and rivers are polluted. They live in the desert, where moisture is hard to find, or in arctic areas where everything is frozen. Trying to deliver the drinking and household supply from outlying regions is seldom practical. In many cases, obtaining a military surplus ROWPU 3000 water treatment unit would be a dream come true.

The acronym stands for 'reverse osmosis 3000 (gallons per hour) water purification unit'. Osmosis refers to the tendency of liquids to mix; in the process of reverse osmosis, liquid passes through a membrane with pores small enough to permit the pure liquid to seep through. However, microorganisms, particles, and larger ions and molecules are screened out. Chlorine is then used to completely disinfect the water for human use.

Scientists understood the process by 1750, but it took another 200 years before researchers developed a practical method for desalination. A few more years passed before the process was refined enough to be commercially viable. In 1977, the first municipality, Cape Coral, FL, used this process for its citizens. As the city grew, so did its water plant. Reverse osmosis is widely used in industry, to keep its machinery free of clogging mineral deposits, and by dryer regions like California to reclaim rainwater for city landscaping.

The military is often called on to operate in areas where only seawater or non-potable sources are available. They also have large numbers of troops that need a dependable supply. The US Army developed the ROWPU 3000. It provides up to 60,000 gallons a day if the source is fresh or brackish, and up to 40,000 if they are using seawater. The units run on electricity, but that can be supplied by a generator in remote or war-torn regions.

Today the various branches of the military have smaller units, capable of an output of from 125 to 1,200 gallons per hour. Some of them are self-propelled. For this reason, some ROWPU 3000 units mounted on thirty-foot trailers are available as army surplus. You can actually buy them online and have them shipped anywhere in the world - according to the internet.

Eskimos living on frozen ice flows can get saltwater through a hole in the ice and use a ROWPU 3000 to make it potable - as long as the temperatures are not colder than -25F. A reservation could supply its desert population. People in remote villages with no clean drinking water can live better and healthier lives, and the women and children no longer would have to travel miles to lug the daily supply home.

This purification unit is one of a long list of things we routinely use that were originally developed for military use. Duct tape, the GPS in cars and phones, the Epipen, computers, and microwaves are other examples. There are now over 15,000 major desalination plants in use around the world.

Selling online has become so routine that maybe you're not surprised that you could buy a self-contained purification system set on a long trailer, ready to go wherever you want it to. Modern technology is a wonderful thing when it answers basic needs. The ROWPU 3000 and the Internet are examples of this.




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