Power Wash. Prototype water purification system saved the day at remote Alaska station. (Photo courtesy of Office of Naval Research)

A high-volume, portable water purification system unveiled this spring by the Office of Naval Research already has proven itself during a real-world test in July.

The system was developed with other agencies and private sector firms at ONR’s Arlington, Va., laboratory. The units are designed to deliver large quantities of potable water in arid regions or areas hit by disasters.

Called the Expeditionary Unit Water Purification (EUWP) system, it is benchmarked against the U.S. Army’s Tactical Water Purification System. Both can be assembled in two modules that can

be loaded on a C-130 aircraft. But the EUWP system operates at a much higher capacity: 200,000 gallons per day of freshwater or 100,000 gpd of seawater, compared to the 36,000 gpd and 28,000 gpd processed by the TWP system. However, the new unit has not been selected for military use.

The EUWP system was designed using advanced off-the-shelf products. The research project through which it was created is "dual use," meaning the technology is available for both government and civilian use. "Nothing is proprietary about this," says Maj. Alan Stocks, U.S. Marine Corps, ONR’s program manager.

One package of the EUWP uses ultrafiltration technology to process fresh water and the other uses reverse osmosis to process seawater or water contaminated by nuclear, biological or chemical agents. Each is powered by a 60-kW generator. It is designed to operate in harsh environments, including blowing sand, dust, rain and air temperatures between 32ûF and 120ûF. Each unit weighs 15,000 lb and is mounted on a 20-ft-long, 8-ft-high skid.

The system recently passed its first real-world test, purifying 250,000 gallons of water in three days in July at a remote U.S. Coast Guard station at Port Clarence, Alaska. The lakes that supply the station were fouled by seawater during storms last year. Stored water carried personnel through the winter, but they had no way to replenish supplies.

ONR devotes half of its $23-million research budget to water purification. It has built two of the EUWP demonstration systems to military standards for $1.5 million apiece. Stocks estimates a civilian version would run about $900,000. ONR provided no operational cost figures.

The unit used in Alaska is on its way back to the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center at Port Hueneme, Calif. A second is in the Tularosa Basin National Desalination Research Facility processing brackish water for Alamogordo, N.M.