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As part of efforts to strengthen the city’s resilience in crisis situations, a mobile water filtration unit manufactured in Latvia was unveiled in Rīga on Wednesday, 11 November. If water is unavailable in the city, the unit can provide safe drinking water from any freshwater source within an hour, Latvian Television reported.
On Wednesday, the mobile filtration unit purified water from the canal. It was no longer yellowish in colour and had no odour. It looked just like tap water. It tasted the same too – perhaps with just a very slight mineral aftertaste.
Ivars Gaters, Head of the Water Treatment and Supply Service at “Rīgas ūdens”, said that the blue shipping container contains everything needed to draw water from various locations – quartz sand and activated carbon filters in metal cylinders, along with other technologies that provide reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, mineralisation and water disinfection using an ultraviolet lamp.
“With this equipment, and having carried out all the tests, we are absolutely certain that, regardless of whether we take water – as we are doing today – from the Rīga Canal, the Daugava, a pond or a lake, the result we obtain will be very good. I would even say – tasty, but certainly safe for residents to use in a crisis situation,” said Gaters.
Laboratory tests show that the system removes up to 99.2 per cent of contaminants from the water.
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
Rīgā atklāta Latvijā ražota mobilā ūdens filtrēšanas iekārta
Photo: Venta Ilva Stūris
The entire filtration system and a 5,000-litre reservoir for storing water are housed in a standard shipping container and are powered by two diesel generators. Once the generators are started, within just five minutes water can be poured into a glass or bucket, or the water supply can be connected to a building. It is possible to purify 2,000 litres of water in one hour.
The unit can be easily moved to a location where drinking water can be sourced.
Normunds Zvaunis, a board member of “Rīgas ūdens”, stated that the unit would be ready for use within an hour even if a crisis were to strike tomorrow. All that is required is access to a body of water.
“Of course, it’s not intended for everyday situations where a single household is undergoing repairs or has had its water cut off – we have other resources for that; we have water barrels ready. In such cases, there’s no need to operate and transport such heavy equipment. This is intended for more serious crisis situations where there are major disruptions,” said Zvaunis.
The equipment has been developed by the Latvian company “SIA Watex” and costs more than 56,000 euros. To ensure it operates, fuel for the generators and reagents for the water filters are also required, the costs of which are not yet clear.
Riga currently has one such mobile water treatment unit. Edvards Ratnieks (National Alliance), Deputy Mayor of Riga City Council, said that this is a better solution than water barrels. A decision on whether to purchase another unit will be made after evaluating the performance of the existing plant.
Although the drinking water treatment plant is intended for various crises, it will not remain idle. On a day-to-day basis, it will be used in training exercises so that, in the event of a crisis, it can be rapidly deployed to areas where residents have been left without water.
“We will certainly make extensive use of it in training exercises, both with local authorities and national institutions, so that, should the need arise, we are ready to put it into operation immediately and start supplying people with water,” said Zvaunis.
Riga may purchase more of this equipment in the future, but this depends on funding.
A similar water treatment plant was previously donated to Ukraine after Russia blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, leaving residents without access to clean drinking water.
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