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Maldives - Decentralised Potable WaterSituation Analysis
An agreement was formed between Solco and the Kulhudhuffushi Island Development Committee (IDC) to facilitate the building and operation of the Solco Water Purification System. The project was financially supported by Solco Ltd. and the Triodos Bank Renewable Energy Development Fund, and was operated by the Kulhudhuffushi community. It was designed to earn an income which would allow the debt generated by the project to be repaid, while also abiding by Solco's philosophy of providing water and power to the people of the world in the most affordable possible way.
Of the 180 inhabited islands of the Maldives, approximately 20 are estimated to have significant problems with brackish drinking water. In Kulhudhuffushi, population growth and reduced rainfall have also contributed to the depletion of fresh water supplies. Collecting rainwater for drinking is an inadequate solution to the problem, as rainwater is not available all year round, and any rainwater that is not collected in tanks becomes trapped in the island's coral foundation, rendering it inaccessible. As a result, residents of Kulhudhuffushi have had to resort to buying soft drinks and water from the Coca Cola Company, or else to drink polluted groundwater. ScopeSolco devised a means of delivering an alternative, low-cost clean water supply to the population of Kulhudhuffushi. The system was housed in a 20-foot sea container making it fully portable. It incorporated a number of Solco's technologies, including a solar water pump, solar-powered reverse osmosis units and Poly water tanks, and can be maintained at a local level. Water was collected by drilling two bore holes and using a 200W Sun Mill to pump the groundwater through the water purification system. The purified water was then bottled and sold to the community at a rate of approximately half the cost of other brands of bottled water. The income generated will, over time, allow repayment of the debt incurred by building the system, and most importantly will give invaluable access to safe and clean drinking water for the Kulhudhuffushi community. PreparationCommunity Consultation & Education
Water AssessmentThe Maldives is a series of low lying coral atolls. Rainfall, also known as recharge, creates a small pocket of fresh water between the ground surface and the existing sea water, commonly known as the freshwater lens. The freshwater lens on Kulhudhuffushi was being depleted due to reduced rainfall and had suffered biological contamination due to the absence of any sewage treatment facility. Initial water tests for salts and E. coli levels were conducted at two-metre intervals, up to a total depth of 10 metres. At 9 metres we identified total dissolved salt (TDS) levels of between 3500 and 5000 parts per million (ppm). This water, which was not used by locals because of its high salt concentration, was capable of being processed by the Solco water purification system. We therefore installed our solar pump at a 9 metre level to draw off this water for processing. Operation
Note: Reverse osmosis occurs when water is under pressure against one side of a membrane. Water molecules are small enough to pass through this membrane, whereas larger molecules cannot pass through. Prior to sale, bottles were cleaned and sterilised using a sodium metabisulphate solution and then filled with the purified water. The water was sold to the community at approximately half the going rate per litre of the alternative bottled water available. The waste stream of approximately 5,000L per day was returned into a secondary bore 20 metres below ground. At this level, water quality is almost equivalent to seawater, so there was no negative impact on the freshwater lens. Equipment
Daily OperationThe system was run by two full-time local employees from the community, hired by Solco. Salt levels in feedwater and product water were measured and recorded daily, and E. coli levels were tested periodically to ensure that the water quality was fit for human consumption. Employees had been fully trained in maintaining the system and servicing all equipment, and an outline of service procedures was posted on the sea container wall. The employees' daily responsibilities included sterilising returned bottles and refilling them with filtered water, and washing the system filters.
The Kulhudhuffushi system was capable of producing 50 bottles per day, but this number could easily have been expanded. Flow meters were installed on the system to record the volume of water produced. ChallengesCulturalThe community has been drinking groundwater since first settlement, and more recently, bottled and rain water. To convince the community of the benefits of purifying the island's groundwater, an extensive education and marketing campaign was implemented. TechnicalBecause of the project's isolation, local employees had to be trained to operate and maintain the water purification system. Solco therefore designed a system which was both simple and reliable. It was, however, necessary for spare parts of some of the technically complex items to be stocked on the island, allowing them to be replaced by local employees and returned to Australia for servicing whenever necessary. Another consequence of the island's geographical isolation was to make preliminary and ongoing E. coli tests difficult to conduct. Geographical/Political
ConclusionThe containerised water purification system helped to solve the water needs of Kulhudhuffushi and the island resort of Dhon Kuli.
FINANCIALS
AcknowledgmentsSolco gratefully acknowledges:
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Kulhudhuffushi, a remote island in the Haa Dhaalu atoll approximately 274km north of the Maldivian capital of Malé, was struck by the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. One consequence of this was an increase in salinity levels in the existing groundwater, which was already contaminated with faecal remnants due to a lack of waste treatment facilities on the island.
The creation of the working water purification unit was the focus of a three month pilot project initiated and run by Solco between March and July 2005. The purpose of the project was to prove that Solco could establish an environmentally sustainable and decentralised water purification system in a remote area, which could also be made economically sustainable through the sale of water produced by the system.
Community consultation was conducted both remotely via a community survey and an application process (indicating which communities were interested in participating in the project trial), and through personal visits to ten different island locations. The purpose of these was to win community approval and support, as well as to identify a suitable site for the project. To achieve local support, the island's chief and its residents needed to be educated about the benefits of the project. Convincing the Kulhudhuffushi community to buy bottled water from their own source was the first obstacle to overcome. To achieve this, educational brochures and programs for the schools and the wider community were provided to help raise awareness of health issues relating to drinking the existing water. The IDC granted Solco access to a site next to the island guesthouse and during the project's construction Solco frequently communicated with the community, who in turn assisted with the implementation of the project. This served to provide locals with hands-on experience with the system.
A Sun Mill solar pump drew approximately 6,000L of brackish water from 9m below the surface each day. This water then passed through a coarse filter bank and into a 9,000L header tank, located on the roof of the sea container. Coarse filtration started at 80 microns and went down to 25 microns. Water was then gravity-fed through primary filtration, starting at 25 microns and going down to 5 microns, before being pumped through two Solarflow reverse osmosis units, which recovered approximately 16% of the 6,000L of water that passed through the membrane daily. Effectively, 1,000L of clean purified water was collected from the 6,000L of brackish water entering the system every day, and this product water was stored in a second 4,800L tank.
The major components used in the implementation of this project were:
The bottled water could be ordered by phone or in person, and the bottles were distributed in boxes of 10 via motorbike or trolley. Money was collected by the delivery employee and banked with the Bank of Maldives, which has a branch on each of the major islands.
The Maldives, being a series of coral atolls, presented logistical challenges for freight. In addition, the administrative structure of the islands consists of four distinct levels of bureaucracy, all of which needed to be consulted to gain official approvals.