The Dutch Armed Forces are to receive a system of drinking water treatment plants from Kärcher Futuretech, which are designed for different support areas, the company has announced. By producing drinking water on site, the Dutch want to relieve the logistics, as per person drinking water requirements are estimated at up to 200 litres per day.
Different Scales
For the platoon level (up to 60 soldiers), the Defensie Materieel Organisatie is procuring 26 portable ultrafiltration systems, which are specially designed to supply drinking water to a highly mobile unit. The device fits into a suitcase, weighs less than 50 kg and produces up to 400 litres of drinking water per hour with a lithium battery used for power supply.
For the company level (up to 200 soldiers), reverse osmosis units of the type WTC 700 are being procured, which produce up to 700 litres per hour. The total capacity of the units is to be sufficient for 14 infantry companies.
The battalion level (up to 2,200 soldiers) will be equipped with a modular overall system that will produce a total of up to 7,500 litres of drinking water per hour with the overall system including three WTC 3200 units. The drinking water is filled into one litre bottles for distribution to the soldiers, a process done using a WBP 1300 drinking water filling unit, which can fill 2,000 bottles made of recycled plastic per day. Equipment sets for four battalions are being procured.
In a contract dated 12 May 2021, Kärcher Futuretech is obliged to deliver the prototypes of the newly developed products by summer 2022. The advance samples will be tested for their performance and suitability for practical use. Depending on the progress of the tests, the entire contract with 44 units in total is to be completed by mid/end 2023.
Gerhard Heiming
