Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much water can be treated per day with what levels of contamination?
A typical Drinkwell Community System is gravity fed through an Overhead Tank with 5,000 – 6,000 Liter Per Day capacity with an average of 8-9 working hours per day serving 250-300 households at 20 liters per household per day. The system however can be scaled up as needed with a pump driven system by increasing the capacity of the Overhead Tank. The system can treat the highest levels of arsenic and comply with the regulatory limits of arsenic set by the World Health Organization & IS-10500.
2. What is the size and weight of a typical system?
A typical Drinkwell Community System is comprised of a 4 nos. FRP column system comprising of pre-treatment, arsenic/ fluoride removal, post-treatment units, UV unit, and ATM dispenser. Size and combination of HIX-nano media & other IX media depend on detail water quality, daily water production, kinetic aspects of the system and media, etc. It is recommended to be designed for each system separately unless 2 sites are identical. As a reference point a typical plant has the following column sizes - col-1 16"x65", Col-2 & 3 - 14"x65" & Col-4 - 12"x48". Besides concentration of target contaminant (e.g. arsenic), separation capacity is influenced by the presence & concentration of other ionic species, competing species, operation pH, separation chemistry & kinetics, bed depth etc.
3. What are the expected consumables for a typical Drinkwell System?
Regular consumables are common chemicals like coagulant, sodium hypochlorite, HCl etc. HIX Nano media is regenerable. Regeneration need is expected once in 1-2 years (depending upon water quality, water production, operational practices etc.). Self life of HIX & other IX media is usually >5 years.
4. Specifications of the container tanks (raw water & purified water) –material used, size specifications, compliance to standards etc.
A typical Drinkwell Community system has 2 Nos. OHTs 2000 L each (total 4000 L), 1 no. 2000 L capacity. OHT- 3 layered, TW tank- 4 layer plastic tank (conforming IS-12701).
5. What is the typical price of a system, as well as pricing for replacement / upgradation parts?
Product pricing for both capital costs as well as ongoing operation & maintenance costs depends on raw water profile, desired capacity, and site location as well as local cost of consumables, overheads, and civil work contractors. Replacements etc. is a part of service/ maintenance agreement. Items covered under warranty (usually given with a detailed technical proposal) are replaced free of cost within warranty period (typically 1 year). A Servicing agreement is decided separately identifying list of services/ activities between Drinkwell and the partner organization.
6. We can only fund a registered NGO. Can you help us find one?
Yes. We have several partners and can assist with this process.
7. Waste Management for Arsenic?
Drinkwell’s waste management process has been approved by the West Bengal Arsenic Task Force for use through a variety of India State Public Health Engineering Department-funded projects, from standard 1,000 to 193,000 liter per hour systems:
1.Once Drinkwell’s resin media is exhausted, the adsorbent material is regenerated (unlike most filters, whose media is simply discarded) through a simple process at a central location. This decreases the waste volume by “cleaning” the adsorbents of collected arsenic and catching the leftover arsenic-sludge in the filter, resulting in waste of only 1% (compared to 40-60% for reverse osmosis).
2.The waste material is put into a well-aerated, coarse sand filters for safe storage.
3.The cleaned adsorbent material is then returned to the water unit, filtering water as if the unit were new.
This disposal technique, developed and validated under rural conditions, is scientifically more appropriate than dumping arsenic-loaded adsorbents into landfills, which is the typical practice across developing nations.