Marine Corps enlists Tactical Water Purification System

by Dan Foscalina | BC WATER NEWS

SAN DIEGO—Members of the U.S. Marine Corps 7th Engineering Battalion and other units are back at boot camp—water boot camp, that is.

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“The TWPS is such a state-of-the-art technology, we found not many Marines are familiar with it,” said Staff Sgt. Jeffery L. Murrill, the 7th's senior enlisted adviser for water production, storage and distribution. “So we brought in Marines from Twentynine Palms, Miramar, San Diego, Yuma, Ariz., and Camp Pendleton for a two-week operation where they could get up close and personal with 11 TWPS units.”

Self-contained (except for fuel) for five-day operations, TWPS units include a water intake system, a 6,000-gallon water storage and distribution system, and pumps and hoses—all in a package no bigger than a minivan. The units also include tools and repair parts.

Murrill, a regular BC Water News reader, said a system can be assembled and operated by as few as three people and can produce water within two hours of setup at a point water source. The system is automated and only requires one person to maintain normal operation.

Operating from freshwater sources, Murrill said the TWPS produces 1,500 gallons per hour of potable water; from saltwater sources, 1,200 gph. And with microfiltration pretreatment, the TWPS makes quick work of extreme turbidity levels often seen in some rivers and flooding situations.

Once Murrill and others finish training operations (he has another scheduled in September), the TWPS units may be shipped to Iraq in late 2007. The microfiltration system has also been used for disaster relief when the Red River flooded the Midwest several years ago, and was on standby for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

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Although Murrill hasn’t been deployed with the TWPS, he’s intimately familiar with its predecessor, the Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit that has been a Marine Corps standard for more than 20 years.

ROPWU was used during Desert Storm to purify water from the Euphrates River for 87,000 Marines and other coalition forces in Iraq. Nearly 5 million gallons were distributed for drinking and hospital use. River water total dissolved solids numbered between 18 parts per million and 24,000 ppm; it was purified to between 7 ppm and 200 ppm.

Reverse Osmosis purification units were also used during a Marines’ humanitarian effort in Micronesia during a severe drought in 1992 and the Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994, Murrill said. He also saw the units in action in the Philippines, Japan and Korea.

“This equipment has been proved over the years,” Murrill said. “I’m confident the new TWPS will be useful in future missions. It produces quite a bit more water to help Marines in their operations in the desert or wherever they may be.

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