Clear water on the horizon

THE Federal Government has signed an $18 million contract with Pall Corporation Australia for the supply of new water purification and desalination systems for the Army.

Defence Minister Robert Hill said the need for such equipment was identified in the 2000 Defence White Paper and its benefits were clear when used in East Timor.

“The systems will replace the current fleet of water purification equipment, which has been in service for more than 15 years, and will be operated by RAE, who have the task of providing clean drinking water to deployed land forces,” he said.

“The new water purification and desalination systems will be modular in design and deployable on trucks and trailers or in Hercules.”

The systems will provide high quality drinking water for deployments anywhere in the world. In particular, the ability to be able to desalinate large quantities of seawater was one of the key capability requirements learnt from the deployment to East Timor.

.