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Solar water
treatment system introduced in Ghana
Accra, March 27, GNA – HelioTech Limited, a
German-based organization, on Friday introduced a water
treatment system that uses solar energy to purify any form of
contaminated water or salty water into potable drinking water.
Mr. Ralf Keller, Director of Marketing, HelioTech, announced
this at a day’s seminar to introduce the technology to
stakeholders in the water industry.
He said the equipment had the capacity to purify or desalinate
about 50 to 5,000 litres of water a day and was useable at any
location where there was sunlight and access to any kind of
water.
Desalination is a process that involves removing salt or harmful
particles from water.
Mr Keller noted that about 1.1 billion people the world over did
not have access to safe drinking water and in Ghana even though
about 79 per cent of people had access to water, large
quantities of water used at the household level in various
communities were brackish, salted or contaminated with iron or
germs.
The equipment, which cost about GH¢6,000 cedis, takes about two
to three hours to be installed.
Comparing the HelioTech Solar Water treatment system to another
technology called “Reverse Osmosis system”, Mr Keller said, with
the HelioTech system, there was no need for specialist training
to run the system, no energy cost and can be used in rural areas
provided there was sunlight.
He said the technology was designed with the intention to help,
especially developing countries meet the Millennium Development
Goal target on water, which aims at providing half the
population of people in various countries with access to safe
drinking water by 2015.
Mr Keller announced that HelioTech had arranged with Fidelity
Bank Ghana to provide funds in a form of loans to those
interested in buying the equipment.
Nii Amasa Namoale, Member of Parliament for La, Dadekotopon,
said the technology was a good innovation and advised
non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and
individuals to patronize the product and send it to villages
that had salty drinking water.
Mr Wisdom Ahiataku-Togobo, Renewable Energy Expert at the
Ministry of Energy, who chaired the seminar, pointed out that
Ghana was faced with a lot of challenges when it came to
providing potable drinking water.
“If solar can be used to make water available for mankind, it is
only important that we accept such a technology,” he said.
GNA
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