Welcome to Distributed Water Treatment Systems
Over the past century, many robust systems of water distribution have been engineered across the state of California. This infrastructure is the bedrock of California’s economic strength, supporting the water needs of agriculture, industry, and human populations. Yet, even now, there exist in California residential communities that do not have ready access to safe drinking water. Of particular concern are the rural communities of Central California. Housing the workers of the nation’s breadbasket, many of these communities are too remote to be served by municipal water sources and instead rely on local well water. Some of these groundwater sources have become contaminated by unsafe levels of chemicals left by intensive fertilizer use. Affected communities have been forced to use bottled water for basic drinking and bathing.
These challenges should not be faced by residents of California in the twenty-first century. To respond to this pressing issue, the UCLA Water Technology Research Center (WaTeR) has developed and deployed a novel system of community water treatment. Employing reverse-osmosis and desalination technologies, the WaTeR lab has created a treatment system roughly the size of a shipping container that can be installed on-site, allowing small communities to clean and store their own local groundwater. The systems require minimal modification to local plumbing and are envisioned to be a reliable, cost effective, and (most importantly) safe source of potable water.
About
Mission