Tapping regional demand for clean water – Australian Department of Defence

by | Nov 3, 2023 | Engineer

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1 November 2023
Combat engineers from the Australian Army’s 1 Combat Brigade have trained the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the use of an Australian defence industry-sourced portable water purification and desalination system (WPDS).
Four WPDS units were delivered earlier this year by HMAS Canberra during Indo-Pacific Endeavour. 
Each unit can produce 100 litres of clean drinking water per hour from any source and has a number of applications, including for humanitarian aid and disaster response (HADR)
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The first round of training by 1 Combat Engineer Regiment and representatives from the Australian equipment manufacturer was conducted with engineers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines Engineer School at Fort Magsaysay.
It was the first time the school had participated in water purification training. Armed Forces of the Philippines engineer Lieutenant Brian Villaneuva said it would be a useful capability for the country’s defence force.   
“Clean water is such a vital element when we are providing community support programs in our regional areas so it’s good to have access to this equipment,” Lieutenant Villaneuva said. 
“It’s easy to use and our engineers will be able to train other Defence personnel in using it in future.”
Environmental health technician Corporal Edie Haley, of Army School of Health in Albury, has been demonstrating how to test the water from the WPDS units. 
“The Armed Forces of the Philippines engineers are a great group to work with and you can see they just want to learn everything,” Corporal Haley said.
Meanwhile, for 1 Combat Engineer Regiment Sapper Shaun Jackson, the training gave him a chance to engage his passion for learning new languages.
Sapper Jackson first provided training on the WPDS equipment in Timor-Leste, where he also picked up the local Tetum language. 
“I love the challenge of learning a new language so I set myself a goal of learning Tagalog from the Armed Forces of the Philippines guys,” he said. 
“Whenever I explain how something works, I try to find out the terminology in their language and build on that each day.”  
The WPDS is manufactured in Darwin by local company Life h2o.
Life h2o managing director Charles Feros said the equipment would be further refined based on the feedback from the 1 Combat Engineer Regiment and Armed Forces of the Philippines engineers. 
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ADF personnel took part in the 80 kilometre run along Sydney’s famous coastline in the Bondi to Manly Ultra.

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