“This project proves that the defence industry companies operating under the supervision of the Ministry of Defence are effective and ready to meet the challenges of our age, not only in the field of services needed for the operation of the Hungarian Defence Forces, but also in the field of civil application”, Dr. István Dankó, the Administrative State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday, February 18 in Kecskemét.
The HDF 59th Szentgyörgyi Dezső Air Base has now received a micro water purification plant. The equipment with an output of 20 cubic meters of purified water per hour was opened in a ceremony by Dr. István Dankó on February 18. In his speech, the Administrative State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence reminded his audience that there are many regions in Hungary where the quality of drinking water does not comply with the limit values set by the European Union. The so-called raw water is problematic because it contains contamination caused by arsenic, manganese, iron and boron. The government of Hungary assigned the Ministry of Defence the task of temporary supplying drinking water to communities where the water contamination level exceeds the EU limit, until the installation of water purification technologies which will settle the problem conclusively, that is, until the completion of the projects meant to ensure their installation.
As an immediate solution, the Ministry carried out the temporary supply of water with the use of water transport trucks, while it has produced and installed containerized filtering devices to provide medium-term supply. The defence industry limited companies of the Ministry of Defence were able to successfully deal with the very complex task of planning and manufacturing the water purification containers in a short time. During the program, the MoD ED Co. and the MoD Currus Ltd were cooperating in order to produce 182 pieces of containerized water purification equipment. Of these, 147 have already been installed in the most exposed communities of Hungary. These will be operated until the conclusive drinking water improvement projects are completed.
At the same time, the developments of the defence industry in the field of water purification do not only serve this interim solution. The engineers have worked out a process which may form the basis of conclusive water purification technology projects. “These devices are modular, they consist of prefabricated elements and are easy to field anywhere around the world in a cost-effective way. With this performance, the Ministry of Defence has proved again that on top of maintaining, from budgetary resources, those capacities that are needed to carry out the tasks in the system of the military, it is also able to fulfill the needs of the civil side”, the Administrative State Secretary stressed.
Answering our question, Attila Molnár, the CEO of MoD Currus Ltd told us that the micro water purification plant – which has now been opened within the HADIK plan – had been built with an investment of HUF 145 million in the New Széchenyi Plan Environment and Energy Operative Programme. The equipment is capable of filtering out contaminants from water such as iron, manganese and arsenic. Calculating with 20 hours of operation, its maximum output is 400 cubic meters per day. Over the last six months, the test run of the water purification plant has proven that it fully meets all requirements.
Among the units of the Hungarian Defence Forces, the Kecskemét Air Base has been the first to receive such equipment, but similar micro water purification plants will be built in five barracks until the end of the year.
(Ministry of Defence)
