In the water business, various new services
are emerging to satisfy the needs of the age. An example of these new services
is a system to utilize groundwater to supply drinking water. This system not
only reduces water charge but also realizes stable water service even in times
of drought and earthquake. Wellthy, a medium-sized water treatment company in
Tokyo, developed the “groundwater membrane filtration” system in 1997. Wellthy
is coined from welfare and healthy, and it contained the word of well. The
company has already shipped this system to more than 800 institutions, and it enjoys
a share of 60% currently. This is a two-way water supply system made up of
purified groundwater and tap water in the ratio 80% to 20%. The well used by
this system is 100 m deep to avoid influence of soil contamination. The
automatic monitoring system observes the water quality and the operational
status around the clock. The supply of groundwater immediately stops should
some irregularity arise, and only tap water will be supplied.
In the purification process, the system
uses membrane filtration besides sand filtration to eliminate impurities like pathogenic
organisms. Because wells have a vertical structure, they are earthquake-proof
and available for water supply even in times of disaster when such lifelines as
water and electricity are unworkable. Taking advantage of this strength, the
company proclaims the catch-phrase “Safe water within the travel distance by a
bicycle.” Their customers are mostly institutions required to contribute to the
local residents. Actually, hospitals and nursing-care facilities account for
about 40% of their customers. In addition, the system is being used in schools and
station-related facilities.
Other two-way supply systems that use
rivers and other types of water resources are being developed with a view to
exporting them to China and Africa where water shortage and deterioration of
water quality are growing serious. Toho in Yamagata Prefecture and Yanmar in Hyogo
Prefecture are the pioneers in this business fields. The above three companies
are creating new markets making the best use of the integrated state-of-the-art
technology available in Japan. (To be continued)
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