Water purification machine stirs town

By Peterson Githaiga

Residents of Kitengela drank sewerage water after it was purified.

There was anxiety as residents waited for the magic machine to purify the water. The generator-powered portable machine, Blue Box, weighs 100kg and uses a process known as post-chlorination to purify dirty water.

Nielsen Consulting Company exclusively supplies the Blue Box, which purifies 1,200 litres of water per hour.

After explaining how the machine works, County Assembly Member of Oloosirkon/Sholinke Ward who had hosted the guests from Nielsen Company led residents in drinking the water.

Managing Director Nielsen Company, Per Egede Nielsen, who drank the water first to prove it was safe, said part of the purification involves heating the water to high temperatures, which effectively kills all germs and thus residents should not fear taking the water.

The excited residents drank the water while others fetched some for their households.

“I believe this machine is powerful enough to have killed all germs in this water because it does not even smell. The water is tasty and I wish we can get such a machine as a community to use all water available,” said Nancy Auma, a resident among those who was excited by the magic of the machine.

The machine costs approximately Sh2.5 million and can be powered using 2.2KVA.

tested and approved

Country sales representative Ephraim Omulepu assured residents the machine was tested and approved and is currently in use in countries like Chad and South Africa.

“The machine has been used in other countries and no health complications have occurred thus be assured you can consume water from dams, boreholes and all water catchments if it has undergone the Blue Box purification process,” added Omulepu.

The Blue Box machine is energy efficient and can therefore be powered by a basic solar plant producing atleast 2.2 KVA.

The machine is especially suitable for areas where there is no conventional water distribution, or the conventional water distribution does not provide safe water for drinking.