Solar Water Solutions, World Vision Launched SolarRO Unit in Kenya

The unit provides safe drinking water from saline water for some 710 people, including 410 children. The local community no longer has to fetch water over long distances.

Humanitarian aid organization World Vision and Finnish water technology company Solar Water Solutions launched a fully solar-powered water purification unit in Tseikuru, Kitui County.

The unit provides safe drinking water from saline water for some 710 people, including 410 children. The local community no longer has to fetch water over long distances.

The SolarRO unit produces water using an innovative solar-powered reverse osmosis system without any batteries.

Commenting on the development, Solar Water Solutions, CEO, Antti Pohjola said, “Reverse osmosis typically requires much energy. Solar Water Solutions comes in to provide a technological solution to solve this energy challenge. Our solution makes it possible to supply safe water to people living in remote areas without electricity coverage.”

The SolarRO water purification system makes clean drinking water without chemicals and emissions from seawater, impure lakes and rivers, or saline boreholes.

The partnership between Kitui County Government, World Vision in Kenya and Finland, and Solar Water Solutions makes it possible for Tseikuru residents to benefit from the new solution.

Water is a scarce resource in Kitui County, especially in the Tseikuru location. The climate is hot and dry with unreliable and unpredictable rainfall, which fluctuates from year to year.

The launch of the SolarRO system involved installing the Kasaini borehole with reverse osmosis technology and now produces pure drinking water from a drilled well.

The unit produces over 1000 liters of clean water per hour and on average, 8,000 liters per day. It operates effectively regardless of water inflow fluctuations due to variable solar conditions.

The system can be easily switched to an electrical grid or a small generator as a back-up during non-solar hours. The technology operates automatically and with low maintenance.