Mienis Water

Mr W.A. van der Vet, the adviser on these projects, said: “It is all about the life span of the filters. In our country, you certainly can’t use them without making special provisions on account of the level of contamination in our water. They would constantly keep breaking down and at a price of at least several tens of thousands of guilders each, that proved to be too costly. Our contribution comes down to the fact that we have extended the life span of those filters enormously. The treatment systems are now working perfectly. That is the major gain that has been made. As a result, that cleared the way in terms of cost for different types, as well as large-scale, applications.”

The most interesting result from the research has been the production of high quality drinking water. Under the approving eye of the ever-critical Water Supply Products Testing and Research Institute of the Netherlands (the KIWA), a system that turns ground water which can hardly be called pure into high quality drinking water for just under three hundred families has been in operation since April at a large caravan park in Leimuiden.

Campsite owner, farmer Roos, is especially pleased with the equipment that has earned him the nickname of ‘Director of the Netherlands’ first private water supply company’. “It looks as though I, or should I say the campers, will now be significantly better off than if it had been necessary to install a connection to the provincial water supply system,” says Mr de Roos.

Mr A.J. Kraaijveld, head of the Technology department at the National Institute for Drinking Water, confirms that the drinking water in Leimuiden complies with the relevant stringent requirements. “They have really thought things through at Mienis and developed an interesting system. Usually, drinking water supply systems of this type are not only too expansive but above all also too expensive.”

Jan Mienis: “This campsite project should turn out to be a major breakthrough. I am confident that over the next few years, drinking water companies will also have to make the switch and start using treatment systems of this type for purely environmental reasons.”

The man from Nieuwveen envisages plenty more opportunities for using his equipment which, in the meantime, is being used not only in greenhouse cultivation but also in breweries, the dairy industry and (Fokker) aircraft construction, for example. He can now focus his attention on large users such as open ground cultivation, laundry services, photographic development companies, etc. As far as the possibilities for drinking water are concerned, for the time being I am primarily thinking about campsites, for example. There are also major opportunities in connection with sea-going vessels. We have already supplied systems for sea-going yachts where the direct utilisation of sea water as drinking water has been turned into reality.