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New Technology Allow Marines To Produce Their own Water

The Atmospheric Portable-water Sustainment Unit can supply soldiers with water from the air. An APSU device combined with a lightweight water purifier gives Marines in the field enough daily water to sustain a squad.


Photo by Cpl. Patrick King/DVIDS

Popular Science ~ "The Atmospheric Portable-water Sustainment Unit, or APSU, is paired with the Corps’ Lightweight Water Purification System, to ensure that the water it pulls from the atmosphere is drinkable. This system generates 15 to 20 gallons of drinkable water every 24 hours. Since the Corps recommends 'three to four and a half quarts (96–144 fl oz) of fluid per day for men and two to three quarts (64–96 fl oz) for women,' using the high end of the recommendations, the system can sustain 13 men, or 20 women. With variable water consumption rates across people, and production of up to 20 gallons, a single unit could sustain at least one squad, possibly a squad and a half.


Drinking water is a necessity anywhere the military operates. In the Pacific or other humid environments, it can turn the oppressively moist air into an asset, freeing forces up from a reliance on known streams, instead letting them drink from the sky.


Snowbird Water Technologies built the APSU for the military, which it describes as an 'Air Water Generator.' The air water generator 'produces water from air' , using an extremely efficient process by which condensation is collected and treated with an ozonator and UV light, ensuring safe and potable drinking water is produced at the tactical edge of the battlefield." ~ Popular Science.





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