Shell creates water purification system for rural communities
Source: World Business Council for Sustainable Development
Published Jun. 2, 2008
Many Shell operations in rural areas have no safe drinking water sources nearby. So Shell sought a water purification unit that would provide safe water, be vandalism proof and be essentially maintenance-free, with low-skilled operators able to carry out the limited maintenance tasks necessary. Shell developed and installed a pilot unit for the production of freshwater from a contaminated source at a retail station in the Karoo Desert in South Africa. This unit, dubbed the Waterbox, replaced freshwater supplied from a town 80 km away. Apart from a contractor located in this town, no skilled personnel were available on site.
Placed in a six-meter isolated sea container, the Shell water purification unit can provide some 20 m 3 of clean drinking water per day (14 liters per minute). The heart of the process consists of novel, low-pressure hollow fiber nano-filtration membranes running in semi-dead-end-mode with an airflush enhanced forward flush with water fed in every 20 minutes to clean the membranes.
Based on the success of this demonstration unit, an improved, low-energy unit will be installed in Morocco, in the small rural village of Ait Chaib, outside the local center town of Afourer, 200 km north of Marrakech, in the Atlas mountain district. This settlement consists of some 500 inhabitants living in about 90 houses. The nearby groundwater sources were less suitable for human consumption due to a high concentration of bacteria.
The unit uses no hazardous chemicals; so its environmental impact is virtually zero, unlike other, state-of-the-art membrane systems, which need considerable amounts of acids and bases to keep the membranes clean and to sterilize the drinking water produced.
Shell intends to build a commercial model to distribute in Morocco. This would require a significant initial investment cost (120,000 150,000), which has been obtained by partnering with L’heure Joyeuse (a local NGO), Shell du Maroc Social Investment Fund and ONEP (Morocco’s Office of Potable Water).
L’heure Joyeuse will pay 20% of the unit cost and will be the formal owner. The local government will work on getting buy-in from the local population and maintain the unit via a local champion who will be trained in its maintenance. ONEP will perform regular checks on the unit and water analysis, and intends to order more units once the first one demonstrates its success.
Shell has identified some main factors that will help determine how the company moves forward in this area:
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
