A Myanmar Yutani demonstrates the impressive capabilities of the water purifying cycle at the company’s office in Yangon.

A JAPANESE company plans to import a water purification system that uses pedal power to produce clean and drinkable water.

Mr Yoshinori Komaru, the managing director of Myanmar Yutani, said the energy source for the purification system was a bicycle. An hour’s pedalling – equivalent to a distance of about 13 miles or 20 kilometres – can produce 300 litres of pure water, he said.

“The system was invented in Japan in 1995, at the time of the Kobe earthquake,” he said, adding that his company had donated two purification units to the government and has imported another four units of the system, which is called ‘Cyclowater’.

Mr Komaru said the systems were suitable for use in remote areas where purified drinking water is hard to get. But their relatively high price, about US$5500 each, means that the most likely customers will be donors such as United Nations and non-governmental organisations engaged in post-Nargis rehabilitation efforts.

Mr Komaru said the purification process pumped contaminated water through four filters. The first removes sewage, mud and particles. Each successive filter removes smaller particles, as well as toxins, chemicals and odour. The final micro-filtration membrane filters out bacterial and dissolved material, leaving the water safe to drink. The 300 litres that can be produced in an hour will provide a daily allowance of two litres to 150 people.

Since the system is mobile, it can be ridden to the water source, and it needs no fuel or electricity supply.