The initiative has proven effective after testing time period. However, weather conditions on the island have displayed the need for the installation of a larger filtration system.
Vegetable gardens and husbandry areas are now commonly seen on Truong Sa Dong Island. With the salt water filtration machine, soldiers living here no longer need to restrict their water use to five litres per day. The machine can filter 50 litres of water per hour and be controlled remotely. However, the machine had stopped working properly after one year, due to harsh weather conditions.
"The machine pumps water from the sea to the tank in the water filteration system. The machine broke down due to long days of work and from the sand. A larger tank is needed to store salt water pumped from the sea", said Major Nguyen Quoc Hung - Commanding Officer of 146 Naval Brigade at Truong Sa Dong Island.
The capacity of the current salt water tank is three cubic metres, which does not meet the capacity of the filter machine running for 10 hours straight.
"This experience proves further machine installation is needed. We are also calling for an investment to build a 20 cubic metre water tank for the filter machine", said Le Duy Hung Thinh - Vice Chairman of Commission for Popularisation and Education, Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.
The water filter machine is part of the Trường Sa Xanh programme initiated by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union. A new machine with the capacity of 200 litres of water per hour, four times as much as that of the current machine, is set to be installed in An Bang Island in August. Efforts from the community are needed to provide water for this island where the weather is often harsh.
