In the News

Slow sand filters and Blue Future Filters

Two new filters for spring, 2012-

Blue Future Filters is introducing two new filters per customer requests. The first is a rainwater catchment filter. this filter is designed to collect water from gutter downspout systems and remove setteable solids, similar to a roughing filter. The second filter is a small fully aerated iron filter designed for low and non constant flows. Keep an eye out for these new additions to our line up.

Volcano National Park 9/2010

A joint Blue Future. Columbian Tech Tank 28 gpm bolted steel slow sand filter was installed in September 2010 at Volcano National Park, Hawaii. The filter went from the ground up to producing water in 5 days. This brings tremedous cost savings to small communities.

Slow sand filters compared with Ultrafiltration, cost and carbon footprint

        In a recent paper comparing slow sand filtration (based on performance of an SSF-10 used as prefiltration for a desalinization plant in Santa Cruz  California) a 6 mgd SSF plant was expected to save 311 metric tons per year of carbon dioxide over other systems due to significantly less transportation, chemical, and energy costs. (Meyhofa, Paul, PE, CDM, Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Open Intake Seawater desalinization: Slow Sand Filtration before Reverse Osmosis)
       In another study in Abbotsford, British Columbia where a ssf and an ultrafiltration system were run side by side, the manager of the plant stated the ssf represented "three times the capacity at half the cost. (Derick Casey, Manager, Water Supply Services, Abbotsford, B.C.)

House of the Children and Humphrey Blackburn in "Official" Magazine

"Official", the magazine of IAPMO, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (the nation's building inspectors), featured a beautiful article on Nancy Santullo's Peru project with information, drawings and photos of the slow sand filters there. 

Link to International Reference Center, The Hague.
        The IRC, a powerful information link for water and sanitation.

        The International Reference Center provides a source of information for all working on             water and sanitation issues in developing countries.

ABCs of maintaining slow sand filters
A possible treatment of choice for rural homeowners and small systems.
by Humphrey Blackburn

"...If you have customers who rely on private surface water sources for household use, slow sand filtration - or more accurately biologically active filtration - may be an effective choice for water treatment." -- From the September 1998 edition of Water Technology magazine.

Raincatcher, Peru
Harvesting natural rainwater to quench the world's thirst.

"...After catching and storing the rainwater, the next chore is cleaning it for absolute safe drinking. Another key person in this story is a man by the name of Humphery Blackburn..."

Get the Upper Hand With Slow Sand
Filters effective on surface water.
By Humphrey M. Blackburn

"Surface water is sometimes the only available safe water source for rural homeowners. But treating surface water can present real headaches for the water treatment professional...." -- From the April 1997 edition of Water Technology magazine.