Early in 2019, British water technology company Paqua joined forces with researchers at the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, to test the effectiveness of its innovative drinking water purification system. The research team, led by Professor Darren Reynolds and including Dr Robin Thorn, Dr Bethany Fox, and Dr Gillian Clayton, focused on evaluating a prototype known at the time as the ‘Ninja’. This cutting-edge system incorporates the core elements now found in Paqua’s PaquaVida purification units, and forms part of an international research initiative involving partners in India.
According to the executive summary of Technical Report 3.2 by Professor Reynolds, the study aimed to validate a sustainable, reliable, and versatile drinking water treatment system suitable for off-grid communities. Traditional, centralised water and sanitation infrastructures are often unsustainable in low- and middle-income countries, due to their complexity, maintenance costs, and diverse local governance structures. Decentralised systems, on the other hand, can be easily scaled and adapted to different community needs.
The trial, which ran from November 2019 to February 2020 at UWE’s Bristol campus, tested the PAqua 1000D-2 unit (nicknamed ‘NINJA’) within a dedicated Drinking Water Treatment Platform (DWTP). Over the course of several months, the technology operated continuously, requiring minimal human intervention, while consistently producing biologically and chemically safe drinking water from a heavily contaminated source. The performance met the rigorous standards defined by the UK Drinking Water Inspectorate. Researchers note that effective pre-filtration measures are key to maintaining the system’s long-term membrane health.
Reflecting on the trial’s success, Professor Reynolds emphasised the global significance of such innovation: “Clean water should be available for everyone. Globally, at least two billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces, resulting in millions of deaths, mostly among children.” He explained that the partnership with UWE has yielded a system capable of treating various freshwater sources—boreholes, rivers, ponds, and lakes—to produce crystal-clear drinking water.
“In three weeks on campus, we produced 300,000 litres—enough to fill 900,000 small plastic bottles,” added Professor Reynolds. “Implementing the unit in India will allow us to better understand the operational challenges associated with this technology.”
For further insights into UWE’s experience with the project, the university’s full account is available online.