Malang State University (UM) Uses Rainwater to Meet Clean Water Consumption
Based on this initiation, the infrastructure and assets section appointed a household section to handle the rainwater treatment project. A team was formed, under the command of the head of the household section. Next, the team started collecting rainwater. Several special storage tanks were built, for example in UM’s new buildings, such as the rectorate building and joint lecture buildings A19 and A20. This water reservoir is in the ground. Officers inspect the installation for processing rainwater into drinking water made by the State University of Malang, East Java. The construction of the building was made to allow water to enter the pipes embedded in the building, and then enter the underground water reservoir. The capacity of UM’s ground tank or underground water storage tank is 80,000 liters. Utilizing the potential of rainwater which is always abundant during the rainy season, according to him, could be one future solution to UM’s dependence on bottled drinking water and PDAM. By utilizing rainwater, UM wants to make the main water source rainwater and the backup source groundwater and PDAM.
He added that the installation of underground storage tanks, filtration tanks and pH processing are located on the 3rd floor of the UM Rectorate Building. In a day, the need for clean water in the rectorate building alone reaches 2,000-5,000 liters. Not other buildings yet. With a rainwater storage tank capacity of 80,000 liters, according to Faul, at least 40 days of clean water needs for the rectorate building can be met from rainwater. From the storage tank, we raise the water again to the filtration tanks. From here it can actually be used to fill bathroom needs and other needs. However, if you want it to be consumed (drinkable), it needs to be processed again with an electrolysis device until the desired pH level is found. Once the pH level is appropriate, he continued, the water is ready to be packaged for consumption. The results of laboratory checks showed that UM’s bottled drinking water from artificial rainwater had a pH of 6.8 (normal pH of water ranges from 6.5-8) and other indicators, such as E-coli content, were less than 1. Of all these indicators, artificial bottled water we are fit for consumption.
The capacity of the electrolysis tank is 500 liters. And from that tank, UM’s bottled water made from rainwater comes from. Bottled water is only used within UM itself, for example at graduation or when entertaining guests. There are already around 5000 bottles of bottled water from rainwater that UM has produced. In the future, we want the processing tools and machines used to be developed by UM itself. For now, they are still all manufacturers. We are working with faculty to make that happen.
