Minden firm ships water purifiers to Asia

Staff Reports

A Minden company that makes self-contained water purifiers shipped 17 solar-powered units bound for western Asia on Monday.

Aqua Sun International owner Greg Hanson said the systems are capable of purifying 500 gallons of water a day.

The Outpost 4 units and 850 filters are being sent to Qatar, where they will be shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan.

The purifiers can run off solar panels, batteries, generator or other electrical source. When running on a vehicle's 12-volt battery system, they'll clean 180 gallons of water an hour.

It uses an ultraviolet light to disinfect the water.

According to a 2005 story appearing in The Record-Courier, Hanson started with a solar business in 1973, and in 1986 began selling the water purification systems.

The business really didn't take off, though, until he got a company Web site going in 1998, said Hanson. It wasn't until then that the business was able to advertise internationally.

Hanson sent Aqua Sun units to Sri Lanka after the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami in south Asia.

His water purification systems have gone to orphanages in Honduras following Hurricane Mitch in 1998, to Iraq, to Haiti and areas in Africa and Guatemala, among others.