Indonesia in pursuit of decent drinking water

摘要

The Indonesian ministry of health has used National Instruments' CompactRio control system hardware and developer system to develop and control a manganese-removal system to render tap water suitable for drinking. The system uses supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), a user interface employing animation, logging of alarms, trending functions for data, and security. Manganese occurs naturally in groundwater, but may also result from industrial pollution; its levels in drinking water must be controlled, even though it's a vital trace mineral in the human diet; excess can cause a syndrome with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease. In Indonesia, the maximum allowed level is 0.4mg/litre, but samples from the Pantai Indah Kapuk region were found to be in breach: 35.9 per cent of samples were not suitable for drinking at all, and 21.1 per cent exceeded the limit.