The Rumaith, UAE
Launched in 1980, the Rumaith was the world’s first commercial seagoing desalination plant to provide water for non-shipboard use.
The Rumaith being towed to Abu Dhabi. – Klaus Wangnick
Buckau-Walther AG, a Krupp subsidiary, supplied the Rumaith to the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Department, where she was towed from Germany! The brief was to provide a mobile desalination plant which could supply water and power to coastal regions and construction sites, initially as emergency relief and thereafter as short-term supply or a standby / reserve additional to land-based plant.
The two MSF evaporators clearly visible in the photo provided a combined capacity of 2,500m3/d, and the Rumaith also carried a power generation plant and all normal marine and navigation equipment, making her genuinely sea-going. For distillate delivery, she carried a half-kilometre long hose (was this also a record?) to pump onshore.