Water Purification
This should be a fairly straightforward project: to provide a backup water supply in the event the coop water supply is interrupted. On the property there is a spring-fed pond of several acres to provide the raw water source. For flushing toilets, watering plants, etc. it may be enough to set up a system to transport the water from the pond to a storage tank at the house. Since water supply issues are less frequent than power grid issues, a successful design could require some manual intervention without being too cumbersome. For example, using a tractor or other vehicle to move smaller water containers from the pond to the house storage tank, and even using manual pumps to fill the transport containers.
When the water is pumped from the pond it would be desirable to have some sort of physical filter to remove particulates and reduce the turbidity of the water before transporting it to the house storage and processing system. This reduces the contaminants at the first step and will reduce clogging of filtration systems further down the distribution line.
At the house the water will be placed into the main holding tank and will be drawn from the tank using an electric pump powered by the solar backup power system. The water in the holding can be treated in some way to reduce biologicals and that water passed through additional inline filters to be used for flushing, bathing, etc. For cooking and drinking purposes additional treatment will be required.
Potable water treatment needs to simple, maintainable, and above all, safe. Distillation is the safest method but it can be slow and cumbersome and requires some kind of heat source, be it flame, solar, gas, or electricity. Filtration systems can be designed to provide safety and high quantity production but they can be expensive. Chemical treatments are available and work well to render water safe for drinking but they can add less than pleasant flavors and aromas to drinking and cooking water.
The final design will likely incorporate elements from several different methods to obtain a system that is fast, economical, sustainable, can provide sufficient quantities, and be safe to consume.
This is a perfect example of where straightforward may not be simple.