Water Purification Calculator

Check System Hours Needed/Day against Operating Hours/Day before you commit to the move. Source quality applies a lookup factor ranging from 1.0 for a clear stream to 2.0 for brackish or stagnant water that divides directly into the purification system's rated output (line 19, line 22), so switching sources can nearly double the hours needed per day for the same daily demand, and a system that comfortably met demand on the clear stream can fall short once relocated without any change to personnel count or the rated purification rate.

No. Daily Water Need is personnel count multiplied by liters per person per day only (line 13); duration in days is applied afterward to produce Total Water Need for the whole operation (line 14). Extending the operation from one week to one month raises the total water requirement and jerrycan count but leaves the daily figure and the purification hours needed each day unchanged.

No. System Hours Needed/Day comes from dividing the daily water requirement by the effective purification rate (line 25), a formula that never references operating hours per day. Operating hours instead sets the daily capacity used to compute Daily Surplus/Deficit -- how far ahead or behind the system finishes each day -- and feeds the systems-needed count, not the hours-needed figure itself.

Run both scenarios through Systems Needed rather than guessing. A single higher-rated unit lowers System Hours Needed/Day because it raises the effective rate in the denominator (line 22, line 25), while adding a second unit at the original rated output splits the same daily requirement across more machine-hours of capacity. Which option leaves more daily surplus depends on your specific rated output, source quality, and available operating hours, so compare Daily Surplus/Deficit under each configuration rather than assuming either approach automatically wins.