Unimog

While trying to find the answers to these
questions, we discovered some amazing
and altogether innovative things. The
Gelsenwasser AG water procurement company’s
site in Essen-Burgaltendorf seems as
well looked after as any golf course, except
that the sand-filled pools are decidedly bigger
than the usual bunkers and there are no
flags to indicate where the holes are. This
regional company supplies drinking water to
three million people, businesses and industry
in the Ruhr and Münsterland regions, on
the Lower Rhine and in Eastern Westphalia.
Annual water consumption in this region is
approximately 290 million cubic metres,
equivalent to 220,000 cubic metres of water
per day. Supplying clean drinking water isn’t
something that can be taken for granted:
according to U.N. statistics, only 80 percent
of the world’s population have daily access to
clean water.
The drinking water supply facilities in
Essen, Dortmund, Haltern, Witten,
Echthausen and Frondenberg (Sauerland
region) operate some 20 Unimogs, of which
the Essen-Burgaltendorf plant has five. All of
the Gelsenwasser AG’s Unimogs used for
water procurement run on ecological diesel
oil (‘Bio-Diesel’) and biologically degradable
oils for the engine, gearbox, axles, wheel
hub gears and hydraulic system, in order to
comply with stringent environmental protection
requirements.
The “Eco-Unimog” in the biotope
Honestly – who gives much thought to where the clean drinking water
comes from when they turn on the water tap? Or what methods are used
to extract it, the preconditions for obtaining high-quality water, the role
that biologically degradable oils for commercial vehicles have to play and
what the Mercedes-Benz Unimog has to do with all of this?
Using ecological oils at the Essen facilities
was water procurement manager Otmar Jürgen’s
idea. “When we decided to make this
move in 1998, we needed a resolution from
the Board of Management,” says Mr. Jürgen,
“since a litre of ecological diesel fuel cost
some DM 2.30 (approx. Euro 1.15) back then.
Its ability to prevent soil and water pollution
encouraged the Board of Management to approve
our plan. The price for these fuels has
in the meantime dropped substantially.”
Otmar Jürgen searched hard for means of
realising his project to operate the vehicles
with biologically degradable oils. He adds,
“We have had only positive results so far.
Despite the often tough work conditions, use
of these oils hasn’t caused any engine failures
or major repairs.” This practicalminded
individual’s work received the ap-
10 Unimog 2|2003