Photo By Staff Sgt. Kimberly Johnson | Spc. Joshua Preston (right), a motor transport operator and an Arcanum, Ohio, native,...... read more read more
Subscribe
JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq — There is a small group of Soldiers who are responsible for sustaining life at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, by providing drinkable water, also known as potable water.
Without the “Waterdogs” of the 512th Quartermaster Company, 13th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), JBB would not have water for the showers, drinking water for the bottling plant or water to run the dining facilities.
“Our mission here as water purification specialists is to provide bulk water to the entire installation,” said Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Thomas, a water purification specialist with the 512th Quartermaster Company and a Dayton, Ohio, native. “We provide water to the bottling plant and also to the facilities such as the dining facilities and the electrical plant to aid and keep JBB running smoothly.”
Water is a source of life, so having a way to provide drinkable water is essential to survival of service members and civilians to conduct their missions.
“Without water, we would cease to exist,” Thomas said. “Soldiers cannot always rely on bottled water. Showers and the DFAC are necessities; they cannot operate on bottled water alone.”
In order to provide potable water, water purification specialists must first find a source to purify.
Sgt. Leron Nelson, a water purification specialist with the 512th Quartermaster and a New York City native, said the most common sources are the nearest river or a deep well.
“[When] we find a source for water, we then take that source and either run it through a machine known as a 3K ROWPU, which is a three thousand-gallon per hour, reverse osmosis water-purification unit or other types of machines, depending on the amount of water we need to purify and make the water potable for Soldiers and civilians on this base,” he said.
In addition to using a water purification machine, Soldiers also add chemicals to disinfect the water, ensuring it is free of harmful or fatal toxins.
“It’s critical to add chemicals to the purification process to aid the filters, pull out the particles and disinfect the water,” said Sgt. Stephen Crafton, a water purification specialist with the 82nd Water Purification Detachment, 13th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and a Colonial Heights, Va., native. “When the water is through the process, it’s cleaner than what you get in bottled water. We disinfect it because any organic matter in the water, like cholera, could potentially be deadly.”
Nelson said much can go wrong quickly if a particular source is bad.
“Soldiers can go from being in the fight to literally losing the fight, because their bodies are not getting the top hydration,” he said.
In addition to the responsibility of purifying water for fellow service members and civilians, they are also responsible for maintaining the aging pumping stations around JBB.
“There are several old pumping stations here,” Thomas said. “We perform day-to-day maintenance on those machines to make sure they are up and running. We conduct preventive maintenance and do a lot of water purification operations in the evening, when it’s cooler, so we don’t run the risk of burning out the equipment.”
The heat of the desert poses a great challenge in the water purification process, he said.
“Our number one challenge is the weather here,” Thomas said, “mainly the heat, because 90 percent of our equipment is electrical. It cannot overheat. The wires of our purification pumps tend to fry because of the extreme heat.”
The team also has a small detachment of eight Soldiers who work out of Forward Operating Base Cobra, providing clean water to the service members and civilians there.
“There are no shortcuts in water purification,” Nelson said. “It has to be done to perfection or everyone notices. Every time I turn on the shower, I know somebody is out there doing their job right. Every time I mix my Gatorade with a bottle of water, I know somebody did their job. I don’t question whether or not it’s contaminated. I just know it’s not.”
| Date Taken: | 07.16.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 07.26.2010 13:33 |
| Story ID: | 53400 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE BALAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 247 |
| Downloads: | 135 |
This work, Waterdogs keep water flowing, maintain life support, by SSG Kimberly Johnson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
