Photo By Staff Sgt. Amanda Tucker | Water is stored in a micro filtration feed bag until it goes through micro filtration...... read more read more
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Fort POLK, La. — Water is often referred to as the essence of life. Water flows through blood, cushions joints and without water, we cannot digest or absorb food. In the Louisiana heat, this makes what the water purification platoon does, affectionately called Water Dogs, a vital part to training.
Soldiers with Water Purification Platoon, 127th Quartermaster Company, 189th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion are currently providing clean drinking water at Intermediate Staging Base Alexandria to support a month-long joint operational access exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center on Fort Polk, La.
The process begins with the command calculating the number of troops in combination with the environment and workload to configure how much water will be needed to support the exercise per day. The Water Dogs produced 6,000 gallons of filtered, clean water from a nearby bayou with their tactical water purification system to help support the mission on their first day.
“The water we produce is 1,000 times better than the water we start with,” said Spc. Zachery Ash, a water purification specialist with 127th Quartermaster Company, 189th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, and Holly, Mich., native. “In a field environment, if you don’t have water, you are out of the fight.”
The water purification process is a long system of filters and pumps. The first pump pulls the water from the raw source. It is then acted upon by the cyclone separator, which uses gravity to pull small solid particles out of the water. Then the water is stored in a micro filtration feed bag until it filters through 12 micro filtration tubes. The water then flows under pressure through the reverse osmosis filters that remove dissolved solids from the water. It is then sored for distribution. The storage bags can hold up to 3,000 gallons of water at a time.
“As long as we keep the chlorine residual up and the bags closed to prevent anything from getting into the bags, we can store water indefinitely,” said Sgt. Dominic Barillari, water purification supervisor with 127th Quartermaster Company, 189th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, and Germantown, Wis., native. “It will evaporate before it goes bad.”
The water dogs certify their water every time they produce at a new site. Their water must pass strict quality testing standards by preventive medical personnel prior to distribution.
| Date Taken: | 08.06.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 08.08.2013 07:17 |
| Story ID: | 111558 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LA, US |
| Hometown: | FAYETTEVILLE, NC, US |
| Hometown: | GERMANTOWN, WI, US |
| Hometown: | HOLLY, MI, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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