Photo By Staff Sgt. Destinee Sweeney | U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Richard Barnes, 20th Civil Engineer Squadron water and...... read more read more
Subscribe
Late at night the base housing residents sleep in their beds peacefully unaware of what is about to happen.
Underneath the ground, a water main breaks and begins to create a cavern that causes the land above to cave in. The ground above separates and water gushes like a fountain from the pipe below into the streets and begins to flood the area.
Back at the water and fuel systems building, an Airman on standby receives a notice of water running down the street and travels to the scene to investigate.
On July 29, and Aug. 11, a water main broke on Shaw, leaving more than 300 base residents without water.
The water main broke due to the aging pipes and pressure from nearby tree roots.
Master Sgt. Darrell Childers, 20th Civil Engineer Squadron water and fuel systems maintenance section chief, estimated the pipes to be approximately 50 years old.
The 20th CES water and fuels systems flight and the heavy equipment flight responded to the emergency, working day and night until the problem was solved.
After the heavy equipment flight, commonly known as the Dirt Boyz, excavated the area, water and fuel systems personnel were able to replace the old asbestos concrete pipe with PVC C-900, a thicker, more durable pipe.
The first break took approximately 24 hours to repair, while the second took approximately seven.
The second job took less time due to the knowledge of the area the shops gained from the first job, said Staff Sgt. Matt Altfillisch, 20th CES heavy equipment operator craftsman. During the first job the crew discovered two gas lines parallel to the broken water main.
“When you’re digging you don’t necessarily know if you’re hitting a line, root or a piece of debris that someone backfilled in there,” said Altfillisch. “It’s a little challenging, you’re always trying to go slow. Like the old adage: slow is steady, steady is fast.”
During the slow and steady dig, water and fuel systems personnel brought three water buffalos, trailers capable of towing 525 gallons of potable water, into base housing for the residents.
The Airmen worked day and night, even voluntarily staying after their shift to get the job done.
“I feel like if you’re out there and you’re working, you feel good when the job’s over,” said Senior Airman Jeffrey Pope, water and fuel systems journeyman and one of the Airmen who stayed behind. “If we wouldn’t have fixed [the pipes] people wouldn’t have had water. It would’ve flooded an entire area.”
Although repairs have been made, Shaw recently received $6 million to replace the old water pipes to prevent future breaks.
After the water and fuel systems personnel have replaced the pipes, the Dirt Boyz bring in a dump truck to refill the area and walk back to their trucks muddy and tired, but relieved.
| Date Taken: | 08.23.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 08.24.2016 14:08 |
| Story ID: | 208052 |
| Location: | SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 15 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 20th CES restores water to base residents, by SSgt Destinee Sweeney, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT