Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Brad Miller | U.S. Army Reserve Soldier, Spc. Thomas Watkins, a water treatment specialist, with the...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. - As the southern sun hangs high on a sweltering North Carolina summer day, it has never been more evident: water is the lifeblood of America’s Reserve Soldiers. As part of Quartermaster Liquid Logistics Exercise 2018 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina July 14-28 2018, water purification specialists of the Army Reserve are pumping that lifeblood Soldiers need to perform in the scorching heat of the South.
If the water purification system is the heart and water distribution system is the vein, then these Soldiers are the surgeons. The 326th Quartermaster Company, from Newcastle, Pennsylvania and the 431st Water Purification Detachment, from Winterville, North Carolina, understand the importance of providing clean potable water for drinking, cooking, showers and laundry.
They draw water directly from a raw natural source using a pump and then filter out contaminants that make the water unsafe for consumption.
“Our unit specializes in turning that lake into clean water,” says Sgt. 1st Class Jessica Miller, a water purification supervisor with the 326th QM CO. “We clean it using a Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Unit (ROWPU), adding chlorine as a disinfectant and this process removes any kind of solid debris and any kind of dissolved metals that might be in the water. This is the same process used by professional companies. If you drink ROWPU water, you’re drinking the same quality of water that you buy in the store.”
The water pump draws approximately 1,500 gallons of water per hour allowing the unit to process up to 30,000 gallons of water a day. According to Miller, the team uses a planning factor of eight gallons of water per Soldier, so they are able to far exceed the required standard.
Once the ROWPU has filtered purified the water, the water is then pumped down the hill to the 20,000-gallon bag operated by the 431st, where these Soldiers store and distribute the water to the cantonment area.
“We’re very essential,” says Spc. Thomas Watkins, a water purification specialist from Greenville, North Carolina, “Without us, you can’t get drinking water, showers and clean uniforms!”
Watkins, who has been a water purification specialist for eight years, recognizes that his team plays a crucial part in the system. Watkins and his crew lay and maintain the hoses, or the “veins” that distribute the water to the training areas and the powerful pump that runs it all. The 609-C Water Pumping Assembly can pump 600 gallons per minute for up to 10 miles.
Watkins says, the biggest challenge they had to overcome was meeting their deadline to have the hoses run due to a breakdown of their forklift. Thankfully, they were able to borrow a forklift from the 597th QM Co., who operates the laundry facility for QLLEX. They worked late into the night, but Watkins says they achieved their mission and feel the pride of a job well done because they know that if they didn’t complete their mission, the “body” would not be able to function.
Watkins says he enjoys when his unit attends their annual training exercises, like QLLEX, because the real-world training is beneficial to ensure that his team is ready if they are called upon to deploy.
“When we come out here, we can actually lay our stuff out on the ground the way we need to,” says Watkins. “There is no way we could do that in Winterville. We have hoses that are 500 feet long and where are we going to get 20,000 gallons of water? This is a great exercise for the new Soldiers.”
| Date Taken: | 07.16.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.19.2018 20:14 |
| Story ID: | 284951 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Hometown: | ELKINS, WV, US |
| Hometown: | GREENVILLE, NC, US |
| Hometown: | NEW CASTLE, PA, US |
| Hometown: | WINTERVILLE, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 303 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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