Photo By Staff Sgt. Melissa Bright | In this image released by the Texas Army National Guard, water trucks transport water...... read more read more
BAGHDAD—The men and women serving in Iraq, civilian and military, are dependent on many things from outside sources, but none are more vital to their survival in the harsh environment they find themselves than an easily locatable and potable water source.
Throughout military history, the vast majority of casualties in war have been from disease and non-battle injury. This loss of manpower can be drastically reduced by ensuring that soldiers have adequate supplies of potable water.
— Field Manual 10—52
Water Supply in Theaters of Operations Uses for Potable and Non-potable Water
Potable
• Drinking
• Heat treatment (cold water
and ice for troops)
• Personal hygiene (shaving, and cleaning of equipment, daily sponge washing, brushing)
• Food preparation
• Medical staff and equipment
cleaning
• Hospital medical treatment
Non-potable
• Centralized hygiene (showering)
• Laundering
• Preparation of human remains equipment
• Nuclear, biological, teeth
and chemical decontamination
• Vehicle maintenance
• Aircraft washing
• Engineer construction
In addition to being a primary part of physical survival, there is significant evidence that soldiers benefit psychologically from the comfort of being able to step into a hot shower after a long day on foot-patrol or officework.
What few people understand, though, is how we get that life-giving substance so far from home and where we get it from.
In 2005, KBR installed a reverse osmosis water processing unit on Camp Prosperity as part of a government contract. The intent was to use local water from the Tigris as a way to reduce the strain on military security personnel needed for its transportation from Kuwait and the added expense from the logistics involved.
The ROWPU system's primary purpose is to extract bulk water from almost any source, purify it using a series of media separator filters and chemical cleaners and dispense it for consumption.
The water running from the faucets in the bathrooms may originate from the Tigris River, deep in the heart of Iraq, but by the time it reaches consumer hands, it is transformed into something you would find in Everytown, USA.
As Phillip Barry, from Goodwater, Al., puts it, "Quality means something to us, and I mean we give you the best possible product available anywhere, not just here."
"The water comes into the plant and goes through three different processes to get it ready for use," explains Barry, five-year veteran of KBR's Prosperity ROWPU.
Several pumps pull the water from the reservoir on the camp and push it through a series of filters.
The size of particulate matter removed is successively reduced until it is smaller, going from 5 microns (smaller than a human hair) to 50 microns (smaller than bacteria).
Once the filtration is completed it is treated chemically to strict Food and Drug Administration guidelines.
The treatment of water is necessary to prevent various waterborne diseases, such as typhoid and dysentery. The processes are in place to ensure certain chemical and physical characteristics of water, such as hardness or the reduction of unpleasant taste.
The function of a water treatment facility is not to simply make water safe for consumption, or even increase palatability and make it 'good to the last drop'. There is also the need to prevent scale from forming, which can clog lines in Prosperity's pipe system and increase maintenance issues. This makes it suitable for additional uses, for example the new laundry facilities being constructed here.
The water, once filtered, treated and put through the reverse osmosis process is then pumped into large 50,000 gallon storage tanks.
The 24-hour operation pushes out about 90 trucks a day, filling the 210 storage tanks that dot the FOB for use in everything from the DFAC to the latrines and shower trailers.
Money and space aside, the processing plant exists for the people that live and work here every day. "We work hard to make every drop count," said one of Barry's fellow KBR contractor, Idriz Matoshi.
David Johnson, Camp Prosperity's deputy project manager of operations for KBR, addressed the question of how the drawdown of American troops will affect the usage of the ROWPU in this location.
"The drawdown means a consolidation of assets, not the total removal. Eventually this FOB will be turned over to the Iraqis but until then we still have an obligation to provide the best quality product and the ROWPU does just that."
| Date Taken: | 04.02.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2010 10:03 |
| Story ID: | 47599 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 429 |
| Downloads: | 283 |
This work, Desert Dilemma: Got Water?, by SSG Melissa Bright, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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