Marines from Engineer Support Company, 6th Engineer Support Battalion, worked to purify saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean at a remote site on the beach here May 24 during Exercise African Lion 2011.
The Battle Creek, Mich., based unit used a Tactical Water Purification System to purify the raw water from the ocean into water safe for Marines to use for drinking, cooking and showering.
“Hygiene water and clean, safe drinking water are critical for troop health, especially with all this movement in this hot desert,” said Staff Sgt. Matthew Kimball, a utilities chief with ESC, referring to Marines constantly traveling back and forth between the main living support area and the training areas.
The trailer-sized TWPS sucks in water from the ocean then processes it through seven different pumps. It employs six micro filters and reverse osmosis to ensure no dirt particles slip through the machine.
“It’s basically like turning a big molecule into a smaller molecule,” described Lance Cpl. Nicholas Robison, a basic water support technician.
Marines feed sodium disulfite into the machine and chlorine to kill bacteria, as another layer of safety. By the time the water gets to the 20,000 gallon bladder storing it, any doubt of drinkability is quickly removed by its clearness and transparency. The ocean water that wore a dirt brown color becomes undressed.
“It feels great to have clean water to shower with,” said Cpl. Dennis Mancia, a wire chief with 6th Communications Battalion, who experienced a week of no running water before ESC Marines started purifying water.
During African Lion, ESC Marines were also able learn about the conditions of their trade such as necessary tide levels of the ocean. The 6th ESC Marines further familiarized themselves with the TWPS and gained practice fixing maintenance issues that arose.
“I like it out here, I’m learning to work the TWPS because this wasn’t what we used in military occupational skill school,” said Sgt. Elizabeth Prombo, a basic water support technician and a native of Morrison, Ill.
Marines participating in the field training exercise of African Lion utilize between seven and 12 thousand gallons of water a day. So far, the Marines have purified more 74,000 gallons of seawater to support the exercise.
African Lion is an annually scheduled, bilateral exercise between the Kingdom of Morocco and the U.S. that involves more than 2,000 U.S. service members and approximately 900 members of the Royal Moroccan armed forces. African Lion is the largest exercise within the U.S. Africa Command area of responsibility and is designed to promote interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation’s military tactics, techniques and procedures.