War Against Water

Inspection of a non-potable water storage tank during a warrior exercise. Figure taken from http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-us-army-sgt-1st-class-hugo-romero-left-and-master-sgt-david-gonzalez-129530861.html  

 

A major and less thought about concern in the military is access to water on the field. Since contingency operations are more often occurring in places where the fresh water supply is scarce, the idea of reusing non-potable gray water may be a good option to help the sustainability of missions. The non-potable water reuse would provide water for showers, vehicle washing, heat-casualty cooling, and laundry. There are currently no health-based guidelines to protect the armed forces from waterborne gastrointestinal pathogens that cause widespread illnesses such as cholera. The microbial pathogen, Vibrio cholerae, can be detrimental to a mission and has the potential to cause fatalities if adequate treatment is not available or limited. The goal of this study was to take a step into creating exposure guidelines for pathogens of this nature into water reuse protocols to protect our soldiers and allow them to fight the real war.


Original article: Annetta P. Watson, Anthony Q. Armstrong, George H. White, Brandolyn H. Thran, Health-based ingestion exposure guidelines for Vibrio cholerae: Technical basis for water reuse applications, Science of The Total Environment, Volumes 613–614, 1 February 2018, Pages 379-387.