LESSON 1
INTRODUCTION TO MILITARY WATER SUPPLY
Section 1. GENERAL
1-1.
IMPORTANCE OF WATER
a. Uses. No commodity finds so many uses in all lifestyles as does water. The
following are some of the principal uses of water:
(1)
Drinking.
(2) Personal hygiene (brushing teeth and shaving) centralized hygiene
(showering), cooking, laundering, car washing, gardening, and so forth.
(3) Hospital medical treatment, construction, and industrial use
to include virtually all kinds of manufacturing, distiIIing, brewing, mining, and so forth.
(4). Recreational use such as: swimming, fishing, boating, and so forth.
(5) Safety factors such as: Nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC)
decontaminating and fire fighting, and so forth.
b. Military Importance. Safe water in sufficient amounts is essential to an
army. Polluted and bacterial-ridden water can cause an army to lose its effectiveness.
Take for instance, Rommel, who just before a major tank battle with General Patton,
contracted dysentery and had to fight it from a hospital bed. Had his water been
properly treated, his men may have won the battle with him there. However, untreated
water can spread diseases and infections. Cholera, typhoid, and paratyphoid fevers,
bacillary dysentery, leptospirosis, and common diarrhea are a few of the diseases. In
certain areas, water may also transmit infectious hepatitis, schistosomiasis (snail fever),
amebic dysentery, and coliform bacteria (feces). Because units lack the capability of
testing water for the presence of coliform bacteria, it must be tested, treated, and
disinfected before distribution and use.
1-2.
BASIC TERMINOLOGY
a. Potable Water. Potable water is water that is safe for human consumption.
Potable water is free from pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganisms, poisonous
substances, and excessive amounts of mineral and organic matter, and chemical,
MD0160
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