Tyndall's Silver Flag creates own drinking water

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Reel
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Tyndall's Silver Flag produces its own water supply using reverse osmosis water purification units.

The ROWPUs are purification machines that filter any source of water into drinking water. The site emulates a bare-based concept, which has the minimum essential facilities to house and sustain, as well as support operations. These operations, if required, include the following: a stabilized runway, taxiways, and aircraft parking areas. A bare base must also have a source of water that can be made potable.

"With the ROWPUs in place at Silver Flag, students can use salt water from the Bay and turn it into drinking water," said Tech. Sgt. Scott Heldt, Det. 1, 823rd RED HORSE water and fuels system cadre. "We teach the students how to operate the system for when they are in a deployed theatre or placed in an area affected by a natural disaster.

"The students will have the knowledge to operate the machine and provide drinking water to the installation or to those in need.

The machine can produce approximately 1,500 gallons per hour and will operate approximately 20 hours. The additional four hours are used for maintenance and cleaning. As water is purified, it is pumped into storage bladders. Once the bags are filled, they are strategically placed around the site for use.

The students will drink the water made by the previous class, and as they learn to operate the machine, they will make the water for the class that follows them.

"Recently, the Silver Flag site was prepared to use the ROWPU water here at the main base," said Senior Master Sgt. Arthur Roy, Det. 1, 823rd RED HORSE chief executive officer. "As Hurricane Isaac was pondering its direction of impact, Silver Flag members strategically placed ROWPU water tanks in case Tyndall's water supply would be contaminated by the storm."

The cadres provide training that prepares students for real-world scenarios. By consuming the water created during the training, the students and cadres don't waste the treated water, which in turn also cuts back on the amount of drinking water consumed at Tyndall.

Silver Flag Exercise Site is home to Detachment 1, 823rd Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers. The squadron's 74-person cadre provides contingency combat support training to active duty, U.S. Air Force Reserve Command, Air National Guard, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and Allied nations' mission support group personnel. More than 4,500 people are trained each year at Silver Flag.