Aged water system
infrastructure
a growing problem at bases in Europe
By Kevin Dougherty,
Stars and Stripes
Raymond T. Conway / Stars and Stripes
Jurgen Kreuzer, an employee at one of the Air Force's water treatment plants in
Kaiserslautern, Germany, gathers a sample of water from a U.S. military base to be tested
for chlorine. |
Military housing areas in Europe possess most of the attributes of everyday
neighborhood life in the States. There are homes and schools, lawns and barbecue grills,
playgrounds and parking woes.
That’s the view from above. But what lies below is equally expansive — and
expensive.
Under the soil and paved streets are massive networks of water pipes that stretch for
many miles in some military communities in Europe.
Considering that most of these systems went underground when President Eisenhower
occupied the White House, one could look past an occasional wrinkle in the old armor. The
problem is that the creases are cracking at an alarming rate.
“The system is so old,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian Martin, a water plant
worker in Kaiserslautern, Germany. “That’s the problem.”
While documents show that the majority of U.S. military installations in Europe are in
compliance with both Environmental Protection Agency and military standards for water
quality, the pipes transporting the water are failing. And many water wells and treatment
plants are showing their age as well.
“We know what we have to do,” said Lt. Col. David Winkler, who heads the
786th Civil Engineer Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.
It boils down to one word: overhaul.
Pipes pose problems
The Kaiserslautern community, which includes Ramstein, isn’t the only community in
hot water. Across the theater, community officials face mounting problems with aging water
systems, a fair number of which date to the 1950s.
Up and down the line, old pipes can jeopardize water quality because they tend to
corrode, releasing particles of lead, copper and other matter into the water that flows
out of your faucet.
The sorry state of some water distribution systems came to light while Stars and
Stripes was evaluating the quality of drinking water at U.S. military bases in Europe.
With the help of an independent German lab in Darmstadt, the review indicated that, on
the whole, the quality of the water supplied to military housing areas is good. That
assessment was based on water samples taken from 10 locations that then were tested by the
company, Chemisch Analytisches Laboratorium, for elevated levels of lead and copper. Only
one of 30 samples exceeded the standard.
Raymond T. Conway / Stars and Stripes
Decades of use can leave water pipes with nasty coats of rust. This pipe was from the
culinary kitchen at Sembach Air Base, Germany. |
Lead and copper were tested because high levels of either expose pregnant women,
infants and children to serious health problems.
“This snapshot shows you don’t have big problems with lead or copper,”
said Walter Hempe, one of the lab’s senior partners.
But based on data and reports provided by U.S. military officials in Europe, what
became readily apparent was the deteriorating state of water distribution systems.
Officials from all three services acknowledged in interviews that such degradation is
representative of the general decline of the infrastructure at many bases.
Help is on the way, however.
Congress is pledging to spend a few billion dollars over the next decade on housing and
other renovations, though military officials say it will take years to patch things up.
“You can’t do it all at once, obviously, or otherwise everybody would be
living on the (local) economy,” said Army Lt. Col. Brian Jost, the construction chief
for U.S. Army Europe’s housing division.
The Navy is roughly in the same boat as the Army and Air Force in terms of capital
improvements, although it has fewer plants and less miles of pipes to maintain. Over the
last few years, the command has been hammering away with success at some problem areas,
such as in Naples, Italy.
“We hope we are addressing a lot of the problems that are inherent with aging
facilities,” said Dan Hayes, the environmental program manager for U.S. Naval Forces
Europe.
U.S. Air Forces in Europe was candid about the state of its water systems, releasing
several reports and dozens of pages of documents. Much of the information was gleaned from
the preliminary findings of an independent review by CH2MHill, a U.S.-based engineering
firm. The company, which should complete its work sometime next year, is looking at about
a dozen USAFE bases, assessing the operations, maintenance and training practices at each
water treatment plant.
David Budak, one of USAFE’s foremost experts on water, said the review has so far
validated what the command has been telling the Air Force staff back in Washington with
respect to its infrastructure.
When the Cold War ended a decade ago, the infrastructure was already old, Budak said,
but the commitment and cash to improve the situation wasn’t there because of
uncertainty over the drawdown. With the dust settled, it has become increasingly clear
that many USAFE bases need a major face lift, both above and below the surface, he said.
“Infrastructure (costs) are staggering,” Budak said. “But if you look at
a lot of the cities across the [United States], they’re facing the same
problems.”
Some of the findings
The preliminary on-site evaluation reports by CH2MHill reveal the degree to which
infrastructure and monitoring problems could undermine the integrity of some USAFE water
systems. These reports dealt primarily with Germany. Preliminary reports on systems in the
United Kingdom and Italy should be finished in the next several weeks.
Among the findings in the earlier reports:
- Substandard documentation and record keeping at some plants.
- A lack of adequate equipment at Ramstein to conduct water quality tests for such things
as bacteria, lead and copper, and no equipment at Spangdahlem Air Base to measure water
flow and reservoir water levels.
- Old and failing water reservoirs serving Vogelweh and Spangdahlem in Germany.
- Limited security at some facilities, one of which is a frequent target of vandals. Such
mischief calls into question “the security of the (water) supply.”
- Refurbished wells that sometimes don’t operate because of technical difficulties.
- Persistent corrosion problems at one Vogelweh plant. The water meets the prescribed
standards but its “color and taste” are widely unpopular.
- Long delays “in ordering chemicals for routine water quality analysis” at
Ramstein.
- Wells in Germany and Spain that are vulnerable to contamination from pesticides and
fertilizers due to nearby farming.
Since the first round of preliminary reports were cultivated last summer, some
deficiencies have been addressed, according to Air Force officials. Other issues will take
time, money and public assurances.
At Ramstein Air Base, for example, CH2MHill’s initial report last summer took note
of the low opinion some residents have when it comes to their tap water.
“For a water treatment system, servicing (about) 20,000 people, the overall
impression that water supply has not been given the highest priority and attention it
warrants, prevails,” the report stated.
Not all aspects of the preliminary reports drafted last year were so critical.
While there were concerns about the level of training and certification in respect to
some plant operators, the authors gave military and civilian staffers high marks for their
cooperation and openness.
The most favorable report went to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. In fact, the evaluator
seemed to be groping for enough demerits to round out his report. The last criticism read:
“The floor in the filter room is constantly wet and creates a slipping hazard. The
tiles don’t have a nonslip coat.”
Fixes can be complex
Like the Air Force, the Army is ripping up streets and tearing down walls to replace
aging water pipes.
Of primary concern to Jost are the interior pipes that officials believe are largely
responsible for the foul water that can stain a plate or ruin a shirt in the wash.
“Most of the lead problems occur not in the (outside) main pipes, but inside,
where stagnant water sits next to some lead component, such as a valve,” Jost said.
According to Jost, U.S. Army Europe currently has about 23,000 government-operated
apartments. By the end of its $1.7 billion renovation program, due to be completed in
2010, the number of apartments should drop to about 21,680. Accounting for the drop is a
plan to expand some apartments to accommodate larger families and the closure this summer
of the military community in Bad Kreuznach, Germany.
There are Army and Air Force communities with persistent water problems that won’t
see a dime’s worth of renovation work.
In the case of Bad Kreuznach, too many water samples last summer exceeded the minimum
standards for lead, copper and nitrates. According to the Final Governing Standards in
Germany — a criteria based on U.S. and host nation environmental guidelines —
alarms sound whenever a base drops below the 90 percent threshold.
For Bad Kreuznach, it’s way too late for a fix due to its pending closure.
While moderate exposure to these elements generally poses no lasting danger to adults,
local officials are encouraging high-risk individuals, especially children and pregnant
women, to take precautionary steps. They include letting cold tap water run for a few
minutes before cooking with it or drinking it. In addition, a water distribution point has
been established near the health clinic.
Thirty minutes from Bad Kreuznach is Rhein-Main Air Base.
It, too, is closing, though not until 2005.
And it, too, has battled to keep levels of lead and copper in check. Sometimes the fix
is relatively simple.
“We’re only talking about the water that sits in the fixtures — not in
the main water lines,” Axel Grell, a base environmental specialist, said in a written
statement. “If you flush that through for a minute, there’s no lead or copper in
the water. Even if you don’t flush, which you should, the levels are very low.”
While it will take years to completely overhaul some of the distribution systems in
USAFE, Budak said there are other ways to improve the quality of the drinking water.
He maintains that better trained plant operators can significantly improve the quality
of water at the opposite end of the line.
Another option now available to plant operators is a polyphosphate that coats the
inside of pipes with a light film. The polyphosphate essentially seals in contaminants
that otherwise might get swept away on a current as water gushes through the line.
Sometimes called by its commercial name, Aqua Mag, the sequestering agent buys facility
operators time until a crew can get around to replacing the deteriorating line.
Innovative agents, such as this bonding ingredient, will go a long way toward extending
the life of these subterranean veins, Budak said. The man is no doctor, but he’s got
his circulatory-challenged patient figured out.
“We know what the condition of the distribution system is,” Budak said.
“I don’t need anyone to tell me that.”
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