100th CES mixes 'oil and water'

  • Published
  • By Gina Randall
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Keeping RAF Mildenhall's drinking water clean and safe as well as essential fuel pipes well maintained is all in a day's work for the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron Water and Fuels Maintenance shop.

The water and fuels maintenance shop works with other shops and squadrons at RAF Mildenhall. The 100th CES has many different specialties including heating, ventilation and air conditioning, electrical and heavy equipment. They also work with the 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron Petroleum, Oils and Lubricants fuel operators who call the water and fuels maintenance shop to come out if anything is broken.

"We maintain the fuel systems that clean, store and pump fuel to refuel the aircraft; the operator calls and we come and fix them," said Airman 1st Class Andrew Burdette, 100th CES Water and Fuels Maintenance journeyman from Victorville, Calif., who has been in the Air Force since December 2010, and has been stationed at RAF Mildenhall for 18 months.

The shop also maintains base property with water. Every water system in the base buildings with a tap is maintained by Burdette's team.

As a water and fuels maintenance journeyman, Burdette manages the plumbing, buildings and pipework around the base.

The water and fuels maintenance shop is made up of both Ministry Of Defence and military personnel working together to ensure the water is safe each day, and utilizes the skills of plumbers and technicians.

"We keep the base 100-percent operational at all times," Burdette said, explaining the shop's mission.

Burdette's shop affects everyone on base. They work with the fire department to maintain their systems, or call the fire department to watch over a building if a fire system is down.
The water and fuels maintenance shop is vital to the emergency services on base, as well as every person on base drinking the water, which comes from an aquifer running beneath the base.

"A well pulls underground water, which we then pump out to rest of the base," Burdette said.

A daily check is performed on drinking water to test chlorine levels. Solids and minerals in the water are also tested. Burdette carries out daily checks on pH levels, to determine how acidic or alkaline the drinking water is.

"(A level of) 7.5 is what we look for; it's the ideal," Burdette said, explaining that if the pH is above or below that figure, they have different chemicals to bring it to the ideal level.

If the shop finds contaminated water, there are plans and programs in place to deal with the situation. They follow a water contingency response plan, which is a step-by-step plan of what to do if a situation occurs where a water supply has been tampered with. They are concerned if an unauthorized person had access.

"It tells us who to call, who to inform. The emergency management policy is to test water and find out what exactly happened," the Victorville, Calif., native said. "We instantly isolate everything; no contamination would make it out of the water plant."

Inspections are a huge part of the shop's role in order to ensure the water is safe every day. Water is inspected every morning before being pumped out to the towers for base use. The 48th Aerospace Medicine Squadron Bioenvironmental Engineering flight at RAF Lakenheath also makes periodic inspections of the water here at RAF Mildenhall.

"Fire suppression systems are inspected annually. We trip the fire system, to make sure it does what it is meant to," Burdette said.

Burdette's team also deals with the wastewater.

The wastewater goes into sloping sewer lines which are gravity fed. Once it gets down to 20 feet, the lines can't slope so large pits contain the wastewater deeper in the ground. At a certain level it gets pumped out to a higher-level pipe. The water is fed into a pressurized sewer-line which then goes to a sewer plant in Beck Row, where it is treated for ammonia nitrates and solids get taken out.

"It gets treated down to a safe level so it can be released back into the environment. It is so clean it gets down to a reclaimed state," Burdette said.

The shop then pumps it out into a stream off-base which feeds the wildlife and trickles down to ground water, when it's clean enough to go back into the environment, so it can start its cycle again.

They are a 9-to-5 shop, but always have someone on standby. Due to manning shortages, they are a minimized shop but always have people available to deal with any kind of emergency response. An organization can't operate without water for long, so Burdette and his team are vital to the base population. From the water used to wash hands, safe water to drink after a work-out in the gym, to water used to keep planes in the air-Team Mildenhall needs the water and fuels maintenance shop.

For more information, contact 238-7330.