Army produces fresh potable water for devastated Banda Aceh

By Pte Shannon Joyce, Directorate Defence Newspapers - filed 03 January 2005

HUNDREDS of soldiers from across the ADF have been recalled from Christmas leave to support urgent disaster relief operations in the most devastated regions of tsunami-affected Indonesia.

Soldiers from 1 Combat Engineer Regiment (1CER) at Robertson Barracks in the Northern Territory were warned of a possible deployment to the disaster zone within hours of the tragedy's occurrence, Commander 1 Brigade Brigadier John Cantwell said.

"A warning order was issued to our soldiers within hours of the disaster, and we've been carrying out detailed planning since," he said.

Within days 10 engineers from the Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force established a water purification plant in Banda Aceh with a capacity of producing up to 20,000 litres per hour of potable drinking water, with an estimate of 320,000 litres available per day.

Banda Aceh's main supply of water had been contaminated since the Boxing Day tsunamis, so producing clean drinking water to prevent the spread of disease was an essential task.

WO2 Allan Lewis from 1CER who was deployed on the relief operation in Banda Aceh was on-hand at the water issuing point, to demonstrate to locals that the water was safe and clean.

The water was distributed to the local residents in 10 litre containers.

View video of the water purification operation here and here. View related imagery here.