Water Being Delivered To Padang Residents

Clean Water Being Delivered To Padang Residents

Australian Defence Force (ADF) engineers deployed to Padang, will today begin producing enough clean water to supply up to 78,000 people in the worst hit areas.

23 soldiers from the Darwin based 1st Combat Engineer Regiment arrived in Padang yesterday with a water purification plant that can convert sea water into an emergency supply of drinking water at a rate of around 10,000 litres per hour.

The engineers have established one water purification plant on the beach of Padang and are making plans to commence operating another as soon as it arrives from Australia.

The Padang Deputy Mayor Mahyeldi, said that the locals were amazed at how the Australians could turn sea water into fresh water. “The water tasted very good. It is very good that the Australians can turn sea water into drinking water. Australia's help is very good. This is the first time we have seen this done,” Mayor Mahyeldi said.

“Thank you to Australia. The Australian people have been very nice to help us and we will do what we can to help them while they are here.”

The Joint Task Force engineer assessment team commander, Major Brent Maddock, said that AusAid had facilitated a coordinated approach with local water authorities, French and German agencies and the ADF to resolve the town’s water distribution problems.

“AusAid has been essential in coordinating this combined approach to solving one of the most pressing problems the city faces,” Major Maddock said.

“Our water purification plant capability along with the water dispersion equipment of the French and the water testing ability of the Germans means we will be able to improve the availability of water to those who need it by at least 400 percent.”

The earthquake caused considerable damage to a water supply station that serviced 60 percent of the city’s water supply. Running water has not been available in the poorest region of the city since the earthquake and people are currently accessing water from open canals and rivers.

To provide some clean water, the local water authority has been using twenty 4,000 litre water trucks to transport water from outlying supply stations that have not been damaged. Water is being delivered to twenty 2,000 litre water tanks that have been located around the city for residents to access.

Keeping up with demand has proven difficult with the trucks running twenty hours a day and having to travel a large distance with a small amount of water.

The combined response from Australia, France and Germany will see the distance water has to be transported reduced considerably and more water tanks distributed throughout the community.

“Advance parties have identified locations for an extra 30 water tanks around the city that will be provided by France and Germany,” Major Maddock said.

“These will be placed right in the areas that need them the most and will be close to the purification plant to reduce transportation times.”

The rapid deployment of this capability is another example of Australia’s ability to help its neighbours when called for.

One day was spent assessing what was needed to provide a clean water system to the city, followed by half a day fine tuning and coordinating equipment requirements.

Twelve hours later equipment was on an aircraft bound for Padang and just hours after arriving on location, the water purification plant was up and running.

The purification plants are operated by an eight person team and can provide 200,000 litres of clean water each day, running 24 hours a day and are fully self sufficient.

Arriving with the water purification plants were two engineering specialists who will be assessing how to repair the damaged water supply station. The station suffered damage to water pipes which are being repaired by the local water authorities. However, the station remains structurally unstable.

Once this supply station is repaired and functioning, local authorities will be able to determine what other damage has been done to the water supply system that supplies a large majority of the towns’ water.

ENDS

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