Eielson Water Treatment Plant: The Heart of the Base

Whether you’re filling up a water bottle, using the water fountains after a workout, or simply just washing your hands, do you ever just stop to think about where it comes from?

Beneath Eielson and a large portion of the Fairbanks area lies the Tanana Valley Alluvial Aquifer that the Water Treatment Plant draws up to 2,000 gallons of raw water a minute to use across the installation. It’s up to the 354th Civil Engineer Squadron Airmen at the Water Treatment Plant to ensure this water is safe to drink before hitting your tap.

“After we bring in the water from the ground, we filter out all of the iron, manganese and other modern contaminants,” said U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Austin Kohler, 354th CES water plant operator. “We are able to bring down high levels of both contaminants and other minerals with the help of our granular activated carbon vessels.”

Because raw well water is full of dissolved minerals, operators first add a chemical compound to turn those invisible minerals into solid particles. The water then flows through greensand filters, which act like magnets to trap the solids and let the clean water pass through.

“The main process we have here at the plant is the greensand filters, without them we wouldn’t be able to remove the hardness from the water,” said Heath Willis, 354th CES water plant operator.

Next comes the most critical step: removing modern contaminants. The water enters massive granular activated carbon, or GAC vessels. Each vessel holds 40,000 pounds of highly porous carbon that acts like a super-sponge to pull modern contaminates out of the water.

“The main process we have here is the GAC vessels, which help take out all of the hardness from the water,” said Willis. “When the process is over, we remove about 99.9% of modern contaminates from the water, bringing it down to non-detectable levels.”

The purified water is then sent to two massive underground storage containers, also known as a clearwell storage systems, ensuring the base never runs out of water even during high demand.

However, the job isn't quite done. The team, alongside Bioenvironmental Engineering, constantly tests the water for over 80 contaminants to ensure it meets or exceeds Environmental Protection Agency standards. They also make a few final additions for public health before the water leaves the plant.

“We gradually pull the water out of storage, and before we send it out for distribution, we inject a small amount of chlorine into it for disinfection,” said Kohler. “On top of that, we also add orthophosphate to ensure the pipes stay clean and fluoride for the dental health of people living on base.”

As the final step, water is pushed out from the plant at 65 pounds per square inch through a massive network of underground pipes, from then it heads to every dorm, home and facility on the installation.

For the operators at the water treatment plant, providing safe and reliable drinking water isn't just a daily task, it's how they fuel the base from the ground up.

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