Fort Drum has mobilized water efforts and has clean, safe, drinking water set up at each of the water distribution sites in the city.
Myah C. Gilbert, whose rank at Fort Drum is Chief 1 Officer 2, and who serves as the petroleum and water systems technician, said the military base will be providing the city with two vehicles that will carry 2,000 gallons’ worth of water at each of the water distribution sites in Watertown.
The sites include Watertown High School, the Fairgrounds, and at the corner of State Street and Eastern Boulevard.
Gilbert said the vehicle they use can be used as either a storage system, or for situations like this.
Once the vehicles get to a certain capacity, they will have a system where water will be rotated through.
“There will not be a time where there’s no water here,” she said.
Fort Drum also has a tactical water purification system, or TWPS, that is on standby and could be used if needed.
The TWPS system would purify the water instantly, and then either put it into a civilian tank or a military tank and push it out to places that currently have tanks.
The water on the tanks coming from Fort Drum is from the military base.
The vehicles will also be staying at the sites with a guard.
Gilbert said she first heard about the situation Thursday morning, but got a call around 12:30 p.m. to learn there was going to be a meeting at 1 p.m. to address the situation and set a game plan.
They got together at 3 p.m., got the plan, and told the units what they would be doing.
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