By MARK MAYNARD, Kentucky Today
JACKSON, Ky. (KT) – For most everyone in the United States, clean water is a given. Turn on the faucet and out it comes. Ready for drinking, cooking and cleaning.
Because of sweeping floods that knocked out water pumps or forced lines to be shut off because of repairing broken lines, it was no longer a given in parts of eastern Kentucky last week.
Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief was ready to assist in those needs with the maiden voyage of a water purification system that has cleaned thousands of gallons of water this week, providing safe water to hundreds.
They have given out 600 to 700 gallons to individuals and supplied clean water to the Disaster Relief kitchen trailer for cooking and cleaning, too. It has been a successful first mission for the water purification system.
“We do take it for granted,” said Ken Wheatley, the Blue Hat leader of the water purification system, of having clean water. “We’re happy to give them clean, safe water.”
The water purification system consists of three 300-gallon tanks, Wheatley said, which take about 30 minutes to fill. The city water system in Jackson kept a line open to supply water, but it needed to be cleaned. There is still a boil water order issued.
“Right before we arrived on Sunday, Karen Smith (the White Hat leader) said they had turned all the water off in the town for repairs,” he said. “It was all unsafe. FEMA said you have to leave this one section turned on because they have to have that water to purify.”
Ron Crow, director of the Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief, said the water filtration would need to be there as long as the area has a boil water order.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s an incredible system,” he said. “I don’t know how we could have functioned without it in our feeding operations. We’re blessed to have it, especially one that has produced as much as this one does.”
Wheatley runs the water through the filtration system, which includes developing a chlorine gas that’s introduced to the water. They also run it through a charcoal filter to capture anything that may have seeped into the city water system. “That’s why we’re here because the water has been compromised,” he said.
The first day they arrived on Tuesday a total of 900 gallons was purified, Wheatley said. The purifying system includes saltwater and a 12-volt car battery that produces the gaseous chlorine that is 5 to 10 times stronger than what is used for swimming pools.
They test the water regularly, similar to what is done for swimming pools, until it settles at two parts per million (2ppm). It starts at 5ppm, which will kill any bacteria that could cause illness. It is safe for use at 2ppm, he said.
They have given water to individuals through 2.2-gallon silver mylar bags and also have filled sanitized plastic bottles to hand out. Water is also funneled to a kitchen that has supplied more than 6,000 meals already.
Wheatley said the water filtration system has worked well but there’s always room for improvement. He said he’d give a grade of a “B or B-plus” for the week so far.
“We’re doing everything we can,” he said. “The first time out is always a learning experience. It’s just little things. We have all the essentials we have to have and were trained for and trained with. (But) like supplying water to the kitchen trailer and to a wash station for washing utensils, we use a small one-horsepower booster pump to give them some water pressure. The next time I’ll have a bigger backup pump.”
Wheatley understands water purification so well that one of the Disaster Relief workers dubbed him “Aquaman” but truthfully, he has done many other duties through his time with Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief. Clean water is a passion for him, perhaps because of a mission trip to Ghana in 2011 when he helped a team set up a water purification system for a village there.
It’s not uncommon for third-world countries to struggle with clean water and helping that village was something that has stayed with him. He said before the system was installed, they were drinking water from mud puddles with many contracting illnesses and disease.
“We taught them how to use it and made sure they understood how it worked,” he said. “We put someone in charge from that village. It was their job to take ownership and maintain it every day.”
Crow said stories like Wheatley’s are common with the passion that comes from working with Disaster Relief.
“The beauty is, they usually have an interest in something like that that comes from somewhere or an experience in their life. When they realize they can use that giftedness for training for a ministry like this, it lights a fire that can’t be quenched. That generates the passion.”
Wheatley says providing anybody clean water can certainly open the door for a gospel message and “that’s the No. 1 reason for doing all this, spreading the gospel and helping people in need. The water and feeding open the door into the community to meet people where they are. It might be people who never stepped foot in a church door. God takes you where you’re needed.”
Wheatley, who lives in Switzer, Ky., near the Franklin-Scott County line, said he would remain in Jackson as long as clean water was needed.
“This is the first time we’ve had had it out in the field and we’re excited about it,” he said. “We trained on it and built it 10-plus years ago, I guess, and we’re finally getting it out. I hate when we have to use it because that means people are in great need. But that’s what it’s for.”
He said people throughout the Jackson area have come to thank them for the water and the food. “People are very, very appreciative and we’re happy to be able to help them.”
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