SHINDAND, Afghanistan -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed construction Jan. 31 of a wastewater treatment plant on Forward Operating Base Shindand in Herat province, western Afghanistan.
The project, which was built by an Afghan-owned and operated firm with oversight by USACE, promotes sanitary conditions and good public health practices for troops and other residents of the FOB. The system can treat up to 930,000 liters of wastewater per day.
Until the plant was operational, grey and black water from showers, toilets and living areas was collected in holding tanks. Afghan contractors then pumped out the tanks and emptied the wastewater into the Afghan National Army wastewater system, which is not optimally equipped to handle the additional waste.
"The biggest advantage with this new plant is the elimination of the open sewage lagoons which remain untreated and present the greatest risk of disease transfer on the base," said Daniel D. Foltz, USACE Shindand and Farah resident engineer. "Waste water treatment is credited with removing potentially disease-causing contaminants through treatment that kills harmful organisms. This keeps disease and bacteria from entering other water sources and harming people as well as plants and animals."
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