{"id":45393,"date":"2022-10-11T18:48:18","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T18:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/10\/11\/risks-to-drinking-water-on-post-and-on-mission-worry-army-leaders\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:51:10","slug":"risks-to-drinking-water-on-post-and-on-mission-worry-army-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2022\/10\/11\/risks-to-drinking-water-on-post-and-on-mission-worry-army-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Risks to drinking water on post and on mission worry Army leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following the rise of extreme weather events across the country, the Army is focusing on how to proactively defend one of its most critical resources \u2014 water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the annual Association of the U.S. Army conference, service leadership discussed their ongoing strategy to conserve water, protect against droughts and respond to extreme weather events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWater security is under increasing threat worldwide, facing stressors that range from poor management, to the effects of climate change,\u201d said Rachel Jacobson, the Army\u2019s assistant secretary for installations, energy and the environment. \u201cIn sum, the Army is adopting strategies to improve water installation resilience through conserving water, implementing alternative water projects and returning water back to sources through storm water and ground water management.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to leaders on the panel, severe drought conditions out West, massive flooding events like hurricanes Fiona and Ian and the clean water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, help frame how critical the service sees the need to make progress on this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversation on water resilience also comes in the midst of ongoing drinking water concerns for military families in Hawaii<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water crises could also impact how the Army conducts overseas missions. Army units in Iraq and Afghanistan depended on bottled water, local wells and reverse osmosis water purification units, but that\u2019s not always going to be available thanks to salt water intrusion into coastal areas and changing weather patterns, according to an Army War College study<\/a> from 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\t