Daily Water Testing Critical to BDF’s FMF Operations

BDF Media Release| 19 June 19

Photography credit: Lieutenant S Gollop

The Barbados Defence Force (BDF) Field Medical Facility (FMF) is tested daily to ensure that it meets the Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization standards for a Type One Facility. Health and Safety Officers, Officer Cadet (OCdt)Sherish McCaskie, and Fazal Mohammed, run tests daily at the FMF.

“We are ensuring that the water is good for the camp. We are assessing it three times a day to ensure that we are maintaining good standards for consumption. We want to ensure that persons are abiding by good standards while we are here,” Mr, Mohammed said. He explained that they were testing for chemicals in terms of the microbial, physical and radiological aspects.

The Health and Safety Officer explained that testing was done using two kits. The first, looked at free chlorine testing and total chlorine testing which gave a chemical analysis of the water to indicate how much chlorine it contained.  In addition, the water is also monitored for its hardness and to determine how pure it is for consumption.

OCdt McCaskie explained that the “hardness” of the water could affect its smell, the ability of clothes to get soapy when washing and the temperature at which water boils.

The team will be in place for the duration of EX TW19 to ensure the water quality is maintained to a high standard.

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