The reactor department aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) works countless hours keeping the ship running and operational. Of their many essential jobs, one in particular sometimes flies under the radar.

The desalinization process creates potable water that is safe to drink for crew members and is important in maintaining mission readiness and habitability throughout the ship.

"We have four distilling units on board which are used for making sea water into potable water," said Machinist's Mate 2nd Class Joel Cogan, a water control watch stander.

"Sea water gets sucked up, and then gets flash boiled into steam," said Lt. Daniel Sanchez, Abraham Lincoln's reactor department RP-02 division officer. "The steam is then pumped out and condensed, so we can collect it as distilled water. Chemicals, such as chlorine, are then added to the water to make it safe to drink. It is then moved to the potable water tanks and distributed throughout the ship via potable water pumps."

Once the salt and brine are removed from the water, the natural remnants then redeposited to the sea, said Cogan. This allows the desalinization process to continue without interruptions.

This process is not something taught in the machinist mate training pipeline, so it can take a bit of time in rate to achieve the qualification.

"It takes about two years to become senior in rank and then four years to become water control watch qualified," said Cogan. "Once we are qualified, we have weekly training for four hours a week to keep us up-to-date on knowledge involving the reactor plants."

The water control watch oversees the production of more than 400,000 gallons of potable water, including water for the reactor plants, per day.

For the reactor personnel standing this watch, it's crucial to maintain accountability of the water, down to the last drop.

"We're in charge of where the water is going, where we're losing water, and making sure we're not wasting water," said Cogan.

If the ship loses too much desalinization capacity, it will not be able to keep up with the amount of water used on a daily basis for meal preparation, laundry services, hygiene and consumption. If the ship cannot create potable water, it will eventually lead to constrained water hours for the crew.

The commanding officer determines when to set water hours based on a recommendation from the engineering officer of the watch. It limits when the crew can take showers and if they're using paper plates and plastic silverware, as opposed to washable dining utensils. Mission essential tasks such as washing aircraft will not be affected by the water restrictions.

In the event the ship loses the ability to produce the necessary potable water, it is all hands on deck for reactor department to get the pump back online.



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