Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Far East joins municipalities in North America to celebrate National Public Works Week May 21-27.

Navy public works departments (PWD) perform many jobs at installations that are critical for accomplishing missions and maintaining a high quality of life for sailors, civilians, and their families.

"This year, we want to highlight the public works connection to directly supporting the warfighter and fleet operations," said NAVFAC Far East Commanding Officer Capt. Kevin Bartoe. "We supply power to ships in port, maintain fuel lines and facilities for aircraft and supply potable water at naval installations."

Many NAVFAC Far East projects contribute to the United States Seventh Fleet and the Third Marine Expeditionary Force.

PWD Atsugi is repairing and modernizing an industrial waste water treatment plant upstream system in buildings 1071 and 1075. This is a project to replace the water sledge separation floats in aircraft wash racks.

PWD Chinhae is working with the government of Korea to improve drinking water and wastewater quality.

PWD Diego Garcia has completed its water treatment facility, a challenging project that will bring potable water to personnel on the island.

PWD Misawa is installing backflow preventers at stations 1, 2, and 3 in Hachinohe.

PWD Okinawa is replacing the electrical distribution system at Tengan Pier. This project will replace the existing degraded overhead electrical distribution system with a more reliable and corrosion resistant underground system.

PWD Sasebo is installing a saltwater fire suppression interconnection to provide increased capability in case of a ship fire.

PWD Singapore recently completed a water line repair ensuring safe drinking water for all installation tenants.

PWD Yokosuka is replacing frequency converter No. 4 at building 1805. The frequency converter converts electricity from 50hz to 60hz and is an essential device to support U.S. Navy ships at Yokosuka.

These are just a few current examples. Last year, NAVFAC Far East public works professionals also completed 66,604 routine, emergency and project work orders.

Public Works Departments are the service delivery platform to installations and their tenant Commands. They maintain tens of thousands of components across thousands of facility and utility systems. Installation commanding officers rely on the public works department to maintain existing buildings and roads, provide electricity, water, and sanitation services, oversee the construction of new infrastructure, plan for future requirements, prioritize work based on fiscal constraints, and ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations.

National Public Works Week is promoted by the American Public Works Association with a goal of educate the general public about the value and necessities of public works projects throughout North America.


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For more news from Naval Facilities Engineering Command, visit www.navy.mil/.