Water and fuels systems: maintenance required

From fixing a sink or toilet to purifying fuel, Airmen from the 786th Civil Engineer Squadron’s water and fuels systems maintenance unit have an important mission.

They ensure Team Ramstein has enough clean and safe drinking water, dirty water is disposed of properly and enough clean fuel is retained to keep all missions going.

“Without us, planes don’t go anywhere,” said Staff Sgt. Luis Lepe, 786th CES liquid fuels craftsman. “We maintain everything that has to do with fuel. From the minute fuel comes on to base to the minute it goes into the plane, we take care of it.”

Airmen of the water and fuels systems maintenance unit deal with water, sewage and gas supplied to all buildings on base.

“We have to make sure we have water that meets American and German standards,” said Tech. Sgt. Lester Morales, 786th CES water and fuels systems maintenance NCOIC. “There are more than 50,000 gallons of water pumped to different buildings every hour.”

There is a major misconception that goes along with the water and fuels systems maintenance unit, Morales said.

“A lot of people think that we are handymen,” Morales said. “We will go to fix a sink for someone and they will ask if we can also fix their light bulb or a tile on the floor.”

With so much going on, including work orders that need to be processed, water and fuels systems maintenance members keep mission essential jobs a priority.

“We collect the de-icing liquid run off from the aircraft and surface areas and put it into our retention basins,” said Lutz Braunschweig, 786th CES water based section foreman. “We make sure that no contaminated water is released into the nearby stream, causing an environmental hazard.”

To keep aircraft mission ready, the fuels section purifies and filters the fuel three times before getting to the aircraft. There cannot be any fuel spills on the ground according to German law.

“All of our fuel lines are double walled and have a top of the line leak detection system,” Lepe said. “We want to make sure we are complying with the German law and keeping our environment safe.”

However, if there is an accident with any fuel leaks, an emergency spill team can be in the area within five minutes.

“We see jobs from beginning to end,” Lepe said. “That means that we get to witness how our work affects others. It’s a very rewarding job.”

Fixing sinks and toilets and purifying fuel is their daily job however, Airmen from the 786th CES keep all missions around the base going with their work. They take part in everyone’s mission and keep systems up and running.