WaterFleet Helps the Ones Who Help

Sep 23, 2021 | Disaster Recovery

Weeks after Hurricane Ida, thousands of Louisiana residents are still without power. As many as 25,000 utility workers from 38 states are working feverishly to help return power to homes and businesses. These utility workers join over 140,000 FEMA aid workers and an untold number of volunteers aiding Louisiana communities. While there has been plenty of praise levied on these relief workers and the help they bring, there is still one question that too often is not asked: Who is helping the helpers?

 

Soon after Hurricane Ida hit, relief base camps were set up to house these volunteers, aid workers and utility crews. These relief workers stay at these base camps to save valuable hotel space for community members who have lost their homes or access to facilities. Life in the base camps is a true sacrifice.

 

These rapidly built camps provide the most basic accommodations in very crowded space and suffer from the same problems as the communities the workers help rebuild. Generator power, scarce climate control, limited water availability (often non potable), and port a potty restrooms are often the norm for days or weeks on end.

 

After spending more than 12 hours during a day working to bring back power, feed the homeless or heal the injured, workers and volunteers return to camp stressed and exhausted. The limited ability to properly clean themselves, their clothes or even have access to potable water makes life more difficult for workers who are already under an enormous amount of stress.

 

How can we help the ones who have sacrificed to help others?

WaterFleet has found a solution.

Soon after Hurricane Ida unleashed her furry, over a dozen WaterFleet trucks moved out to the relief camps in the hardest hit Louisiana communities. These trucks carried our most experienced technicians and trained emergency response leaders along with our proprietary mobile water production systems that can produce verifiably clean drinking water and ice. Our systems   support the relief workers and the plethora of kitchens, laundry facilities, showers and proper restrooms needed at their camps. So far, we have provided these services to over 5,000 relief workers at half a dozen camps around the state.

 

Our experience setting up mobile water systems and facilities for temporary work sites has made us ideally suited to help the helpers with emergency relief. We have also used our fleet to provide water services to essential businesses, including grocery stores and hospitals.

 

WaterFleet has always believed that access to clean, potable water is a human right, even in the most difficult circumstances. Our goal is to make sure that everyone has access to that water when they need it most. That includes the people who put their lives on hold to help others. When disaster strikes, we must remember the helpers, healers and volunteers. They deserve help too.

 

WaterFleet is proud to be one link in a chain of support helping the ones who help.