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CNN Live At Daybreak
War Necessity That Has Nothing to Do with High-Powered Weapons
Aired March 12, 2003 - 05:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We're with the troops now for a look at a war necessity that has nothing to do with high powered weapons.
Our Richard Blystone is in Kuwait with details on this liquid lifeline.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD BLYSTONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It happens, sometimes. But not enough to make much difference. The part of the world where battle may be joined is shortest on what it needs the most. So the most crucial war material doesn't go bang. It goes...
(SOUND OF WATER RUNNING)
BLYSTONE: The dry desert air sucks water from the body almost as fast as it goes in. Here are some well irrigated U.S. Marines just following orders.
LT. ELIZABETH THOMAS, U.S. NAVY DOCTOR: Here we dispense three bottles of water to Marines every day and they're bottles of about a liter and a half.
BLYSTONE: Four and a half liters here. But in combat or in a chemical biological protective suit, that'll more than double.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're taking a break from the action, you need to be grabbing your canteen.
BLYSTONE: This camp of something over a thousand Marines already consumes more than 13,000 gallons a day. Water for drinking, washing clothes and cooking, and hygiene. Before the mess tent, wash hands. Drinking water alone for, say, 150,000 troops in action could total almost three million gallons a week.
where do you get that kind of water? Reinforcements on the march. Kuwait's only pure water aquifer is pushing its limits and it sells out every day, two thirds of it to the military. That'll take care of around a third of the troops. So -- ah, this is more like it, desalination. Kuwait, which gets only six inches or 15 centimeters of rain a year, leads the world. Tapping the salty Gulf, this plant alone turns out 130 million gallons a day.
(on camera): The beauty of the system is that military or civilian, one way or another, most of that water will find its way back into the Gulf. Richard Blystone, CNN, Kuwait.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Weapons>
Aired March 12, 2003 - 05:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We're with the troops now for a look at a war necessity that has nothing to do with high powered weapons.
Our Richard Blystone is in Kuwait with details on this liquid lifeline.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD BLYSTONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It happens, sometimes. But not enough to make much difference. The part of the world where battle may be joined is shortest on what it needs the most. So the most crucial war material doesn't go bang. It goes...
(SOUND OF WATER RUNNING)
BLYSTONE: The dry desert air sucks water from the body almost as fast as it goes in. Here are some well irrigated U.S. Marines just following orders.
LT. ELIZABETH THOMAS, U.S. NAVY DOCTOR: Here we dispense three bottles of water to Marines every day and they're bottles of about a liter and a half.
BLYSTONE: Four and a half liters here. But in combat or in a chemical biological protective suit, that'll more than double.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're taking a break from the action, you need to be grabbing your canteen.
BLYSTONE: This camp of something over a thousand Marines already consumes more than 13,000 gallons a day. Water for drinking, washing clothes and cooking, and hygiene. Before the mess tent, wash hands. Drinking water alone for, say, 150,000 troops in action could total almost three million gallons a week.
where do you get that kind of water? Reinforcements on the march. Kuwait's only pure water aquifer is pushing its limits and it sells out every day, two thirds of it to the military. That'll take care of around a third of the troops. So -- ah, this is more like it, desalination. Kuwait, which gets only six inches or 15 centimeters of rain a year, leads the world. Tapping the salty Gulf, this plant alone turns out 130 million gallons a day.
(on camera): The beauty of the system is that military or civilian, one way or another, most of that water will find its way back into the Gulf. Richard Blystone, CNN, Kuwait.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Weapons>
