KIVALINA WATER RELIEF REDUX
DATE: APRIL 12, 2014 THRU APRIL 19, 2014
KIVALINA

As Reported By: By RACHEL D'ORO — Associated Press in 2013.


"ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Two Native villages on Alaska's wind-battered western coast are once again coping with shortages of treated water brought on by failures of their supply transmission pipelines.

Unalakleet, a largely Inupiat Eskimo community, lost use of its aging supply pipeline when sections of it froze a month ago after yet another power outages. And then, it developed leaks. Almost 300 miles to the north, Kivalina has imposed strict conservation measures all winter after its pipeline was damaged by reoccurring late summer storms before the Inupiat community's water tanks could be filled completely.

Unalakleet City Manager Scott Dickens said Wednesday that the 4 1/2-mile-long pipeline has been cleared and patched up. The community of 730 is now waiting for state environmental regulators to clear samples of treated water as safe to drink, but people are using the water to shower, wash clothes and flush toilets.

"Right now we are in a lot better shape," Dickens said. The village is looking for ways to secure funding for a new system Dickens hopes to have in place in a few years.

To the north, Kivalina's three-mile pipeline was temporarily repaired last year, allowing crews to start pumping water from the Wulik River. But winter freeze-up arrived long before the community's storage tanks could be filled.

Kivalina's City Manager Janet Mitchell said her cash-strapped village barely has enough water to last until tanks can be filled after the river thaws and turbidity levels drop, something that historically concludes in July. The village has made do with severe conservation restrictions and donations of bottled water. A few villagers took it upon themselves to collect ice to melt for their own use.

Officials had wanted to transport large portable containers to the Wulik River and collect water directly from a hole drilled through the ice but were unable to make the idea work.

Adding to the challenges for the community of 400, frozen pipes in February forced officials to close the washeteria, the place for showers and washing clothes. That left residents to make do with sponge baths or other ways to clean up. At the same time, that means people are conserving even more than they had been. Homes there have never had running water.

"If the washeteria remains closed, we should be fine," Mitchell said.

In Unalakleet, water is pumped from a creek year-round, but when the transmission line froze in March, the treated water supply quickly dwindled. Crews working in temperatures of 20 below devised an emergency system to pipe brackish, untreated water to homes and other structures for people to use for anything but consumption and to keep the system from freezing. High tides brought saltier water from the Bering Sea.

People relied on bottled water and the generosity of some people living outside city limits who shared water from wells on their properties. People also were hauling water for drinking and cooking from a clean spring and the North River, the way they did until the water and sewer system was installed in the 1970s. Many Unalakleets residents are mushers with large sled dog teams, and they also collected water for their animals.

But residents are resilient and rose to the challenge, Unalakleet Mayor Leona Grishkowsky said.

"Anytime there is some kind of crisis, there's opportunities to build character and community," she said. "In this crisis, there were so many people who jumped in and helped, to do what they could so we could solve the problem as quickly as possible." "

And this is where ERA Pilots step in to help. How can we help??? Well, ERA VIRTUAL AIRWAYS will be flying in relief equipment, supplies of water, parts and technicians to help rectify the situation. We will be using a variety of equipment: The 206 / 208 / 1900 / DC-3 / C-130. We will open this up to all pilots regardless of rank and you will be able to fly which ever aircraft you feel comfortable with.

The airports we will be utilizing are:
PAOM – NOME / PABT- BETTLES / PABE – BETHEL / PAUN – UNALAKLEET / PAVL - KAVALINA

KAVALINA has a 3000' strip while the other airports are somewhat longer and present no problems in runway length. We do however, have a small strip carved out of the tundra just north of KIVALINA and UNALAKLEET where we need to deposit some technicians and valves to repair the pipeline. We'll give you the co-ordinates when the strips have been completed.



Here are some of the items that we will be carrying.

Water Valve 120 LBS. EACH


Pipe 1/4 MILE OF PIPE = 1000 LBS. 1/8 MILE = 500 LBS.


Large Water Bladders 5000 GALS. = 40,000 LBS. (MAX CARGO FOR THE C-130)


Yellow Bladders 150 GALS = 1200 LBS 250 GALS = 2000 LBS. 500 GALS = 4000 LBS.


As always, it is up to each pilot to figure his fuel to weight ratio and plan accordingly. More trips are better than one smashed up aircraft so don't over load you aircraft. Routes are suggested and it is up to each Pilot to plan his own route according to weather, terrain and weight onboard.

ROUTES:
PAOM-PAVL-PAOM KIVA001 C208
PAOM-PAUN-PAOM KIVA002 C208
PABT-PAVL-PABT KIVA003 C130
PABT-PAVL-PABT KIVA004 DC-3
PABE-PAUN-PABE KIVA005 C130
PABE-PAUN-PABE KIVA006 DC-3
PAOM-PAVL-PAOM KIVA007 C206
PAOM-PAUN-PAOM KIVA008 C206
PABT-PAVL-PABT KIVA009 B1900
PABE-PAUN-PABE KIVA010 B1900
PAOM-PCWF-PAOM KIVA011 C208
PABE-PCWF-PABE KIVA012 C130
PABE-PCWF-PABE KIVA013 DC-3
PAOM-PCWF-PAOM KIVA014 C206
PABE-PCWF-PABE KIVA015 B1900
**IN ORDER TO DO ROUTES TO PCWF - PLEASE USE THE ATTACHED FSX ADDON CUSTOM SCENERY - AIRPORT DOES NOT EXIST WITHOUT SCENERY**

AIRCRAFT:
206 /208 / 1900 / DC-3 / C-130


AWARDS!!!
Most Flights:
Most Hours:
Most Weight Hauled:THIS CATEGORY JUST MAY CHANGE TO A SURPRISE!! MIGHT WANT TO BE WATCHING THOSE LANDING RATES BOYZ!?!?

Scenery!!!
The scenery for PCWF is attached to this post. It is designed for FSX and is required if you plan to fly routes to that location, as it does not normally exist in FSX. THere is a readme file inside the zipped folder. Instructions to install are located in the Readme.

Hussam please see the attachment on the main post above. Thanks

i am working to try and make it work for everyone. For now it is a ranked event. Every rank has something to fly in this event only those with senior captain will be able to fly the c130 or dc-3. working to fix that though. sorry for the delay.

It is a custom airport I built. Stands for "Powers Creek Water Facility"