Military Hygiene and Hygiene in Emergency Situations - K.O. Pashka 2005

Fundamentals of the organization of sanitary and hygienic measures in the ground forces during peacetime emergencies and wartime. Hygiene of field quartering of troops and population.
Sanitary and hygienic control over the sanitation of the territory where troops and naval bases are deployed

To keep the areas where troops and naval bases are deployed clean, the following sanitary, sanitary-technical, and housekeeping measures are routinely carried out: collection, storage, disposal, and disinfection of sewage, refuse, slops, and waste.

Measures for cleaning the territory of military settlements, camps, and naval bases are executed using the personnel and assets of military units. Housing and maintenance bodies provide military units with the necessary funds for hauling away sewage and refuse, as well as the required transport vehicles (such as cesspool emptiers, garbage trucks, etc.).

Sanitary supervision over the maintenance of military settlement grounds, the condition of equipment, and the operation of sewerage networks and facilities is organized and conducted by the military medical service. It is implemented in the form of preventive and routine supervision.

Preventive Sanitary supervision of military settlement sanitation is organized and conducted by specialists from Sanitary and epidemiological institutions. They monitor compliance with sanitary-hygienic and anti-epidemic norms and rules during the Selection of land plots for the construction of sewerage networks and facilities, as well as sites designated for the disinfection and utilization of waste and refuse; during the design, construction, and reconstruction of sewerage facilities and other structures intended for waste and refuse disinfection and utilization, and upon commissioning them; and during the Structure/175.html">Implementation of measures to prevent and eliminate the pollution of surface and groundwater and soil by harmful industrial and other effluents, as well as domestic wastewater.

Routine sanitary supervision over the cleanliness of the military settlement and the operation of sewerage networks is organized and carried out by the HEAD of the medical service of the military unit (establishment).

¹ A naval base is an equipped coastal area (zone) with an adjacent Water body that Supports the deployment and maneuvering of naval forces.

The medical service is required to:

- monitor the timeliness and completeness of area cleaning measures;

- exercise control over compliance with soil sanitary protection rules during territory cleaning, as well as the implementation of fly control measures;

- participate in the selection of sites designated for the collection and disposal of sewage, slops, garbage, and waste;

- inspect, together with the unit’s housing and maintenance service head and the deputy commander for logistics, the condition of sewerage networks, manholes, the operational readiness of garbage collection equipment and outdoor latrines, and the proper operation of sewage Treatment facilities.

Representatives of the sanitary-epidemiological and military-medical services develop and submit for approval by the garrison commander a plan for cleaning the deployment areas of military units and the naval base, which must provide for:

- the Procedure for cleaning the unit (base) deployment areas and public spaces from sewage, garbage, and waste, and collecting them;

- the adequacy of facilities in latrines, equipment for collecting sewage, garbage, and waste, slop sinks, and their optimal placement across the territory;

- the procedure and schedule for cleaning and disinfecting equipment used to gather sewage, garbage, and waste;

- the preparation of sites and structures for the disinfection of sewage, garbage, and waste (irrigation fields, upgraded landfills, filtration fields, etc.) and the Procedures for their operation.

Sewage, garbage, and waste accumulating in military settlements and camps are divided into two categories: liquid and solid.

Liquid waste includes sewage from latrines and cesspools (feces and urine), slops (dirty water generated during food preparation, floor washing, equipment cleaning, etc.), wastewater from washrooms, bathhouses, laundries, dishwashing areas, kitchens, dining halls, wastewater from medical facilities, workshops, vehicle and combat equipment wash racks, as well as atmospheric and melt water.

Solid waste consists of household garbage (coal, ash, paper, bones, etc.), territory litter (branches, leaves, weeds, snow, etc.), manure, recyclable Materials, waste and refuse from workshops, kitchens, dining halls, and buffets, construction debris, etc.

When designing and calculating the demand for territory sanitation facilities in military settlements, camps, and naval bases, one should be guided by the following accumulation norms for various types of waste (Table 2.3).

Class="center">Table 2.3 Waste Accumulation Norms

When installing equipment for the collection and temporary storage of sewage, garbage, and waste, it is essential to prevent the contamination and pollution of soil, groundwater, and open water bodies, as well as to preclude the breeding of flies and rodents. Waste collection equipment must correspond to The Nature and volume of the refuse, be user-friendly, and ensure easy, convenient, and rapid cleaning while maintaining cleanliness in the surrounding area.

Latrines must be equipped with cesspools featuring liquid-impermeable bottoms and walls. For this purpose, they are constructed from waterproof materials (brick, concrete, etc.), while temporary cesspools are built from thoroughly tarred log cabins; the outer walls and bottom of the cesspools are packed with tamped heavy clay in a layer at least 35 cm thick, and the inner surfaces of brick cesspools are coated with a cement mortar followed by iron troweling.

Slop sinks must also be waterproof. Their intake openings must be fitted with gratings to retain solid waste particles.

Equipment for collecting dry waste, household garbage, and territory refuse can be stationary or portable, featuring containers no higher than 0.7 m designed for quick and easy emptying. The container walls must be smooth and easy to clean. Waste inside them must be protected from flies and rodents. They are placed on a concrete or asphalt pad 1.5 to 2 times larger than the area required for the bins (tanks). Their total capacity must accommodate all solid waste generated on-site during the period between scheduled cleanings. A barrier wall is constructed around three sides of the pad to prevent the wind from blowing garbage around.

The manure storage facility must have sturdy, waterproof walls and a bottom, and be protected from flooding by atmospheric precipitation. To achieve this, it is covered with a sloped lid or shield and equipped with a drainage ditch.

The schedule for removing waste, garbage, and refuse is determined by their nature and properties, the capacity of the equipment, the season (summer or winter), and measures taken against fly breeding. Equipment capacity must allow for the storage of waste in latrines for up to 15–30 days, and in flush-toilet cesspools for up to 6–12 months; slop-sink contents are removed every 10–15 days, while solid waste and territory garbage from litter bins are hauled away every 15–30 days. If manure storage facilities are located on the territory of a military installation or in its immediate vicinity, the manure is removed every 10 days; if they are located outside the installation, every 6–12 months.

During the warm season, waste, garbage, and refuse must be removed taking into account the fly breeding cycle, i.e., every 3 days, but no less frequently than every 5 days.

The removal of waste, garbage, and refuse is carried out according to a schedule at strictly established times using designated transport vehicles of military units (establishments, institutions) or specialized transport of housing and maintenance bodies or local utilities, in accordance with concluded agreements.

Equipment for collecting waste, garbage, and refuse must be located at a distance from residential areas, food facilities, and water sources, while ensuring maximum convenience of use. Outdoor latrines are located no closer than 15–25 m, but no further than 75–150 m from residential buildings; no closer than 25–40 m and no further than 75–150 m from kitchens and dining halls; and 50–150 m from wells (depending on soil characteristics). In areas with porous soil, the distance from pollution sources to the well is determined by a physician in consultation with a hydrogeologist. Litter bins and slop sinks are permitted to be placed 20 m away from housing and kitchens/dining halls, and from water sources—at the same distance as the cesspools of outdoor latrines.

In populated areas equipped with municipal amenities (water supply and sewerage), all liquid waste and refuse are discharged into the municipal sewage system. In military settlements with local sewerage systems, preference is given to soil-based treatment and purification Methods, such as filtration or irrigation fields.

For unsewered facilities, the most appropriate practice is to transport waste using cesspool emptiers for treatment at sludge disposal stations or land-plowing fields.

Garbage and solid waste can be incinerated, hauled to land-plowing fields or advanced landfills, or used as biofuel in hotbeds and biothermal chambers.

Sludge disposal stations are designed for discharging and subsequently releasing liquid waste—transported from unsewered facilities by vacuum trucks—into a sewage collector. They are constructed in accordance with GOST 316746, based on designs that must be approved by State Sanitary Supervision authorities.

Sewage farming fields are used to treat waste and organic refuse while simultaneously converting them into agricultural fertilizer. These fields are established outside populated areas, at a distance of at least 1000 m from residential quarters, on terrain with a groundwater table lower than 1.5 m from the soil surface, and are divided into summer and winter plots up to 100 m wide. Flooding the latter plots with waste and refuse is recommended to be done alternately, so that each field plot, after receiving waste for one year, is used for crop rotation for at least two years, and preferably longer.

The application rate of waste to sewage farming fields is determined by climatic conditions, soil characteristics, and agronomic considerations. As a design parameter for calculating field acreage, it is assumed to be 1000–1500 m³ per hectare per year.

Land-plowing fields are established when it is impossible to set up sewage farming fields. Unlike the latter, they serve only a sanitary and epidemiological purpose, meaning they are used solely for the neutralization of waste and refuse. Land-plowing fields are divided into two plots, one of which receives waste while the other "rests." During the summer period, this "rest" must last for at least two months.

Up to 2000 tons of waste can be applied per hectare of land, after which the plot must be plowed under no later than 48 hours later.

Land-plowing fields can be used to treat not only liquid waste but also organic solid refuse and garbage.

Treatment ponds are constructed to polish wastewater that has previously undergone mechanical or biological treatment to a state of complete restoration. To calculate the loading rate, it is necessary to determine the degree of wastewater treatment prior to discharge into the ponds. For example, wastewater treated by sedimentation without dilution can be discharged into treatment ponds at a rate of 100–250 m³ per hectare per day, whereas wastewater subjected to biological treatment can be discharged at a rate of 4000–5000 m³ per hectare per day.

The depth of treatment ponds must be at least 0.3 m and no more than 1.5 m.

Advanced (controlled) landfills are designed for the disposal of solid waste. They are established in locations where other, more sophisticated treatment methods cannot be applied and where excavations, ravines, gullies, and the like can be simultaneously eliminated. Advanced landfills are located at a distance of at least 500 m from residential areas, food enterprises, and institutions, in locations where the contamination of groundwater and surface water bodies is completely excluded.

Garbage and solid waste at such advanced landfills are deposited in a thick layer up to the edge of the excavation. Afterward, within a day, they are covered with a layer of soil 25–50 cm thick, which prevents flies from accessing the waste to lay eggs.

To prevent harmful substances—washed out by rains from the landfills—from entering water bodies, interception ditches are constructed. The mineralization processes of waste in landfills proceed slowly, over years, which is why these sites are permitted to be used exclusively for green spaces, timber storage, and similar purposes.

When exercising Sanitary and hygienic control over solid waste disposal, one must be guided by the Provisional Sanitary Rules for the Construction and Operation of Advanced Landfills for Solid Waste, approved by the Head of the Main Military Medical Directorate and the Head of the Housing and Maintenance Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Solid waste and garbage can be composted and the resulting humus used as fertilizer. For this purpose, garbage and waste are hauled to greenhouse facilities year-round. In winter, they are stored in a compacted state in piles, while in summer, they are covered with a 10–12 cm layer of soil or dense straw mats. The average application norm for garbage is considered to be 1 m³ per 1 m² of greenhouse hotbed frame or greenhouse area.

Biothermal chambers are sanitary and technical installations for treating garbage and solid waste. Biothermal chambers are most effective in the conditions of the central and southern regions of Ukraine. Solid waste and garbage loaded into these chambers are disinfected As a result of biothermal Fermentation (temperatures reach 60–70 °C), which destroys all vegetative pathogenic microorganisms, some spore-forming Bacteria, as well as helminth and insect eggs. The estimated duration of the waste mineralization process in these chambers is 60 days for the central zone and 40 days for the southern zone. For disinfection in biothermal chambers, waste is selected in which the organic matter content is at least 30%, inorganic matter is no more than 25%, and moisture does not exceed 70%.

The construction of the chambers is carried out in accordance with design standards GOST 3743-47.

They are permitted to be installed on the territory of the military unit, but no closer than 15–20 m from residential buildings.

Toilets and washrooms must be heated and equipped with an efficient ventilation system. Toilet bowls, urinals, washbasins, and sinks should be fitted with flushing devices and hydraulic seals (traps). Barracks toilets are to be equipped with toilet bowls and urinals, whereas outdoor latrines feature drop holes and urinals (one toilet bowl or drop hole per 12–15 persons, and one urinal or 0.5 linear meters of trough urinal per 20–25 persons).

Urinals must be made of easy-to-clean materials that do not absorb urine or suffer damage from its exposure (ceramic, glazed, etc.). Walls behind group urinals must be tiled to a height of at least 1.5 m.

In outdoor latrines built of brick or building stone, urinals are constructed from concrete or reinforced concrete and given a smoothed, ironed finish. In wooden latrines, board-built urinals are permitted.

Disinfection and pest control of toilets, slop sinks, and garbage pits must be carried out in accordance with the guidelines and regulations set forth in the manual on sanitary-hygienic and anti-epidemic support of the Armed Forces and the Navy of Ukraine.

Depending on their volume, chemical composition, and the CHARACTERISTICS OF THE receiving body of water, wastewater from sewerage-connected facilities is subject to preliminary mechanical, chemical, and biological treatment and disinfection, or a combination of these methods in various combinations, or disposal into the soil via filtration or irrigation fields. Discharging wastewater into absorption wells and boreholes is strictly prohibited.

Mechanical wastewater treatment utilizes sand traps, screens, and various designs of sedimentation tanks. Following mechanical treatment, the wastewater is directed into specialized biofilters, activated sludge sedimentation tanks, and the like.

Chemical treatment of wastewater (from bathhouses, laundries, etc.) involves water coagulation and disinfection units, as well as contact and sedimentation reservoirs.

Thanks to biological treatment processes taking place in digesters, aerofilters, biofilters, and other structures, the vast majority of dissolved and colloidal organic substances and microorganisms are removed from the wastewater.

It should be noted that only wastewater free of toxic substances is eligible for biological treatment.

Sanitary control over the efficiency of treatment facilities involves monitoring their operating mode and periodically conducting Laboratory tests on treated wastewater samples. The scope and content of laboratory tests depend on local conditions in each case and are carried out in accordance with sanitary regulations for discharging wastewater into public water bodies.

Regardless of the treatment methods used, wastewater must undergo mandatory disinfection prior to discharge into water bodies, which is performed in specialized units operating on gaseous chlorine or bleaching powder.

The chlorine dose is determined experimentally and depends on The Nature of the wastewater and the concentration of pollutants within it. The estimated dose of active chlorine per 1 m³ of wastewater that has undergone coarse mechanical treatment is 50–60 g; for wastewater intended for sedimentation tank treatment, it is 20–25 g; and for biological filters, it is 5–10 g.

The contact time between wastewater and chlorine must be at least 30 minutes. To achieve sufficient disinfection efficiency, the wastewater must be thoroughly mixed with chlorine—for instance, using a "riffle" mixer, which is a rectangular wooden trough with low vertical baffles. According to standard design specifications, the length of the mixer must be at least 3 m, with a cross-section of 10x10 cm and a slope of 0.02°.

To perform disinfection, a chlorine water solution with an active chlorine content of 1–2% is prepared and allowed to settle for 12 hours.

Prior to discharging wastewater onto filtration or irrigation fields, it must be allowed to settle and passed through screens to remove large floating debris. Filtration fields effectively mineralize pollutants and significantly reduce bacterial counts, rendering the wastewater transparent, colorless, and odorless.

Sanitary supervision of filtration or irrigation fields involves inspecting the operational condition of the structures, ensuring an even distribution of wastewater across the flooded plots, and evaluating the degree of wastewater treatment based on regular laboratory analyses.

Wastewater from bathhouses, laundries, and washbasins in sewered and partially sewered military towns and camps may undergo biological treatment combined with domestic sewage, provided that their volume does not exceed the volume of the domestic sewage.

A sufficient disinfection effect is also achieved through the chemical treatment of soapy water with slaked lime, followed by clarification in continuous-flow settling tanks. If the volume of wastewater does not exceed 25–30 m³ per day, it may also be settled in contact settling tanks.

In this case, the dose of slaked lime is 250–500 g per 1 m³ of wastewater. A 5–10% lime milk suspension is used for Introduction into the wastewater. The flow velocity in continuous-flow settling tanks is set at up to 10 mm/s for horizontal tanks and 1 mm/s for vertical tanks.

Parking of cesspool trucks is permitted only in specially equipped areas known as cesspool yards. They are located in agreement with the local sanitary and epidemiological authorities of the Ministry of Health at a distance of not less than 300 m from residential buildings and public catering establishments, and at least 500 m from water supply sources.

Military unit vehicles used for transporting sewage are subject to periodic sanitary and technical inspections conducted by a representative of the sanitary-epidemiological service together with a representative of local public health authorities. Cesspool vehicles must be marked with the date of the inspection.

If military units maintain subsidiary farms housing animals (horses, cows, pigs, etc.), large quantities of manure are generated.

Manure is best stored in manure storage facilities, piles, or chambers designed specifically for manure collection. These are set up in depressions or on the ground surface in shaded areas to protect the manure from drying out, and are covered with wooden lids to shield them from rain and snow.

Sunk-type manure storage facilities consist of a pit with one vertical wall facing the livestock housing, and other walls sloping gradually. The walls and bottom of the facility must be tamped with a 0.3 m layer of heavy puddled clay and properly reinforced.

It is not recommended to sink manure storage facilities more than 0.5–1.0 m into the ground. Manure should be laid in 20 cm thick layers over a wooden grate, brushwood, straw, or similar materials.

Surface-type manure storage facilities are set up in chambers constructed of wood, stone, or brick, or in chambers embanked with soil.

Manure heaps up to 0.6–1.0 m high and up to 2.0 m wide are arranged on a waterproof platform with a concrete, asphalt, or stone surface, or on well-tamped clay, and are surrounded by a specially dug trench with dense walls and bottom to trap fly larvae moving toward their pupation sites.

Manure should be piled loosely, and it is recommended to compact it by treading only after the Temperature inside the heap rises to 55–60 °C. To accelerate the heating and fermentation of the manure, its moisture content should be kept at around 75%. Therefore, the manure should be periodically moistened with liquid manure flowing into collection tanks for liquid waste.

The heating process of manure in heaps takes 3–4 months.

Disinfection of manure is permitted only for epidemiological indications. For this purpose, bleaching powder, milk of lime, slaked lime, hot steam, etc., are used.

Food waste from kitchens and dining halls is collected in special containers with lids. Bones are placed in a separate box. After sorting, edible food leftovers are fed to livestock. The remaining waste of no economic value is hauled away along with household garbage to plowing fields, sewage farms, etc.