Tightness in the chest.
Dimness of vision due to pinpointing of pupils.
Pain in the eyes.
Difficulty in breathing.
Drooling.
Excessive sweating.
Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pains, and involuntary urination or defecation.
Twitching, jerking, and staggering.
Headache, confusion, drowsiness, and convulsions.
Coma and death.
Your concern and that of your personnel is the detection of chemical agents in water. It is important to monitor raw water to
determine whether chemical agent concentrations are below the MPC ensuring the water is suitable for use or to determine
whether the concentrations are above MPC and the water is subject to decontamination. It is also important to know that
treated water is safe to drink after decontamination.
To determine the presence of CW agents in water, you need to direct your personnel to use the M-272 Detector Kit.
(Note: The M-272 Detector Kit is a go/no go test for the short-term consumption MPCs for the following agents: hydrogen
cyanide, lewisite, sulfur mustard, and nerve. Do not use the kit when dealing with long-term consumption figures or any
situation where more than 5 liters of water per day are consumed.) Observations or receipt of any of the following might be
an indicator of chemical agents:
Dead fish or other aquatic life including vegetation.
Unusual odor to the water, a characteristic of some CW agents.
Unusually high chlorine demand to the water.
Intelligence information indicating that a general CW attack or direct sabotage of the water supply took place.
Monitoring Treatment of NBC Contaminated Water. Treatment of NBC contaminated water will be performed by you
and your personnel as a last resort if no other source exists. Water purification units will treat water in an uncontaminated
environment only (that is, in an area where the soil and air is not contaminated). If no other option exists, and water must be
purified in a contaminated area (that is, nuclear weapons have been extensively used on the battlefield and uncontaminated
areas are nonexistent), the treated water should be containerized. This is to prevent the spread of further contamination after
purification. You are to ensure that water purified prior to the use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield is consumed first.
Use of ground-water sources should be priority. Surface water sources should only be used if ground-water sources are
unavailable.
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