US: Fixing clogged toilets on Navy aircraft carriers costs $400,000 per 'flush'

[Resurgence]

Unclogging toilets on two Virginia-based Navy aircraft carriers has become a persistent and expensive problem.

The brand new sewage systems on the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS George H.W. Bush get backed up so often that the Navy has to clean periodically with specialized acid flushes that cost $400,000 per treatment, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

The sewage system is similar to what is found on a commercial ship, "but increased in scale for a crew of over 4,000 people," read the report, which noted the facilities were experiencing “unexpected and frequent clogging” resulting in “unplanned maintenance action for entire service life of the ship."

"According to fleet maintenance officials, while each acid flush costs about $400,000, the Navy has yet to determine how often and for how many ships this action will need to be repeated, making the full cost impact difficult to quantify. We generally did not include these types of ongoing costs in our calculation," the report read.

The GAO audit, released Tuesday, identified 150 problems that affected multiple ships in a particular class. The GAO said the operating and support costs for shipbuilding programs increased $130 billion above the initial estimate.

The cost to maintain the US Navy’s fleet is on the rise. The Navy requested over $40 billion for each of the past 3 years to build, operate, and sustain its ships.

“The Carrier toilet system is indicative of the kinds of issues we highlight in our report that are requiring more money, time, and effort to fix than originally anticipated due to a lack of adequate sustainment planning during the acquisition process,” said Shelby Oakley, a GAO director who manages the agency’s ship acquisition reviews.

“The pipes are too narrow, and when there are a bunch of sailors flushing the toilet at the same time, like in the morning, the suction doesn’t work,” Oakley said. “The Navy didn’t anticipate this problem.”

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But still no money to support the Endangered Species Act.

Priorities.



https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/...-per-flush

[AllieC]

$400,000? They pay that much for a plunger and a bottle of febreeze. The government always pays at least 1000 times what something is worth. Look at welfare. It costs billions a year for "people" who will never contribute anything to society. If you don't like it, don't pay taxes. Anyway, great copy and paste job. Don't waste time having an original thought.

[Resurgence]

$400,000? They pay that much for a plunger and a bottle of febreeze. The government always pays at least 1000 times what something is worth. Look at welfare. It costs billions a year for "people" who will never contribute anything to society. If you don't like it, don't pay taxes. Anyway, great copy and paste job. Don't waste time having an original thought.

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