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Windmills Provide Inexpensive Water Source for Afghan Farmers
American Forces Press Service ^ | Jan 19, 2006 | Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news release

Posted on 01/19/2006 9:52:19 PM PST by SandRat

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Jan. 19, 2006 – Coalition forces are installing windmills across southern Afghanistan to provide farmers with water 24 hours a day.

"Windmills for the farmers provide an easy energy source to a rural area," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Andrew Mazerik, a civil affairs officer with Task Force Bayonet of the coalition's Combined Joint Task Force 76. "There's not a lot of maintenance needed for the windmills, and this effort shows that the Afghan government is doing something for the people."

The program began with the installation of a test windmill at Kandahar Airfield three months ago. Two windmills were installed in Uruzgan Province shortly afterward, officials said.

More recently, village elders in Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul provinces met with their governors and local provincial reconstruction team commanders to decide where other windmills could best be used.

The first windmills in Helmand and Zabul provinces are expected to be operational within weeks. A total of 30 will be installed by spring.

Afghans who work for an American construction company, C&C, construct the windmills in Kandahar. They are purchased with Commander's Emergency Relief Program funds for about $15,000 each.

Farmers can use the windmills to power irrigation systems for crops, such as soybeans and wheat, while avoiding operating costs and maintenance problems of diesel-powered mechanical generators. They also share water with their neighbors.

"An entire village can be supported by the windmill," Mazerik said. "It works on gravity, and it depends on how big the holding tank is. A standard size windmill pumps 10 to 30 gallons per minute. It can supply a lot of water.

"They're a positive reinforcement and a beautiful symbol," he added.

(From a Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news release.)


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghan; afghanistan; energy; farmers; for; inexpensive; provide; source; water; windfarms; windmills


Windmills in the Qalat, Kandahar and Helmand provinces of Afghanistan will help farmers there pump water to traditional crops, such as wheat and soybean. The windmills, built at a cost of $15,000, are a method provisional reconstruction teams use to help local villagers improve their economies.
U.S. Army photo
1 posted on 01/19/2006 9:52:23 PM PST by SandRat
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To: 2LT Radix jr; 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub; 80 Square Miles; AlaninSA; A Ruckus of Dogs; acad1228; ...
Sometimes the simplest of technology helps
2 posted on 01/19/2006 9:53:02 PM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat
built at a cost of $15,000,

Fifteen. Thousand. Dollars?

3 posted on 01/19/2006 10:02:41 PM PST by poindexter
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To: SandRat

But they will kill millions of birds.
We must put a stop to these things.

/sarcasm/


4 posted on 01/19/2006 10:10:58 PM PST by Chewbacca (Hell knows no fury than fiery habenaro Dorito's eaten before bedtime.)
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To: SandRat

Good thing Teddy Kennedy doesn't own a place nearby, he'd stop this program cold so he wouldn't have his view spoiled.


5 posted on 01/19/2006 10:29:09 PM PST by KellyAdmirer
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To: poindexter

If that includes drilling the hole that's not bad.


6 posted on 01/19/2006 10:57:00 PM PST by DB (©)
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To: poindexter; SandRat
According to these guys a 30 gpm windmill retails for about $4,700.00. Then you've got to get it to Afghanistant. I imagine that costs a few bucks. Somehow I doubt there's a regular UPS drop.

Figure a couple of G's per unit to get them over there.

Then you've got to dig the well. That's most likely the expensive part. Well digging around my parts goes for about 10 bucks a foot or so.

After that, you've got to set the sucker up, plug it into the well and train the locals on the use and maintanence of the windmill.

All in all, 15 grand a pop doesn't sound out of line to me.

L

7 posted on 01/19/2006 11:37:04 PM PST by Lurker (You don't let a pack of wolves into the house just because they're related to the family dog.)
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To: Lurker

Probably they pour a concrete pad, then there may be a holding tank or tub, and pipes to carry the water to the fields or the village. $15K seems reasonable compared to a $300 million bridge in Alaska for 50 people.

Years ago my husband was guiding an African transportation official around the country. He took him to a museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, where they looked at the history of farming in the US. The African got very excited at late 19th Century farm implements. He said the US should teach how to make and use them. Their village blacksmiths could manufacture them. We could save billions on foreign aid and still help people get into the 20th Century.


8 posted on 01/20/2006 12:19:52 AM PST by gleeaikin (Question Authority)
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To: SandRat

Great work guys. That's how you defeat the death cult of the taiban, help the afghan people to CREATE rather than destroy. Once developments like this start paying off, you'll see the average afghan income inch upward from $200/year; then they won't tolerate those crazies anymore than any other developing society would. These windmills and other similar developments give them HOPE, the #1 threat to the fatalistic taliban philosophy : HOPE in a better and brighter future.


9 posted on 01/20/2006 2:26:44 AM PST by timer
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To: SandRat

BTTT


10 posted on 01/20/2006 3:03:13 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: Lurker
After that, you've got to set the sucker up, plug it into the well and train the locals on the use and maintanence of the windmill.

OK, you each take turns standing over there and HUFF and PUFF at the fan thingie....

11 posted on 01/20/2006 3:05:30 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck
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