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.)
Fifteen. Thousand. Dollars?
But they will kill millions of birds.
We must put a stop to these things.
/sarcasm/
Good thing Teddy Kennedy doesn't own a place nearby, he'd stop this program cold so he wouldn't have his view spoiled.
If that includes drilling the hole that's not bad.
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
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.
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.
BTTT
OK, you each take turns standing over there and HUFF and PUFF at the fan thingie....
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