Story by Marian Popescu, USMC
AL-DHUBAB, Yemen – Before engineers of Combined Task Force – Horn of Africa arrived Dec. 17 in Al-Dhubab, Yemen, to install solar-powered pumps to fresh-water wells in the town, local women had to lower buckets 30 meters by hand one bucket at a time, in order to get needed water. The process was slow and tedious and the line of people waiting to get water was long.
United States Army Maj. Richard Cote, a civil affairs team leader from CJTF - HOA, saw the problem and decided to take action with the help from U.S. military engineers.
Partnering with local citizens, U.S. military engineers from Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, installed a solar-powered electric pump at the well. The increased pumping capacity reduced waiting times for people at the well. The well supplies water to about 20,000 people living in a five-kilometer radius.
Because the engineers were concerned about keeping the pump running after they left, local residents helped to build the pumping system and teaching them about maintenance.
AL-DHUBAB, Yemen – Before engineers of Combined Task Force – Horn of Africa arrived Dec. 17 in Al-Dhubab, Yemen, to install solar-powered pumps to fresh-water wells in the town, local women had to lower buckets 30 meters by hand one bucket at a time, in order to get needed water. The process was slow and tedious and the line of people waiting to get water was long.
United States Army Maj. Richard Cote, a civil affairs team leader from CJTF - HOA, saw the problem and decided to take action with the help from U.S. military engineers.
Partnering with local citizens, U.S. military engineers from Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, installed a solar-powered electric pump at the well. The increased pumping capacity reduced waiting times for people at the well. The well supplies water to about 20,000 people living in a five-kilometer radius.
Because the engineers were concerned about keeping the pump running after they left, local residents helped to build the pumping system and teaching them about maintenance.
(Photo: The townswomen fill buckets of water by hand (US Air Force photo by Capt Andrew Bouchard).)
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