Airmen and Afghans join forces to repair local wells

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Chris Willis
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (AFNS) --  Airmen and local Afghan elders gathered around a broken water well in a small nearby village here and traded ideas about how to fix a pump and bring fresh groundwater back to the village.

Members of the 777th Expeditionary Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force Squadron took on the task of fixing multiple well pumps with help from Airmen from the 755th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron.

The Airmen traveled by foot in small groups over dirt roads, carrying all their tools, equipment and weapons.

As they made their way to meet local elders, swarms of kids flanked their sides. They knew the Airmen were here to help fix the well and some even pointed to the broken well and said the Arabic word for water, "Ma."

Local tradition requires site work be coordinated with the local village elders, the mullah, first and then with assigned caretaker of each well.

Years of constant war severely destroyed the physical infrastructure for delivering water, both for drinking and irrigation purposes. Moreover, droughts in the recent years have worsened the already fragile availability of safe drinking water and water for agricultural purposes.

The team discovered that most of the local village's water well problems can be solved with a simple repair, cleaning or redevelopment.

"The primary failure was the rubber O-ring on the plunger," said Maj. Wayne Sanaghan, the 777th EPBS officer in charge, after fixing one pump. "Once the seal is broken, the suction is lost and water can't be pulled up the main riser."

A plunger replacement, which is relatively inexpensive by U.S. standards, could cost a small fortune for some of the local residents in these villages.

As Airmen were working the repairs, the local well caretakers stepped in and showed how they had kept other decade-old wells running.

After more than two hours of joint U.S. and Afghan effort, the payoff was clearly visible. While the water flowed from the well, villagers came running from their homes with buckets as the team stood back with smiles on their faces.

"Fixing the well brought on feelings of joy and satisfaction, knowing what it meant for the people who relied on that water source," said Senior Master Sgt. James Segebarth, 455th Expeditionary Security Force Squadron superintendent.

One village elder told the Airmen that his family had to walk miles to the nearest village to use their working water wells.

"The pinnacle moment for me was when the water started flowing and I looked around to see both Airmen and Afghans working together and celebrating the success brought about by teamwork," Segebarth said.

As the village kids flocked to the pump, mostly to play with the running water, a little Afghan girl gave a thumbs-up to the departing Airmen to signify a job well done.