The Impact of Water

Water. It is vital for drinking, cooking and for irrigating fields. Not enough and women walk miles to bring back containers full for the midday meal only to repeat the task once more before nightfall. Too much water, homes and fields are washed downstream. Water needs to be fresh or families suffer sickness and sometimes death. Volume, quality, location—all determine the vitality of a family and a community.

Watersheds are the focus this week for California Army National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division Agribusiness Development. They along with Pedro Torres, the USDA representative, are conducting assessments along the Kunar River Valley. Today it is Sarkani, a small village of less than 200 people, across the river and east of FOB Wright. The area is known to be “kinetic”, a term used to describe hot, sporadic activity by insurgents. In this river valley just 7 km from Pakistan, kinetic is characterized by attacks on FOBs and ANP posts creating an insecure and unstable environment.

ADT-CA rolls out wrapped in armor, in body and vehicle, to find the source of the stream above Sarkani.

Reconstruction is an important element for fighting the insurgency. What is known about Sarkani is the residents are neither hostile nor loyal to the American presence in their community. One significant fact though is that the small community seems to have been passed over in receiving aid—fertile ground for building support for the Afghan central government and its allies.

Sala, one of many brothers who along with their families live in the large compound at the base of the watershed, meets with the team. His brother farms this land. Sala knows where the source of the spring is located and offers to guide ADT-CA up the mountainside. Col. Grimm and his eclectic team of soil, water, and crop experts, surrounded by a security force of young, fit soldiers start making the climb. As they hike up the 54% grade of sagebrush and rock, cows wander nearby. When the stream source is found ADT-CA pulls their expertise together and review of the site begins.

“Did we get a grid here?” asks Sgt. Flynn. “Yes” shouts out one from the team. Sgt. Flynn and Spc. Rivera measure flow of the spring. LTC Kelly writes down elevation and location. The others inspect the vegetation, soil conditions and take pictures.

Security is a concern and on the radio a warning is given and Col. Grimm relays the alert to the rest of the team “there is a guy walking around nearby a few ridges over.” Time to move out and return to the bottom of the watershed.

Many of the reconstruction projects in Afghanistan are not necessarily Hollywood epics—large in scope with cinematic display. Sometimes they are simple and inexpensive but can provide considerable benefit for a community. This is the center of discussion for the team back at FOB Wright later.

“It may be a benefit but where the Afghans may not see a direct impact” says LTC Kelly.

“Bring the pipe to the lower part of village so more can benefit” offers one of the team.

Pedro Torres, speaks up “Pipe schemes are expensive”.

“Is repairing the hose a better option?” another says.

The hose they speak of is a garden variety green hose that channels water down the hillside. Half buried in places with tears in its casing, the hose was leaching water into the nearby soil.

LTC Kelly speaks his thoughts, “a patch kit and concrete costs about $200.” Discussion continues into whether adding all new hose from the spring source down to the road is more beneficial for the village instead of just a couple of families. The scheme increases the cost but is possibly a benefit with more impact.

Other projects are considered. Pedro brings up the viability of a wood lot project where fast growing trees provide wood for cooking fires. Projects protecting the road from being washed out during snowmelt or building a spring box around the source preventing leaching into the bank. Small projects of $200 each could be implemented up and down the valley giving benefits to many families.

Yet, Col. Grimm quickly brings up the original desire of the village elder, Amish Khan, he spoke with earlier in the week. His wish was for an increase in water for irrigating the fields so they could plant more than one crop per season. Additional income for the family.

LTC Kelly will write a summary outlining each of the plans comparing costs and benefits before a final decision is made.

Families are not small in Afghanistan and the country is going through a population boom where the school-age population grew by more than 3 percent or 250,000 children. Sala’s house, which is more of a compound, is home to a large extended family.

“I counted 100 people, and most of those were under 15 years” reports First Sgt. Hanson.

Richard Cincotta on AFPak/Foreign Policy Magazine says this boom “…is bad news for young men seeking employment or land ownership—and good news for extremist recruiters.

Sometimes small is not so small if the impact is extensive and important.