Iraq - Wind energy used to power water pumps

An Iraqi village east of Baghdad used windmill-powered groundwater pumps to get its own drinking-water supply for the first time since 2003. Maj. Chris Hempel, an agricultural officer with an Army civil affairs team, and Army Col. Ryan Kuhn met the local contractor for the windmill projects in the area to get a sense of how the project was going, the Multi-National Corp-Iraq said.

Hempel said that prior to the installation of the windmill pumps, the villagers had to get their drinking water shipped in from other areas. "(The drinking water) was being trucked in from vendors. With the windmill-powered groundwater pumps, they won't have to pay for water," Hempel said.

The windmill pumps cost $20,000 each for the entire unit, and plans are under way to fit them with solar purification systems. "This is the first time the wind and sun have been used together to provide clean drinking water anywhere in Iraq," Kuhn noted. He noted the pumps can bring up enough water every hour to supply more than 100 local villagers with drinking water.

Kuhn also said the contractor in charge of the windmill project agreed to put some of the local Iraqis to work manufacturing the windmills. Reconstruction officials said they were considering windmills for use in agricultural irrigation as well.