Captain Sara Woods brings sweet water to Iraqis
Capt. Sara Woods, chief of Civil Affairs Team 31, unscrews a lid to check a water pump filter in a sunflower field near Mahmudiyah, Iraq, Aug. 9. Woods, of Janesville, Minn., is attached to Company B, 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Brigade Combat Team. Photo by Sgt. Jon Soles
Capt. Sara Woods calls it “sweet water;” the clean, potable ground water that hides under the dusty farmland at a depth of about 20 meters. That sweet water is the key to helping rural Iraqis enjoy greater health and more productive livestock.Woods is the chief of Civil Affairs Team 31, currently attached to the North Carolina National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, and her job is to help Iraqis help themselves by setting up wells and teaching them how to operate them.
The civil affairs team, and a platoon of infantrymen providing security, visited well sites near Mahmudiyah, here, Aug. 9, to check on their condition and level of use by local farm families.
“What [a well] does is provide everyone with clean drinking water, for people and animals; for an entire cluster of farm families,” said Woods, a native of Janesville, Minn. “From the well, all the families can come in and get good drinking water.”
Woods said the alternative to the well water is canal water, or water from wells that are too shallow.
“Right now most of them are pretty much drinking straight canal water. It’s dirty, it’s contaminated and it’s salty,” said Woods. “People get sick, the kids are sick and babies are born with birth defects; it’s absolutely terrible.”
This well in Mahmudiyah was built by the civil affairs team and an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team. When the Soldiers came to check on it, they found the well in good working order and utilized by about 15 families and cattle. The North Carolina National Guardsmen have plans to build more wells capable of providing water for dozens of families, according to Woods.
“The larger-scale concept that the 120th [Inf. Regt.] is looking at puts out 1,500 liters an hour and would service about 30 to 50 families,” said Woods. “It’s ideal for out in these rural areas where you’re not going to get a city network running to you.”
Beside the well, a milk cow and her calf stood under a shade tree. Woods pointed out that the cow and her calf looked much healthier since they started drinking clean water from the new well. Cows drinking the dirty water often have shrunken udders that do not produce much milk.
“She can’t even stand up straight she’s got so much milk in her udders and that comes from drinking good water and not that really nasty salty water,” said Woods. “That cow is going to produce phenomenal amounts of milk for the family.”
In order for the wells to work properly, they need to be deep enough to tap into clean water, said Woods. Filters clean remaining contaminants or salt from the water.
“That 20-meter aquifer we have to hit is ideal because it’s got the lowest salt content and the least amount of contaminants,” said Woods. “There are two other aquifers at 6 and 12 meters and they (Iraqis) stop there because they think it’s good, when all they’ve got to do is put in a little more elbow grease and hit that 20 meter aquifer.”
Something as simple as a new well helps the community and builds self-sufficiency in many different ways, according to Woods.
“You’re decreasing illnesses and the problems the kids and the families have from drinking polluted canal water,” said Woods. “And you are giving it to the milk cows, which means the farmers have more milk to take to the market to make products, and it builds the dairy industry up and it provides for the folks in the area.”
As the Soldiers of the 1st Bn., 120th Inf. Regt., continue to pursue the well project that provide clean drinking water, they can help Iraqi families extract better health and economic prosperity from the dry, dusty farmland.
DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Jon Soles
the attachments to this post:
Captain Sara Woods
Greetings to the 120th!
You continue to make us so proud with all the good you are doing. We continue to pray for your safety, and look forward to your return. You are doing a great job in representing the country, and your home state of North Carolina.
Sincerely,
Proud 120th Parents,
Maureen and Dennis Chinn