Stream of life: Marines help build waterways for Afghan villagers 

Staring into a gaping hole in the earth, Marines walked along its edge, making notes of the project’s progress. Muddy Afghan workers deep in the holes laugh and wave for the Marines to join them. “No Thanks,” the Marines call back and slowly press on. This isn’t the only site they’ll need to visit today.

Marines with the civil affairs team in support of 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2, began these projects to rebuild the waterways, or karizs, here more than a year ago.

“A lot of times in the Pashtu language a village is not called a village, it’s called a kariz,” said Maj. Richard Graham, civil affairs team leader. “So it shows the importance and how those waterways are the life of the village.”

Due to the largely agricultural community here, the supply of water is a lifeline. The project’s goal is to increase the flow of water in the area for crops, and to create jobs in building the waterways.

The project started with plans to renovate eight karizs that connected to the surrounding villages to the district center.

Rebuilding the waterways doesn’t just help farmers. It also provides a key tool for construction workers in the area. Most buildings here are made of concrete and mud. Without a steady supply of water, the construction of villages is impossible.

The civil affairs team here is also taking a natural approach to rebuilding the karizs. The team is not using concrete or materials to cover the canals but using diggers with shovels and buckets to clear the waterways.

“These are natural structures anyway,” said Graham. “So if there’s no body out there maintaining them you’ll get silt build up, and dirt and rocks will naturally cave in, so it’s important that people are out there maintaining them.”

Precipitation has decreased over the last ten years, and canals have been in disrepair. So, one crop that grows well here is poppy.

“Even though it’s illegal, it’s easy to grow and doesn’t take much water. So getting the waterways fixed will help persuade them into growing something like wheat or corn.” Said Lance Cpl. Bowen Yu, a civil affairs specialist, with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, RCT-2.

The work is hard and slow. It will be an on-going process for a long time. The kariz projects stretch for kilometers across Now Zad, making a web system through the villages.

“We’re here to show them the way,” said Graham. “The government here will be responsible to preserve and continue what we helped them start.”