on sept. 30, cocks’ crowing was echoing in the air of the tianshuigou village. in this small mountain village which is located to the utmost south of helingeer county, inner mongolia, villagers were threshing and drying grains. for the first time, workers were building a three floored small building on the hill lying to the west of the village. to the east of the village was an anemometer tower.
last year, the company started to build a wind farm in the tianshuigou village, yangqungou town, helin county. when the company heard that it was difficult for the villagers to get drinking water, they spent nearly rmb400,000 yuan in digging wells for them. besides it also invested rmb110,000 yuan to construct the project of running water to each household. qi laisheng, duty leader of the company, had always been concerned about that and he came to the village for the six times.
wind comes and so does drinking water.
although it is called tianshuigou village (its chinese equivalent is a village with fresh water), in fact, just like most of the villages on the loess plateau, the has no drinking water at all.
the fall between the central area of the village and the point of water fetching in the valley reaches 70 meters and the road is a steep mountain path with a slope of 40 degrees. villager liu peiren said, “it takes a villager one and half hours to fetch two buckets of water and it takes a whole morning for a villager to fill the urn with water completely. worse still, the fall between the highest place in which several households live is 150 meters. so villagers are deeply troubled by the water problem. as a result, only 20 households among the former 42 households are still living in the village. ”
in the early spring, the company came to develop wind power in the small village and suddenly it became hilarious.76 year old cen suoxiao said, “it seems as if relatives are staying with us and we can sleep soundly. to our surprise, the company also helps us solve the drinking water problem.”
on sept. 26, as the last valve of the pipe was open, the fresh water ran into the urn of each household of the village. from then on, the villagers were no longer troubled by the water problem.
furthermore, yun zhankai, secretary of the party committee of the town, said, “some villagers working on the construction site of the wind farm can earn more than rmb6,000 yuan in two months, which is equal to two years’ income of the local farmers.
remember our benefactor- longyuan while enjoying drinking water
the construction of the scientific and environment-friendly project has not only increased the villagers' income, improved their living conditions, maintained local landscapes and clean air, but also subtly changed villagers’ opinions and reflected longyuan’s scientific outlook of development.
designers investigated the geological features of the village thoroughly and made reasonable construction plan so as to ensure the safe and long-term service of the running water project for the villagers.
qi ji, responsible for the construction, said, “to guarantee the safe use of the project in winter, the pipes were buried 2.5 meters under the ground. the length of the pipes of the whole project is 4,000 meters and they are connected with villagers’ kitchen. the company also sent water sample to special testing institute to check the quality of the water and it turned out to meet with the national standard of drinking water for urban citizens.
the company lives harmoniously with villagers and it is willing to help them. naturally, the simple and kind villagers try their best to solve the problems met by the staff of longyuan in their work and life. therefore, the project of the company makes smooth progress.
qi laisheng said to the reporter, “although our project hasn’t started and has no return yet, our development cannot advance without villager’s support.”
in order to express their gratitude, the party committee and the government of yangqungou town sent a letter of thank to the company. in addition, the villagers of the tianshuigou village set up a memorial monument by the water-providing pool, on which engraved are the words: remember our benefactor - longyuan while enjoying the fresh water.
(this article was firstly published in china electric power news issued on nov. 3, 2010)