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By Syed Muhammad Abubakar

GOJAL VALLEY, Pakistan, March 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – S hovel in hand, Naila Shah regularly walks two miles from her home to a newly planted apple orchard, high in the mountains of Khyber village in northern Pakistan.

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Only two years ago, it would have been practically impossible to grow apples in this part of Pakistan, 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) up in Gilgit-Baltistan region’s Gojal Valley.

Although the Khunjerab River provides plenty of water to those living in the valleys below, local farmers used to have no efficient way to get it up the mountain-sides.

But the installation of a hydraulic ram (hydro-ram) pump has changed that. It harnesses the pressure of fast-flowing water, such as a river, to drive a share of that water uphill without needing any other power source.

Because the pumps work without electricity or fuel, they are cheap to run and produce no climate-heating carbon emissions.