Spanish Waterwheel
This water-wheel, or "noria" is driven by a windmill - or rather, by a device which looks exactly like a windmill. There is no "milling" involved, and so the name is not really appropriate. Nor is this a wind-pump, as such, although I have often refered to it by that name. The Spanish call these windmills "sifones", and they call the water-wheel mechanism a noria.
This is one of three wind-driven norias in the vicinity of Cartagena which have been restored to working order. There is also one fully restored animal-driven noria in the same neighbourhood. Fifty years ago the entire landscape hereabouts was dotted with "windmills" and animal-driven norias, all of which were used to irrigate the local market gardens and to provide water for the asssociated households.. Most of the windmill towers and are now ruinous, and many have fallen down. The norias have rotted away, and the wells are abandoned. The land continues to produce vegetables - indeed, vegetables are grown here in abundnce - but the water which furnishes their needs comes out of a tap.
The "sifon" in this photograph is used, on an occasional basis, to irrigate an orange grove. The water is lifted, from deep in the ground, by a very rustic system. The drive from the sails is directed to a wooden wheel (the noria), notched into the side of the tower. This wheel is slung with a necklace of earthenware pots which hangs down into the water. Thus, when the wheel is turned, the pots all descend, one after another, into the depths and then they ascend, one after another, filled with the elixir of life.
So far, so good - but there is a hitch. Unfortunately, the wind-driven fan lacks the power to overcome the inertia of a series of buckets laden with water. To get round this problem the buckets are constructed with a hole at the bottom...
With its load lightened the mill can turn the wheel - and, once the fan is spinning fast and the water wheel turning at top speed, quite a bit of the water reaches its proper destination. In any event, the method has been in use since mediaeval times, at the very least, and can therefore be said to have stood the test of time. Precisely the same method of lifting the water was used when the work was being performed by a donkey.
These links will take you to more photos of this "sifon" and other water-lifting "windmills".