Water flows again in Birhan Spring, Tigray - Ethiopia

Feleg G/mariam leans over the concrete edge of the spring and steadies a yellow jerrycan with one hand. With the other, she guides its mouth under the pipe as clear water runs into it. A second stream spills nearby and drains away, darkening the ground below the outlet. She keeps her eyes on the container, careful not to waste a drop.

This is Meshano spring water point, in Bet-mariya kushet, Birhan kebelle, Tsimbla wereda, Tigray, Ethiopia. 

Feleg is 65. She lives with three family members and depends on a mixed agricultural livelihood. She is also chronically ill. For years, water shaped the rhythm of her day. “Before Oxfam rehabilitated the spring water point, it had been damaged during the war,” she says. “It was destroyed back in 2020” She says she still came, because there was no other choice. “I and other community members had to collect water from there despite its destruction, as we had no alternatives around our homes.”

Even when she reached the spring, the struggle continued. The discharge was low, and the line moved slowly. “Due to the low discharge capacity and long queues at the water point, I traveled two rounds a day to fetch two jerricans only per day,” she says. Waiting had its own cost. Feleg describes water that was untreated, mixed with debris at the damaged collection point. “Many children suffered from diarrhea and other waterborne diseases due to the untreated water,” she says, “and the damaged collection point… had dirty waste, human refuse, and other debris.” Tensions rose during peak times. “Conflicts often arose,” she adds. “And many girls faced harassment… while traveling to the water point.” 

In her household, she carried responsibility for herself. “The responsibility for fetching water primarily falls on me,” she says. And she noticed how water scarcity rippled outward, beyond her own home. “Due to the imbalance between water demand and supply, I noticed many children missing school because of the long distances and long waits at the water points.” 

When the spring stopped working completely, the coping options were worse. “When the water point was non-operational, I used water from nearby unprotected ponds,” Feleg says. To make what little they had last, she describes cutting back on basic hygiene. “To conserve water, my family and I often skipped regular washing of our bodies and clothes.” That is what “before” looked like in Birhan: two trips a day, two jerrycans, and the constant calculation of what could wait.

Then the spring was rehabilitated through an Oxfam project funded by the European Union’s humanitarian aid (ECHO). The work in Tigray is part of a wider ECHO-supported response in northern Ethiopia, where Oxfam rehabilitated rural water schemes, including springs, benefiting 63,750 IDPs, returnees, and host community members, and to strengthen community water committees to keep systems running. For Feleg, the change is immediate and practical. “After the spring water point was worked, I now have access to quality water,” she says. Water is not something she negotiates for hours anymore. “The water point is always open for users,” she explains, “allowing me to use three to four jerricans per day without the need to queue, which makes collecting water smooth and easy.” 

She describes what it means to have enough, enough to wash clothes, enough to keep up with daily needs, enough not to ration every task. And she describes how the community is keeping it going. “To sustain the water point, I contribute 250 Birr (1.60 United States Dollar) per household annually for fixing and minor maintenance, including payments for security guards,” she says. 

She also speaks about safety. “Now that it is fixed, the water is treated or chlorinated, and we receive Aqua-Tabs in our houses,” she says. The impact reaches beyond her doorstep. Water now supports her livelihood in a way it could not have before. “I have 0.5 hectares of irrigated land that uses water drained from the fixed spring water point,” she says. She describes planting pepper and tomatoes in the dry season and expecting “a harvest of over six casas and 2.5 quintals.” In the summer, she adds, she grows teff and maize using rainfall. 

Health and hygiene are part of the “after,” too, not as a slogan, but as something she can now practice. “Currently, instances of waterborne diseases among children, including my own, have significantly decreased,” she says. “My family and I practice proper hygiene by washing our clothes and hands regularly,” she adds, pointing to the hygiene promotion sessions delivered by Oxfam community hygiene promoter volunteers. 

Feleg does not describe the rehabilitation as something done to her community. She describes what people do with it. She is part of the water committee that runs the point, known locally as the WASHCO. “The overall management of the water point is handled by the WASHCO, which consists of seven members, including myself,” she says. She says the committee received training from Oxfam on maintenance, hygiene promotion, financial management, and overall management of the water point. 

They have started building a safety net for repairs. “Since completing our training, we have mobilized a total of 6,000 Birr (40 dollars),” she says, “which is currently deposited in a microfinance account.” 

They are also thinking about protection around the water point, cleaning waste nearby, and strengthening fencing to prevent damage from the upper catchment area of the watershed. 

Spring serves more than one group. Community members use the water equally, and the water point is managed through agreed rules. In total, 725 individuals, including 390 women and girls, benefit from the rehabilitated spring water supply, alongside 10 IDPs living with host families and seven people with disabilities. 

Feleg says the clearer rules have reduced tension. “So far, there have been no conflicts among community members, as roles and responsibilities… have been clearly established,” she explains. And when she talks about fairness, she does it in the simplest way: by stepping aside. “When collecting water, I give my place in the queue to people with disabilities, pregnant and lactating women, and the elderly in our community,” she says. “Other community members recognize and agree to prioritize these vulnerable individuals.”  At the spring, that agreement is not written on a sign. It is practiced in small moments, who fills first, who carries less, who is asked to wait, and who is not.

Feleg looks down as the jerrycan rises toward the brim. She shifts it slightly, keeps the mouth aligned, and then pulls it back when it’s full. She does not romanticize what water means. She says it plainly, the way a person does when they have lived without it. “Water is the key to our life,” she says. “Without water, we cannot live.”