A New Era in Water Security PRESENTED BY: CHINA FOUDATION FOR PROVERTY ALLEVIATION, XCMG, AND ERHA Collaboration Lack of water security in Ethiopia can be directly linked to poverty, poor education, disease and death. Minjar-Shenkora woreda (The Other Side of the Mountain)- a dry arid region-found in North Shoa zone of Amhara Regional State of Ethiopia, is in critical condition, suffering from water shortage for both human, livestock, and agriculture. In critical months women and children travel as far as 15 Kms to collect water for domestic supply, human and livestock. On average, 8 Jerrycans (water container, 20 lit capacities) are collected by each household per day using donkeys and camels as means for transportation to and from the distant water sources. The distant water source is usually a community-made open pond. The open pond is not covered, allowing for animal, insects, and human contamination. Furthermore, the pond is a incubator of mosquitoes, causing malaria. Fetching water is a very time consuming, energy exhaustive task that does not contribute to income generating or agricultural activities. TamruAchamyeleh, a 70 year old farmer and his wife DebrituAbebe has a total of 10 children, (3 currently living in the household). Ato Achamyeleh said all his life his family has experienced great difficulties collecting and storing water. He stated “we had to fetch water from an underground water-well that was very far away. We would use a rope and bucket to fetch the water in the well. If the water well was dry, we had to travel even further to a distant pond. Once we reached the pond, we had to remove our clothes to enter the well to scoop the water into our Jerrycans. Many people in the community got sick from water-borne illness. There is a clinical Heath Post in the locality, where people would go to get treated, but some people got very sick and had to go to the Higher Hospital." So as a means of challenging water insecurity and achieving economic development in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Rainwater Harvesting Association, a local based NGO, backed with the financial support and guidance of the Chinese Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), launched a program entitled the “Water Cellar Project”. This program was successful in constructing 40 Rainwater Harvesting cellars on the near grounds of residents' households. These water cellars greatly improved the quality of life of 240 direct beneficiaries. Now AtoAchamyeheh says that the water cellar will help add to his income by planting rare seedlings, including fruits and vegetables alike to directly sell to the market, and expects great income from his mango trees within 2-3 years using the RWH cellars for small scale irrigation. Achamyeleh said "During the hardest dry period when the underground water well and community pond dries up, having water stored in the water cellar is like having money in the bank." He added, "My family is lucky to have such technology like the water harvesting cellars. Before this, it was very hard. This is a good era."