Why Once-Scarce Water Is Coming Back in North Mecha, Ethiopia

Minzir, in northern Ethiopia, looks different than it used to. Three years ago, water was dwindling and the landscape was barren. Today, wells have refilled, springs have emerged, and the area is greener.

"Streams used to dry up but are now flowing much longer. For the first time, we are using this water during the dry season. Honestly, I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime," said Molla Arega, a farmer and village leader living in the area.

At the root of the change? A watershed restoration project that's reviving local water supplies.

Landscapes Under Stress

Minzir 01 is a micro-watershed nestled in Ethiopia's North Mecha District, part of the larger Lake Tana Subbasin. The hills and lands of the Amhara Region, where the district is found, bear the marks of decades of overuse and mismanagement.

In Minzir, soil erosion had carved deep gullies through farmland, deforestation and overgrazing stripped the land of its fertility, and rainfall ran off the bare surface. Streams and wells that once provided water for households and crops saw their sources depleting.

"When I was a child, this place was meadow and suitable for farming," said Gedif Tadele, another farmer from the area, in 2022. "There was no deterioration. Now, the land is eroded."

Climate change has magnified these pressures. Increasingly unpredictable rainfall is further straining water supplies and making food harder to grow in the region, threatening household needs. For residents of Minzir 01, living under the shadows of land degradation and water scarcity offered a bleak future.­­­­

This story is not unique. Across Ethiopia and beyond, degraded landscapes are undermining water security and livelihoods, leaving communities increasingly vulnerable to shocks. Poor land management and vegetation loss exacerbate erosion, which strips valuable moisture from the ground. This prevents rainwater from being absorbed and curbs groundwater recharge. As a result, natural water cycles fall into disrepair, compromising everything from agricultural productivity and biodiversity to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) access.

But in Minzir 01, change has begun to take root

Healing the Land to Safeguard Water Supplies

In 2022, WRI partnered with WaterAid Ethiopia to launch a three-year community-led watershed restoration project across 400 hectares of Minzir 01. The goal was simple yet bold: rehabilitate degraded land to improve soil health, revive water sources and strengthen people's wellbeing. Community members from the area — those most affected — would be key actors in planning and implementation.

The project focused on revegetation and other soil and water conservation practices. Together, participants planted over 187,000 tree and grass seedlings and built 20 kilometers of farmland terrace structures (such as soil bunds and fanya juu) to help stabilize the soil and improve water absorption. They constructed 28 check dams to control water runoff and trap sediment. They closed off over 200 hectares of land to livestock and farming, giving nature a chance to regenerate. And they promoted sustainable farming practices, like agroforestry, on both communal and individual croplands.

These measures were designed to help reduce erosion and rainwater runoff and limit sedimentation (which pollutes waterways). In so doing, they aimed to boost surface waters, replenish groundwater and improve water quality — sustaining the sources that feed local water supply systems.

The Water's Return

After three short years, the results are striking.

To understand how healthy watersheds affect local water supplies, WRI developed an extensive monitoring framework for this project. With the help of the Abbay Basin Administration Office, we tracked and measured changes in biophysical dynamics (mainly vegetation cover and water availability and quality), as well as impacts on people. An endline assessment of Minzir 01 carried out by external evaluators used GIS, remote sensing, field observation, household surveys and local interviews to compare conditions before and after intervention. With research amplified by local testimony, it highlights both the tangible and locally perceived benefits that have arisen.

Water is already coming back to the land.

Groundwater levels rose by 1.2 meters on average across five monitored community wells since the project started — a promising improvement in a region where locals are seeing levels falling. Two local streams, once seasonal, now flow through the dry season, bringing reliable water for over three additional months. New ponds have formed in the stream depressions, and the local wetland has expanded, boosting water retention and supporting irrigation. And two freshwater springs have appeared where none previously existed, standing as proxy for better groundwater.

"I have lived here my whole life. There was never a spring in that part of the land before," says Achenef Alemayehu. "Now, a spring has started to emerge, and it has not stopped flowing since. For a place that used to struggle with water shortages, this has really changed things for the better."

The project has also curbed erosion, stabilizing the area's steep slopes and gullies (an extreme form of soil degradation). It has reduced sediment concentration in local streams by 40%, leading to cleaner water and healthier soils. And the land is becoming greener — measurably so¹ — indicating a healthier landscape. Native tree species such as misana, agam and girar are naturally regenerating.

For residents, the science and field data match their own experiences. All those surveyed noted improved water availability, rising water levels and extended stream durations.

"Even more encouraging," says Ambaye Ewnetu, who remembers many years ago when the wetland was stable and saw it thinning out over time, "is that people's attitudes have changed. We now understand the value of protecting our environment."

Locals Reap the Benefits

As the land mended and water availability improved, so did household opportunity and economic uplift. 

Agroforestry — a practice of planting trees alongside crops to improve soil fertility — has provided new fruit and market products, while plants grown for fodder are helping fatten livestock. When asked about income gains, all households surveyed reported an increase. Most (93%) reported higher crop production. Many were also able to start growing a second crop, shifting away from mono-cropping practices that endanger soils and household resilience.

With water more plentiful, homestead vegetable gardens have also flourished. This is important for combatting hunger and malnutrition in a region where approximately 46% of children under five are stunted and 20% of households face moderate to severe food insecurity.

As Yezina Alemneh, a young female farmer, explains: "I began growing wheat and vegetables in my backyard and fattening animals with the fodder. These changes have helped to improve my farm's production."

Her neighbor remarked: "I started growing crops twice a year. When I have extra, I sell it at the nearby market. That small income has helped support my family. We also use the stream water at home for cooking and washing. Some people have started using it for irrigation."

"It's made a big difference for me and others in the community," Molla, the village leader, adds.

Building Sustainable Landscapes: How It all Came Together

Ethiopia is no stranger to land restoration, yet this project stands apart.

What made this effort different was its focus on water outcomes and its integrated scope. For one, it did not treat watershed management solely as a conservation or agricultural endeavor. Instead, it was designed to directly support water security and water supply services, which in turn benefits domestic water, crop cultivation and the environment, as well as broader development goals.

Unlike earlier conservation programs in Ethiopia, which often sidelined the needs and realities of rural communities, the project placed local ownership and livelihood security at its core. The Minzir community jointly planned and implemented activities together with local government officials, who also collaborated in novel ways.

"Unlike the traditional approach, where watershed management was left primarily to the agriculture, environment and forestry offices, we in the Water and Energy Office participated from the beginning in project scoping, implementation, monitoring and evaluation," said Muluedil Asres from the North Mecha Water and Energy Office. "This cross-sectoral collaboration is, in my view, one of the project's most powerful strengths."

District officials also worked closely with the newly formed Watershed Management Committee, in time led by Molla. The committee brought together respected elders, women and others from local villages to ensure community buy-in and help mobilize households in the conservation activities, all on a voluntary basis. By the project's end, all 321 households in Minzir 01 were involved in its implementation and had received hands-on training.

Alongside on-the-ground activities, the project worked to strengthen institutional decision-making and coordination on water at multiple scales, from basin-level planning to community-managed water systems. For example, the watershed committee joined forces with local Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Committees (WASHCOs) — "an innovative integration between two groups that had never worked together before," Muluedil explains. This helped align land-based restoration efforts with water-point management for a more holistic protection of water supplies and services. "These changes," continues Muluedil, "are now helping meet water needs, and they show that sustainable water source management is achievable."

WRI and partners, including the Millennium Water Alliance, also provided trainings and technical assistance targeting basin, region and woreda (district) authorities. Topics ranged from source water protection, to water allocation planning, to efficient irrigation and water safety planning (a risk assessment and management approach to ensure that water points remain safe and functioning). Trainings by WaterAid at the community level focused on sustainable land and water management practices, climate-smart agriculture and livelihood diversification — some tailor-made for youth and women-headed households.

Endorsement across government agencies was and remains strong. Every interviewed official — representing the district's water, agriculture, environment, forestry, land and other offices — expressed solid support for the project's participatory approach and a desire to bring this integrated model to other watersheds in the district and region.

As Asfaw Melese from the Environment and Forest Office emphasized: "From the beginning, the intervention was designed and implemented through a truly participatory, integrated and coordinated approach. My office collaborated closely with other key offices in North Mecha, and most importantly, the local community. The project provided valuable training and experience-sharing opportunities, which significantly built technical capacity and led to improved planning and implementation of conservation measures. These gains represent a major step toward ensuring reliable and sustainable water access for the community."

Community members, too, expressed strong willingness to continue the conservation efforts, underscoring changing attitudes while pointing out the need for consistency. "Personally, I have taken it as my responsibility to maintain the structures on my own land and to encourage my neighbors to do the same," said one resident. "We have already seen the positive results of working together. If we continue, I believe the future will be even brighter for our community."

Lessons Learned

Lessons from Minzir 01 will inform the next project phase, and could offer helpful insights for other ecological restoration initiatives:

• Community leadership and local realities are foundations for long-term sustainability. Without strong local buy-in and livelihood considerations, conservation efforts are unlikely to endure.
• Agro-ecology matters. Local conditions always impact outcomes. Results must be seen in light of an area's agro-ecological circumstances, including climate conditions, soil profiles and topography.
• Water is a unifying thread. By linking landscape restoration to water access, interventions can deliver ecological, hydrological and socio-economic benefits, helping contribute to sustainable water services while improving the local context for water, sanitation and hygeine.
• Integration is powerful. Collaboration with local government and across the water, agriculture, environment, land administration and WASH sectors is essential to water security.
• Monitoring needs time to build evidence. Better data and consistent monitoring are critical to understanding trends and long-term impacts.

It is important to note that, while the results are positive overall, the findings and methodological limitations urge some caution. Rainfall variability dynamics could have influenced some outcomes, while survey and perception-based findings need prudence. However, the endline study did isolate rainfall dynamics, finding that a small increase during the project timeframe alone cannot explain the changes in streamflow and groundwater.

Looking Ahead: A Model for the Future

Minzir 01 has transformed from a degraded catchment into a landscape of recovery and hope.

Perhaps most importantly, the project has rekindled optimism. Community members see a future where their land provides environmental resilience and economic opportunity, while officials see a replicable example for other districts and regions and the larger river basin.

As Asfaw put it, "this is a model for how Ethiopia can secure its water future."

While sustaining these efforts and addressing long-term climate variability will require ongoing support, the lesson is clear: Healthy landscapes mean more water security. Investing in restoration delivers multi-dimensional benefits — not only more trees and carbon storage, but also reliable water, ample food and more resilient communities. Because when land heals, so do those who depend on it.

This article was written in collaboration with Mulatu Adane (WaterAid Ethiopia), Tamene Chaka (Millennium Water Alliance/MWA), and Bewuketu Abebe (Abbay Basin Administration Office/ABAO).

This work was made possible through a generous grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

^{1 Using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). An NDVI assessment involves using a remote sensing technique to measure and analyze vegetation health and density using satellite imagery.}