Shmavon Virabyan, the foreman in the Mets Shen section of the Khotorashen-Martakert water pipeline, pointed at the tree-covered mountain in the fog, “Do you see that white spot? It's the Irek Mankunk monastery. The water comes from there, and that's where my boss is now.”

There is an abundant water source five kilometers above that magnificent medieval structure, in the region called Khotorashen. Its water mixes with the rivers and flows away unused, while in the city of Martakert and the villages around it water is rationed almost to the last drop.

“It's unbearable – the conditions in these villages are really unbearable,” said Shmavon Virabyan. He is a native of the village of Chanakhchi in the region of Askeran and lived in Stepanakert for a long time. He said that there were water shortages all over Karabakh, but the situation in Martakert was “very difficult”. “It's very clean water – it's a very clean source, a very good source. Why should people go thirsty if there is water available?” asked the foreman, and he blessed the Diasporan Armenians who have helped finance the pipeline. “This is a salvation, nothing less - a salvation.”

Shmavon Virabyan	Vagif Mirzoyan

In the section of Mets Shen, the trenches had already been dug and the pipes were on site. Soldering was underway. The local foreman said that if the weather held up, they would be able to place the pipes inside the trenches and cover them before the New Year. “Then the water will flow.”

Local residents had long dreamed of a pipeline which would supply water from Irek Mankunk to the city of Martakert. This dream became a reality when, in November 2005, the Armenia Fund presented the Martakert pipeline project to the Armenians in the Diaspora.

The Armenia Fund project plans that the water will flow under its own power to Martakert. The altitude at which the source is located also allows the pipeline to branch out and supply a few adjacent villages with water.

Vagif Mirzoyan, foreman of the pipeline project in the Maghavuz section, is from Martakert. When we asked about the water, he seemed surprised that we did not know, “There are people in Martakert who get water only once every five days – they get water for only one or two hours.” He stood near the road and waiter for tractors that were due from Martakert, which were supposed to put the pipes in place. “Walk a little up this road,” said Vagif, “Our excavators are digging trenches there.”

The trenches dug for the Khotorashen-Martakert pipeline were visible from afar, looking like a ribbon in the distance, stretched out from the top of the hill down into the valley and then rising up again. The excavator drew out the underground path of the pipeline, as if using a ruler. Because water would be flowing under its own power, every angle and inclination is of utmost importance.

When we returned, Vagif asked with a self-satisfied smile, “Did you see what a job is being done? Delicate, like a jeweler's. There should be no loss of pressure. The pressure has been calculated such that the villages of Mets Shen, Maghavuz and Varinkatagh will also be supplied with water.”

The tractors Vagif was waiting for arrived towards evening. The drivers had brought bedding, clothes and other necessary supplies with them. They were to stay at the worksite until the job was done. “We are trying to finish the job quickly because this is being done for the people. We must get the water to them as soon as possible,” said Vagif Mirzoyan, “Water is the wealth of the people. If the water flows, they can create everything else themselves.”

We went to Martakert together through an unfamiliar, but shorter road. There were memorial stones everywhere, immortalizing the memory of those who had given their lives there. “This is Karine's stone, this one is Yura's from Number 26…” Vagif pointed them out one by one and then concluded, “These people gave their lives. Why shouldn't something as simple as water be available to the relatives they left behind?”

Vagif said goodbye to us on another construction site near Martakert, “When you come in May, we will have water.”

“God willing,” I said.

“God has already willed it, but we must do the work.”