In the villages perched high in the midhills of Nepal, springs are a lifeline – providing water to sustain the needs of households, their farms, and their livestock. Many villages sit far above the streams and rivers, which lie at the bottom of deep gullies and valleys far below, and the cost of carrying or pumping water to the hill settlements from rivers can be prohibitive. In contrast, springs emerge all around the hill slopes close to the villages. The springs are fed by groundwater that accumulates in underground aquifers during the monsoon, effectively turning the hills into water towers.