Ashot Abrahamyan is a farmer in Armenia whose apricot orchards lie beneath picturesque purple mountains. His farm is 30 meters above the closest public canal; so in order to irrigate, he had to pump water for more than seven hours every day. For decades, less than three kilometers of the canal system were operational. Beginning late 2009, to respond to the irrigation needs of Mr. Abrahamyan and hundreds of other Armenian farmers, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) funded the reconstruction of gravity-fed irrigation systems as part of its compact with Armenia.