The irrigation assembly met beside the east gate, where the repaired channel divided between the orchard and two vegetable plots.
Mera asked whether new households should vote on the gate before they had lived through a full maintenance cycle. Hala, one of the local growers, said anyone who used the channel should help maintain it. Olan answered that a household downstream needed a say even if it had arrived a week earlier. “If the gate fails, our fields lose water together.”
Hala tapped the wooden handle. “Then the people who vote should show up when it breaks.”
Ning proposed a trial rule: each household could vote after completing one shared maintenance shift. It would not decide every water share, but it would give new residents a voice in the schedule and repair plan.
A farmer with a bandaged hand asked what counted as a shift. He could not lift stone, but he could keep measurements. Another woman said she had two children and could not take a day away from them to work at the channel.
Noma suggested households contribute in different ways: labor, water records, meal preparation, or tool repair. “The gate needs more than strong backs. It needs someone to notice when the flow changes and someone to feed the crew.”
