Increased Access to Potable Water for Conflict-Affected People in Eastern Aleppo City The proposed action seeks to safe-guard and increase access to potable water in Eastern Aleppo city through activating existing public boreholes and / or drilling new boreholes. Prior to the recent crisis in Aleppo the public water supply came from a large reservoir which is now controlled by Islamic State (IS). This reservoir continued to supply water to Aleppo city occasionally but recently, since October 2015, the flow was shut down. Since then a business has blossomed to sell water with access to potable water increasingly linked to ability to pay. Those who can’t afford to pay are reliant on unprotected sources and getting by with a lot less. This has resulted in a spike in diarrhea, lice and scabies (Eastern Aleppo Household Assessment Water Security, REACH, August 2015). The situation for populations remaining in Aleppo city has worsened since early February 2016 with recent shifts in active frontlines in rural areas surrounding Aleppo city resulting in increased concerns that the city may become besieged. 

Big Heart proposes to increase the supply of potable water by repairing/rehabilitating public boreholes with an average flow rate of 40m3/hr. Flexibility is proposed to drill new boreholes should this also be shown to be an efficient means to contribute to increased access to potable water for targeted populations. In addition, Big Heart proposes to complete an assessment of existing water services in close coordination with the Aleppo City Water Unit and other partners. This will include mapping locations of wells in addition to other water services (including water trucking, treatment units etc). Big Heart has begun the survey part of this proposal by assessing 53 boreholes in Eastern Aleppo city to determine which boreholes will be considered for rehabilitation. As a result of this survey Big Heart has located five boreholes that fit the criteria for urgent reactivation (please see Appendix D). The criteria Big Heart has used to chose which boreholes to reactivate are 1) the borehole has a documented output of a minimum 40m3/hr, 2) the borehole is not operational at this time, 3) no other organization is currently working on the borehole, 4) the borehole is located in an area that can easily serve the population and 5) the area is considered relatively secure. Drilling new boreholes will also be considered should further analysis and / or coordination with the Water Unit demonstrate that this activity would make an efficient contribution to meeting project objectives. 

Due to the urgency of the situation given the increased threat of siege, a phased approach is proposed. Phase one (proposed under the HPF Emergency Allocation) will focus on rehabilitation and / or drilling of an estimated five boreholes. The number of boreholes included in the final scope of work will be dependent on the ratio of new boreholes created versus existing boreholes rehabilitated, with preference given to rehabilitation whenever feasible. Phase one – proposed for HPF funding under the emergency allocation – seeks to increase access to potable water and would add a minimum of 200,000 liters of potable water for every hour of pumping. With the expanded storage capacity (Phase two of the planned project and not included within the scope of this proposal) the amount of time to pump per day and continuously will increase significantly.