"Both villages are situated in the immediate vicinity of the Line of Contact and continue to suffer from the effects of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. The village infrastructure, in particular the water supply network, was not restored completely," says Khurshida Mambetova, the head of the ICRC's office in Barda.

Now that a water borehole situated between the school and the health point, and shared by both villages, has been repaired and put back into operation around 650 schoolchildren and 10 patients will have safe drinking water every day. About 150 local residents living nearby will also have access to clean water.

"The civilian population have not had easy access to the good drinking water that is all around them. There are a number of artesian wells in the villages, but they need to be cleaned and the water supply network needs to be restored," says Bakir Guliyev, the ICRC's engineer in charge of the water project. "The newly installed reservoir and a public water source will provide water for the schoolchildren and patients at all times."

Since 2008, the ICRC, in cooperation with local authorities and community members, has also upgraded the water supply system in the village of Ayridara, along Azerbaijan's border with Armenia, and in the village of Shukurbayli, in Fizuli district, not far from the Line of Contact. As a result, about 1,400 residents of the two villages now have access to clean water.