ASPIRED Project Report Q 3 – FY 2019

under the Water and Development IDIQ contract awarded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on September 29, 2015. The project's purpose is to support sustainable water resource management and sustainable practices of water users in the Ararat Valley through the use of science, technology, innovation, and partnership initiatives. The ultimate goal is to reduce the rate of groundwater extraction in the Ararat Valley to sustainable levels. The ASPIRED Project focuses on several critical areas, including water resource data, technology, regulatory framework/enforcement of laws, and coordination across stakeholders. The project places a strong emphasis on building partnerships with the public and private sectors, research organizations, and international donors to pilot innovative water and energy efficiency technologies, and to promote better water resource monitoring, planning, and sustainable management. During the third quarter of Year 4 of the project, from April 1 through June 30, 2019, the ASPIRED Project implemented several programmatic activities under each of the four project components. The data component involved finalizing and integrating the actual water use database into the SWCIS Data Warehouse, including programming of the built-in annual reports on actual water use, testing and debugging of the programmed database, and completing customization of the re-programmed Ecological Flow component of the Water Supply-and-Demand Balance of the Decision Support System (DSS). The technology component included completion of the water improvement project in Aratashen village and installation of a booster pump in Sipanik to increase the water flow for irrigation needs. The legal component involved the Armenian Government's approval of the draft package of laws that entail amendments to the Water Code and the Code of Administrative Violations of Armenia and includes the requirements of water resources reservation in recreational zones of Armenia. The communication and donor coordination component included signing of the Cooperation Agreement with Hayastan All-Armenian Fund (AAF) and Armenia Foundation, and a community event marking completion of the water reuse project in Aratashen on June 24. The project also designed and conducted a GIS training course for the staff of the Water Resources Management Agency (WRMA) based on the WRMA's request, and the ASPIRED Project's local sub-contractor completed installation of flow meters and data loggers to monitor actual volumes of groundwater use in the fishery from 4 wells at Max Fish fishery. The ASPIRED Project reports annual data under the IR 2 indicators by the end of each fiscal year. The project's progress and achievements under each of the four project components during the reporting period are reviewed, and planned activities for the next quarter are described. Challenges and actions taken to address these challenges are also highlighted. The project's performance indicators for the third quarter of FY 2019 are presented in a table, which includes data on the project's progress and achievements under each of the four project components. The project's ultimate goal is to reduce the rate of groundwater extraction in the Ararat Valley to sustainable levels, and the project's activities are focused on achieving this goal through the use of science, technology, innovation, and partnership initiatives. The ASPIRED Project places a strong emphasis on building partnerships with the public and private sectors, research organizations, and international donors to pilot innovative water and energy efficiency technologies, and to promote better water resource monitoring, planning, and sustainable management. The project's activities are focused on achieving the ultimate goal of reducing the rate of groundwater extraction in the Ararat Valley to sustainable levels, and the project's performance indicators are used to track progress towards this goal. The project's progress and achievements under each of the four project components during the reporting period are reviewed, and planned activities for the next quarter are described. Challenges and actions taken to address these challenges are also highlighted. The project's performance indicators for the third quarter of FY 2019 are presented in a table, which includes data on the project's progress and achievements under each of the four project components. The ASPIRED Project's activities are focused on achieving the ultimate goal of reducing the rate of groundwater extraction in the Ararat Valley to sustainable levels. The project's progress and achievements under each of the four project components during the reporting period are reviewed, and planned activities for the next quarter are described. Challenges and actions taken to address these challenges are also highlighted. The project's performance indicators for the third quarter of FY 2019 are presented in a table, which includes data on the project's progress and achievements under each of the four project components. The project's activities are focused on achieving the ultimate goal of reducing the rate of groundwater extraction in the Ararat Valley to sustainable levels, and the project's performance indicators are used to track progress towards this goal. The ASPIRED Project places a strong emphasis on building partnerships with the public and private sectors, research organizations, and international donors to pilot innovative water and energy efficiency technologies, and to promote better water resource monitoring, planning, and sustainable management. The project