Syrians discover new use for mobile phones – finding water

Precious resource: As water cuts become more and more frequent, Syrians have had to resort to an interactive map on mobile phones to find the nearest water point.

LONDON: Struggling with frequent water cuts, residents of Syria's battered city of Aleppo have a new way to find the water needed for their daily lives – an interactive map on mobile phones. 

The online map, created by the Red Cross and accessible through mobile phones with 3G technology, helps to locate the closest of over 80 water points across the divided city of 2 million and guides them to it using a Global Positioning System.