diff --git a/Foundation/FileHandle.swift b/Foundation/FileHandle.swift
index 2f31d44e72..663c13fb43 100644
--- a/Foundation/FileHandle.swift
+++ b/Foundation/FileHandle.swift
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 //
 
 import CoreFoundation
+import Dispatch
 
 #if os(OSX) || os(iOS)
 import Darwin
@@ -345,7 +346,19 @@ extension FileHandle {
     }
 
     open func waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify() {
-        NSUnimplemented()
+        let global = DispatchQueue.global(qos: .background)
+        let channel = DispatchIO(type: .stream, fileDescriptor: fileDescriptor, queue: global) { _ in }
+
+        // The desire is to trigger the handler blocka as soon as there is any data in the channel.
+        channel.setLimit(lowWater: 1)
+
+        channel.read(offset: 0, length: Int.max, queue: global) { (_, _, error) in
+            var notification = Notification(name: .NSFileHandleDataAvailable, object: nil, userInfo: nil)
+            if error != 0 {
+                notification.userInfo = ["NSFileHandleError": NSNumber(value: error)]
+            }
+            NotificationCenter.default.post(notification)
+        }
     }
     
     open var readabilityHandler: ((FileHandle) -> Void)? {
diff --git a/TestFoundation/TestFileHandle.swift b/TestFoundation/TestFileHandle.swift
index 1b389ff0f7..8776a38145 100644
--- a/TestFoundation/TestFileHandle.swift
+++ b/TestFoundation/TestFileHandle.swift
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ class TestFileHandle : XCTestCase {
             ("test_constants", test_constants),
             ("test_pipe", test_pipe),
             ("test_nullDevice", test_nullDevice),
+            ("test_waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify", test_waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify),
         ]
     }
 
@@ -64,4 +65,21 @@ class TestFileHandle : XCTestCase {
         fh.seek(toFileOffset: 0)
         XCTAssertEqual(fh.readDataToEndOfFile().count, 0)
     }
+
+    func test_waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify() {
+        let expect = expectation(description: "Receiving asynchronous data from pipe")
+        let pipe = Pipe()
+        pipe.fileHandleForReading.waitForDataInBackgroundAndNotify()
+
+        NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName: .NSFileHandleDataAvailable, object: nil, queue: nil) { (notification) in
+            XCTAssertEqual(notification.name, .NSFileHandleDataAvailable)
+            XCTAssertNil(notification.userInfo)
+            expect.fulfill()
+        }
+
+        let data = Data(bytes: [0x48, 0x65, 0x6c, 0x6c, 0x6f, 0x2c, 0x20, 0x57, 0x6f, 0x72, 0x6c, 0x64, 0x21])
+        pipe.fileHandleForWriting.write(data)
+
+        waitForExpectations(timeout: 2)
+    }
 }