"We have reports that something like 1.5 million people across southern Iraq are without water," Iain Simpson, a spokesman for the World Health Organisation (WHO) told journalists.

"When water is cut off and temperatures start to rise to 30 degrees or more as they are now in Iraq, the health outlook is very poor," Simpson warned.

"Unless people have access to clean safe water, there will be outbreaks of disease, and diarrhoeal diseases will be the first to come," he added.

On Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent two trucks from Kuwait with water containers and medical supplies for the city of Basra.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) continued convoys it started about two days ago, with ten trucks leaving Kuwait with 370,000 litres of water for three towns in coalition-held territory in southern Iraq.

Simpson said the issue of humanitarian access to cities in Iraq was now a matter of concern at "very high levels" in all aid agencies.

"Access on a humanitarian basis to the civlian populations of any city is absolutely vital, and at the moment none of the UN agencies are able to gain access and work with the affected civilian populations," Simpson said.

Simpson highlighted ongoing problems in Basra, and the capital Baghdad, where there were growing problems with water supplies.

Two weeks ago, the main pumping station supplying Basra's more than 1.2 million inhabitants was damaged during fighting, cutting off water supplies.

Although the pumping station has been partially repaired, there are still water supply problems in the southern city, according to the ICRC.

SPACE.WIRE