ICRC staff have been working since Sunday to repair damage at the Qanat pumping station in the north of the capital, Roland Huguenin-Benjamin said.

The station supplies the huge impoverished Shiite Muslim quarter called Saddam City, home to some two million people.

Residents have renamed the north-eastern district Al-Sadr City.

The ICRC official added that efforts were also underway to mend the water works at Saba Nissan which feeds the Rasafa district, also on the eastern bank of the Tigris which runs through the heart of Baghdad.

Water supplies dried up gradually in the city of five million as US forces stepped up their assault on Baghdad, which fell last Wednesday.

SPACE.WIRE