A much needed pipeline from Kuwait across the border into Iraq has been completed in record time, but it stops at Um Qasr, several miles short of the besieged city of Basra, where 100,000 children are at risk because of problems with the water supply.

The breakdown of Basra's water treatment plants means the local population, and the children in particular, have been left vulnerable to life threatening diseases.

The health of many has already been seriously impaired by 12 years of sanctions and by remnants of radioactive
ordnance left in the area after the last conflict.

Dr Luay Khairullah, an Iraqi water engineer and part time lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK, told rediff.com, " There is no potable water because the water treatment plants are out of function."

"Up to recently they were working at 40 per cent capacity, but now because of the electricity failure they have stopped completely."

"Now there is only untreated water that is unsuitable for human use because it is polluted, salty, contaminated and people are forced to use water directly from the river," he said.

Dr Khairulla, who works with an Iraq NGO based in Kuwait city, says US and UK forces originally planned to build a pipeline direct from Kuwait and all the way to Basra, but those plans have been modified because of the resistance
of Saddam Hussein's forces.

"It was thought we would have a pipeline directly from Kuwait to Basra," he explains, "but now it seems the pipeline will run from the Kuwait water network to Umm Qasr and from there water will be taken directly by tanker and distributed to the people in Basra."

"This is a temporary solution until the water treatment plants start functioning properly," he said.

Asked how long it will take to repair the water treatment plants in Basra, Dr Khairulla says, "Repairing the plants depends on the state they are in. They need generation, they need spare parts, they need chemical materials for treatment. This should not take too long."

"The problem will be in the distribution network, a lot of the network has been damaged and that might take a long time to repair," he added.

Last week a spokeswoman for the UN Office for Humanitarian Coordination In Iraq confirmed the quantity of water being supplied to Basra is insufficient and the "quality is very poor" due to the disruption of electricity supplies. She said 100,000 children were at risk of life threatening diseases.

Rediff.com Senior Editor Shyam Bhatia is the co-author of Saddam's Bomb, on Iraq's search for nuclear weapons