None of Baghdad's sewage plants are operating

Baghdad's three waste water plants are currently inoperable, meaning that the raw sewage from 3.8 million people flows daily into the river Tigris.

Water treatment facilities are currently operating at about 65% of their capacity, due to years of neglect, power cuts and post-war looting.

Iraq's water and sanitation systems were ailing even before the 2003 war after massive underinvestment in the 1990s.

Their failures were largely blamed for the tripling of diarrhoeal disease in children aged under five between 1990 and 1999.

Emergency repairs

Bomb damage, looting and shortages of electricity, spare parts and chemicals have worsened conditions further since the 2003 war.

Work is under way on the southern canal system

A World Bank assessment in October 2003 concluded that only 6 out of 10 Iraqis in urban areas had safe drinking water, and, with leaks taken into account, Baghdad's water system was only meeting a third of the city's need.

Many areas have been dependent on water brought in by tankers, with USAid distributing 1.4 million litres each day to people in cities such as Basra, Kirkuk and Mosul.

Emergency repairs to systems in many parts of the country have been carried out, including the mending of hundreds of broken pipes across the country.

Unicef says its programmes have improved water quality for 1.6 million people, and reduced sewage pollution for about 9 million people.

USAid is renovating eight sewage plants, including three in Baghdad, and five water treatment plants.