New York, US - The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday that it had  delivered an additional 90,000 bottles of water to the Libya capital, Tripoli, where the recent upheaval had cut the regular supply of potable water and put residents at risk of disease outbreaks.

A statement from UNICEF made available to PANA in New York said the consignment of bottled water was in addition to 23,000 bottles which it delivered in Tripoli last week.

It also said it was in the process of procuring a total of about five million litres of water from neighbouring countries to be sent by road or shipped to Tripoli in the coming days.

'UNICEF is responding to the immediate needs in Tripoli, but we remain extremely concerned about the situation should there be a shortage of water in the coming days,” Christian Balslev-Olesen, the head of UNICEF’s Libya office, said in the statement.

Balslev-Olesen also noted that the situation could turn into an unprecedented health epidemic.

'The current situation is the absolute worst-case scenario, and a swift resumption of water supplies is critical,” the UNICEF official added.

The statement further stated that a UNICEF technical team was working with the local authorities to facilitate an assessment of water wells, review urgent response options and identify alternative water sources.

It said that since the beginning of the conflict, power cuts and fuel shortages had put the Great Man made River Authority, the primary distributor of potable water in Libya, at risk of failing to meet the country’s water needs.

Libyan opposition forces have taken control of Tripoli and most of the country after a six-month armed insurrection against the regime of Moammar Kadhafi, which had ruled the country for more than four decades.

Pana 30/08/2011