Long wait for water goes on at army supply base while Iraqis line up to be photographed

In southern Iraq the daily struggle to find water to drink starts early.

At his home in the border town of Safwan, Hazah Mohammed was up before first light yesterday, firing up his ageing Russian-made Zil water-tanker and heading east to Umm Qasr. There, he had been told, he could fill his tanker to its 4,000-litre capacity with water and take it back for the people in his town. The taps in Safwan have been dry since the war started.

"We will give it to the people, we will not sell it," said his friend, Jabir Salman, a teacher who had accompanied Mr Mohammed and two other tanker drivers to assist them with his fluent English. "Many people have been digging wells in Safwan to get water but the water is very salty because the land is so close to the sea."

The search for something to drink took Mr Salman, his friends and a dozen other tanker drivers from the region to a dusty road outside the new port in Umm Qasr. Here, their tankers were inspected for basic conditions of hygiene by the British Army, which will be providing the water to fill them.

"There is a funny smell in this one," said Captain Brad Percival, an officer with the Royal Logistics Corps, who had climbed on top of an old rusting tanker from Umm Qasr and had stuck his nose inside. To howls of protest from the tanker's owner, he declared the vehicle unfit. "The last thing we want to be doing is poisoning these people," he said.

In southern Iraq there is both plenty of water and an artificial drought. The drought was caused by the war, which disrupted the electricity supply needed to pump the water. The abundance is the result of a pipeline from Kuwait, which can supply up to three million litres of clean water a day.

The problem is how to deliver it to the population in an even-handed manner.

This challenge has been beset with problems. The day after British troops first put out the word that they were looking for tanker drivers, only one arrived. Within a week there had been a deluge.

But assessing who has a legitimate claim to take the water away – such as Mr Mohammed, who was a driver under Saddam Hussein's government and is simply doing what he has always done – is difficult. Some of the drivers have been providing water to their friends or profiteering.

Before Mr Mohammed and his colleagues could fill their tankers, they had to go through a lengthy process to obtain ID cards from the Army. To do this they were driven into the British base where they were photographed. Mr Mohammed took off his headscarf for the camera and smiled.

The effort that Mr Mohammed and the others were willing to make underlines the critical importance and value of water. Aid groups and military officials warned that supplying people with fresh water remained the most pressing priority for the invading forces.

Maj-Gen Albert Whitley, the British officer co-ordinating military efforts with humanitarian relief operations, said the Tigris was a "floating sewer", adding: "It's no good digging a well because you get the same stuff." At Umm Qasr's 31-bed hospital, Dr Mohammed al-Mansouri said he had sufficient drugs for three months – his shortage was of water.

Hospitals are supposed to have priority on water deliveries but it is still not enough.

"In the last three days we have had lots of problems from people with diarrhoea," he said.

Wael al-Shehaby, another doctor, said: "We have asked the British for water and all they give us are chocolates for the children and medical dressings. Everybody needs water."

For Mr Mohammed and his fellow tanker drivers, yesterday's search for water did not end successfully. Having waited several hours to have their vehicles checked and their ID cards prepared, they were told there was a problem.

Major Jim Thorpe, of the US Army's Civil Affairs group, told them his superiors had not decided whether the water should be distributed free – in which case the tanker drivers would be paid for their labours – or whether the drivers could charge for it.

"That decision will be available in 24 hours' time," he said. "Will you please all come back tomorrow."