Most Somalis have little or no water, with only 29 percent of the population having access to clean drinking water, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

"While financial and technical resources could be available to ensure supplies, insecurity hinders the effort," Balslev-Olesen said.

"Water has to be more than a pipe dream for Somalis; it has to be part of the reality.”

Ahmed Dini of Peaceline, a Somali civil society group, told IRIN on 24 March: "Water in Somalia is a luxury very few people can afford. In some instances, people walk 10-15km, sometimes in a very unsafe environment, to get water."

Dini said worst-affected were the thousands of displaced across the country.

"Many IDPs [internally displaced persons] flee to areas with little or no water availability," he said, adding that the problem was compounded by the fact that aid agencies who want to help “cannot access those in need due to lack of security".

Even when available, the cost of water has become so steep that few, if any, can afford it, Tahalil Aden, a resident of Ada Kibir, 770km northeast of Mogadishu, told IRIN.

He said a 200-litre drum of water cost at least 200,000 Somali shillings (US$7). "Not many people in this town can afford it, so they send children to collect water from as far as 20km away.

"You have to choose what is important, so drinking and cooking become a priority, making washing and cleaning a luxury."

UNICEF said one of the effects of a lack of access to water and sanitation services was a "high rate of water-related diseases, such as diarrhoea [including cholera], which accounts for about 20 percent of Somalia's under-five mortality”.

UNICEF and other agencies have been supporting the water sector in rural and urban areas by maintaining facilities; constructing and rehabilitating water and sanitation systems; and training communities to sustain these systems.

"World Water Days should give Somali children and women a chance to celebrate gains in access," Zaid Jurji, UNICEF Somalia's chief of water, sanitation and hygiene, said. (IRIN)