"Within three to four years we should be able to have adequate water supply," he said in Stockholm, where he was attending the Stockholm Water Week, which groups experts and government officials from 100 countries.

Rashid said most inhabitants of Iraq's large cities had access to running water, although not in sufficient quantities.

"It is not enough because of future expansion and population growth and the system badly needs maintenance, but most big towns have adequate water supply," he said.

However, around half of the country's rural population did not, he said.

"It is an absolute crime that with all our wealth Iraq still lacks clean water," he said.

Rashid, a trained engineer and former Kurdish politician, took the water portfolio in September 2003 as a member of the transitional Iraqi government following decades of British exile.

Some 1.7 billion dollars were earmarked for improvements in the country's water system, but the soaring cost of fighting insurgents has forced officials to reprogramme budgets.

"Of course security is the most important question," Rashid said.

Iraqi rebels have regularly targeted water installations.

In June and July they bombed a Baghdad water pipeline, cutting off supplies to half the city, a purification station and a pumping station.

According to UN figures, 97 of the capital's inhabitants have running water, but only 63 percent get it on a regular basis.

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