It is produced on board of the ship, and Rear Admiral Ted Branch, commander of the US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson strike group, says the crew is determined to share this precious resource with suffering Haitians.

While technological details of the water production process remain classified, it is based on the energy produced by the carrier's nuclear reactors, according to Captain Bill McKinley, the Carl Vinson reactor officer, who is responsible, among other things for water desalinization.

Heat produced by the reactor is used to heat up sea water pumped in from outside. The steam, which contains no salt, is then being gathered as consumed for people's needs.

"There are four water distilling units that can each produce 100,000 gallons (378,541 liters) of water a day," explains Captain McKinley. "It is actually pure potable water that comes out of that. That is what we use for drinkable water and for the ship's needs."

He pointed out that the water obtained after the heating process was pure and the remaining salt was collected after the process."

The fresh water produced by the carrier is used not only by the crew but also to operate the ship, according to McKinley.

But even with that the Carl Vinson has an excess of 100,000 to 150,000 gallons (up to 567,811 liters) of water a day right now.

"I don't think it's a limit of our capacity, it's going to be limited by the number of containers available and on the ability to transport it," said the captain, pointing out that a water distribution center had been set up on the flight deck in order to facilitate delivery to Haitians desperately lacking water.

Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Branch said the US military had made progress in distributing humanitarian aid to Haitians in the wake of last week's earthquake.

"I think we've gotten better every day since we started," he told reporters.

"We are getting more and more cargo through Guantanamo every day," he said, referring to the US naval base in Cuba. "Time is still of the essence. We're getting better, but there is still a lot of misery in Haiti."

According to the admiral, the US Navy is now focusing on setting up "controlled distribution points" in order to "minimize competition" for food.

"Other help is on the way, a great amount of capabilities are coming," Branch said.

A US ship with about 2,200 marines on board was scheduled to arrive in Haiti Monday, and the hospital ship Comfort was expected the next day.

As for desalinated water produced by the ship, "the issue is moving fresh water to the shore," the admiral said.

"It is not an issue of us being able to make the water, it's the issue of having containers to put it in," he said.

He assured that the containers were on their way to Guantanamo Bay. As many as 84,000 five-gallon (19-liter) jugs have been ordered so far, according to Branch.

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