A Syrian provincial governor says the government and rebels have agreed on a plan to repair damage to a spring in the Wadi Barada area that supplies water to the capital, state television reported.
However, the local media office for activists in rebel-held Wadi Barada, where the spring is located, denied any agreement had been reached between rebels and the government.
The spring was knocked out of service in late December, reducing water supplies to the 70 per cent of residents of Damascus and surrounding areas that it serves.
The government and rebel groups in Wadi Barada, a mountainous valley about 20 km northwest of Damascus, agreed for technicians to enter the damaged spring facility, state television said.
The United Nations has said the spring was damaged because "infrastructure was deliberately targeted", without saying who was responsible, leaving 4 million people in Damascus without safe drinking water supplies.
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Clashes and air strikes in Wadi Barada have threatened a shaky nationwide ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey nearly two weeks ago to pave the way for peace talks.
The governor of the Damascus countryside province said in comments published on state news agency SANA on Wednesday that a preliminary agreement had been reached with local fighters in parts of Wadi Barada to hand over their weapons to the government.
The Syrian army will then enter the areas to remove explosives and technicians will repair damage to the spring, governor Alaa Ibrahim said.
Rebels in Wadi Barada have allowed government engineers to maintain and operate the valley's pumping station, the capital's main water source, since they took control of the area in 2012.
Fighters have, however, cut water supplies several times in the past to put pressure on the army not to overrun the area.
