In a letter to European Union leaders, the president of the EU's executive arm said the 15-nation bloc had to seize the initiative after promising much at the world development summit in Johannesburg last September.

He said a UN target to halve the number of people without access to clean drinking water and sanitation by 2015 "is still within our grasp but will require extraordinary mobilisation of all those involved".

Last month's World Water Forum in the Japanese city of Kyoto had failed to advance the clean water drive, Prodi said.

He said the one billion euros (1.1 billion dollars) for his proposed fund should come from an EU development budget set aside for the 78 members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries.

Prodi called for the EU to capitalise on the symbolism of announcing the fund at a Group of Eight (G8) summit being held in June at the French resort town of Evian, home of the mineral water.

The G8 club of leading industrial powers includes four EU members -- Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

"The announcement of such an initiative at the G8 summit in Evian, where water and Africa dominate the agenda, would give it a high profile and could lead to similar initiatives by other participants," he said.

About 6,000 children die every day from disease linked to poor sanitation and unclean water, according to UN children's fund UNICEF.

SPACE.WIRE