The president of the European Union's executive arm, Romano Prodi, said the 15-nation bloc had to make good on promises made at the world development summit in Johannesburg last September.

"Water is the key to life on earth and far too many people are forced to eke out a living without safe supplies of this most basic resource," 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.

The one billion euros (1.1 billion dollars) for the proposed fund would come from an EU development budget set aside for the 77 members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries.

"We hope that the (EU) member states and ACP partner countries will back this bold initiative and that it will serve as a catalyst to encourage others around the world to take similar measures to ease the plight of those less fortunate than we are," Prodi said.

The commission said a UN target reaffirmed at the Johannesburg summit, to halve the number of people without access to clean drinking water and sanitation by 2015, would require an "extraordinary mobilisation" by the world community.

Last month's World Water Forum in the Japanese city of Kyoto failed to make headway towards the target in the absence of a new initiative or fresh pledges of cash, Brussels said.

In a letter a fortnight ago, 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.

EU and ACP ministers are due to meet for regular talks in Brussels on May

SPACE.WIRE