Participants at the World Water Forum in Kyoto have called for an extra $100bn a year funding for water sanitation and infrastructure.
A panel of 20 bankers, businessmen and NGO representatives released a report entitled 'Water Financing for All' today.
It suggests donor nations and private and public sector agencies must at least double their investment in the water sector if a UN goal is to be met.
The UN Millennium Goal on water aims to halve the number of people without water and sanitation to one billion by 2015.
Official development aide to the water sector currently accounts for 10% of expenditure in the sector annually. Between 3% and 5% of populations in the poorest countries are served by operators that are fully or partially private.
The report states that, to be eligible for official development assistance for water, governments must produce water policies that make specific commitments to Earth Summit targets. Official development donors should be accountable for their commitments to increase aid to the sector. Increases should be at least 100% of current levels.
International lending institutions should also substantially increase their engagement in the water sector and reconsider decisions to not tender loans on the sub-sovereign level, based on normal lending criteria.
Private sector investment in water projects should be considered on grounds of efficiency, cost and effectiveness through open and transparent competition.
