Dear Prime Minister Berlusconi:

I support the End Water Poverty campaign calling for sanitation and water for all. It is a scandal that 2.5 billion people live without access to a safe toilet and almost a billion are still waiting for clean water.

As Chair of the G8, we urgently need your leadership to establish a Global Framework for Action to tackle a crisis that kills 5,000 children every day. This should be an agreement in which:

• Developing countries create national plans to deliver sanitation and water to all
• Developed countries ensure that no credible plan fails for a lack of finance.
• International systems are established to monitor and drive progress, including an annual review, a global task force and an annual high-level meeting.

It really pays to invest in sanitation and water. For every $1 spent on these services, an economy gains an estimated $8 through better health, education and productivity.

Doing nothing is costing too much. Please act now to End Water Poverty