In a report to the World Water Forum in Istanbul, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says demands for fresh water are soaring while resources, under mounting stress, urgently need to be conserved.

Meeting these twin challenges will require investment on an unprecedented scale, it says.

In the United States alone, 23 billion dollars will be needed annually over the next 20 years, a figure that does not take into account dams, dikes and waterway maintenance.

France and Britain will have to boost water spending as a share of GDP by about 20 percent, just to maintain services at current levels, while Japan and South Korea will need to make increases of more than 40 percent.

The report, "Managing Water for All," is to be officially unveiled on Tuesday, at the second day of the seven-day Istanbul conference.

Interviewed by AFP, Angel Gurria, the OECD's secretary-general, admitted the world's economic crisis cast a shadow over the ability to muster such huge sums, including in development aid.

But, he said, hope lies in the plans set by the United States, China, European countries and others to spend massively in infrastructure to steer their economies out of the path of recession.

"There is a lot of investment that has do be done in normal time," he said.

"So now, in exceptionally difficult times, yes, the danger (to investment flows) exists, but some of our hopes are in these exceptional packages."

He admitted: "Many of these packages have very broad headlines and you do not really know what's inside the box.

"But it's a message to send," he said. "With a few tens of billions of dollars... the benefits (gained) are for millions of people, and it changes life forever -- it's not just a question of living one day better."

The OECD report noted that, already, some 880 million people do not have access to decent sources of drinking water, while 2.5 billion people do not have access to proper sanitation.

Adding to demand is population growth, estimated at 80 million souls a year, in addition to the more than 6.5 billion humans already on the planet. By 2050, there are expected to be nine billion people.

Feeding them and growing biofuels will place a major strain on water, particularly by agriculture, which already takes up 70 percent of available fresh water.

A first step for countries is to step up "water governance," making utilities more accountable for stopping waste.

Even well-run water utilities in rich countries suffer leakages of between 10 and 30 percent. Singapore sets the world record for efficiency, with water loss of less than five percent.

In developing countries, though, leakage is typically more than 40 percent and sometimes far higher. In Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, 60 percent of water is lost before it reaches the customer.

The report calls for a smart mix of what it calls the "three Ts" -- tariffs, taxes and transfers that can be blended to improve water supplies, cut down on waste and help the poor.

Subsidies or price support have to be targeted for those who need it most, it says. Too little help means the poor suffer while water that is cheap for all encourages waste and a decline in service.

"If you keep tariffs very low, then the system does not receive enough revenue and inevitably, the quality deteriorates, which produces sickness or insufficient amounts of water, or you can't sustain the service," Gurria explained.

"Then people become victims of water sharks: the people who have access to water -- generally, bad quality water -- and sell it or resell it at incredible prices."

The UN's Third World Water Development Report, issued ahead of the Istanbul conference, said investment of between 92.4 and 148 billion dollars would be needed annually in water supplies and waste-water services from 2006 to 2025.

Up to 51.4 billion dollars would have to be spent in China and developed countries in Asia, each year.

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