The United Nations is warning millions of people are at risk without major initiative from leading nations on the world’s water crisis.

Kevin Watkins of the U.N. Development Programme: “There are over 1 billion people in the world who do not have access to clean water. These are people who start their day walking to rivers to collect water, sending young girls to collect water and so on. There are over 2.6 billion people in the world who do not have access to sanitation. These twin deficits, I think, do speak to a global crisis.”

The U.N. is calling on industrialized countries to raise annual aid to poorer countries by at least $4 billion.