[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 49 (Monday, March 31, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S2250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            WORLD WATER DAY

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of 
S. Res. 478, and the Senate then proceed to its immediate 
consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 478) supporting the goals and ideals 
     of ``World Water Day.''

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and 
preamble be agreed to en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon 
the table en bloc, and any statements be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 478) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 478

       Whereas the United Nations General Assembly, via 
     resolution, has designated March 22 of each year as World 
     Water Day;
       Whereas a person needs 4 to 5 liters of water per day to 
     survive;
       Whereas a person can live weeks without food, but only days 
     without water;
       Whereas every 15 seconds a child dies from a water-borne 
     disease;
       Whereas, for children under age 5, water-borne diseases are 
     the leading cause of death;
       Whereas millions of women and children spend several hours 
     a day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources;
       Whereas every dollar spent on water and sanitation saves on 
     average $9 in costs averted and productivity gained;
       Whereas, at any given time, \1/2\ of the world's hospital 
     beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-borne 
     disease;
       Whereas 88 percent of all diseases are caused by unsafe 
     drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene;
       Whereas 1,100,000,000 (1 in 6) people lack access to an 
     improved water supply;
       Whereas 2,600,000,000 people in the world lack access to 
     improved sanitation;
       Whereas the global celebration of World Water Day is an 
     initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations 
     Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro;
       Whereas the participants in the 2002 World Summit on 
     Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, including the United 
     States, agreed to the Plan of Implementation which included 
     an agreement to work to reduce by \1/2\ from the baseline 
     year 1990 ``the proportion of people who are unable to reach 
     or to afford safe drinking water'', ``and the proportion of 
     people without access to basic sanitation'' by 2015; and
       Whereas Congress passed and the President signed into law 
     the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (Public 
     Law 109-121), which was intended to ``elevate the role of 
     water and sanitation policy in the development of U.S. 
     foreign policy and improve the effectiveness of U.S. official 
     programs'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) supports the goals and ideals of ``World Water Day'';
       (2) urges an increased effort and the investment of greater 
     resources by the Department of State, the United States 
     Agency for International Development, and all relevant 
     Federal departments and agencies toward providing sustainable 
     and equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation 
     for the poor and the very poor; and
       (3) encourages the people of the United States to observe 
     the week with appropriate activities that promote awareness 
     of the importance of access to clean water.

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