[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3185-S3188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

       By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Corker, and Mrs. Murray):

  S. 624. A bill to provide 100,000,000 people with first-time access 
to safe drinking water and sanitation on a sustainable basis by 2015 by 
improving the capacity of the United States Government to fully 
implement the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005; to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations.
  Mr. DURBIN. Later this week we will mark World Water Day. It is an 
important reminder of the many challenges we continue to face in 
providing clean water and sanitation to the world's poor.
  We have made progress in recent years, but around the world today, 
nearly 1 billion people continue to lack access to clean, safe water. 
More than 2 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. Most of 
these people live on less than $2 a day. They are the voiceless and the 
powerless of the world.
  That is why today, Senator Bob Corker and Senator Patty Murray and I 
are introducing the Paul Simon Water for the World Act in the United 
States Senate. Congressmen Blumenauer and Payne have introduced the 
same bill in the House.
  Our bill will reestablish U.S. leadership on one of the defining 
challenges of the 21st century: water.
  The goal is to reach an additional 100 million of the world's poorest 
people with sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic 
sanitation by 2015. This would represent the largest single commitment 
of any donor country to meeting the Millennium Development Goal on 
water, which is to reduce by half the proportion of people without 
access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015.
  The bill targets aid to areas with the greatest need. It helps build 
the capacity of poor nations to meet their own water and sanitation 
challenges. It supports research on clean water technologies and 
regional partnerships to find solutions to shared water challenges.
  The bill provides technical assistance--best practices, credit 
authorities, and training--to help countries expand access to clean 
water and sanitation. Our development experts will design the 
assistance based on local needs.
  The Water for the World Act also designates within the State 
Department a high-level representative to ensure that water receives 
priority attention in our foreign policy, and establishes a new Office 
of Water at USAID to implement development assistance efforts related 
to water.
  We ought to be assigning some of our best minds to solve the global 
water challenge. Right now, however, we don't have the staff at USAID 
to meet our goals on water or any other urgent development need.
  At a time when it is more important than ever to win the hearts and 
minds of those around the world, as well as to address the challenges 
of fragile and failed states, our top development agency is suffering 
from an inexcusable shortage of expert staff.
  In the 1960s, USAID had more than 5,000 Foreign Service Officers; 
today, when the needs are greater than ever, it has just over 1,000.
  To correct this imbalance and help rebuild our smart power, I 
recently introduced a bill that would triple the number of USAID 
Foreign Service Officers by 2012. It's called the Increasing America's 
Development Capacity Act, and it's an essential part of our efforts to 
rebuild America's smart power role in the world--on food security, 
health, economic development, and yes, water.
  I owe my passion on water to my friend and mentor, the man whose seat 
I now occupy in the U.S. Senate: the late Senator Paul Simon.
  He was a profoundly good and wise man. He was also a visionary. He 
saw connections that many people missed. He saw answers to problems 
before most people even saw the problems.
  As many of you know, solving the global water crisis was his last 
great campaign. In 1998, he wrote a book called ``Tapped Out: The 
Coming World Crisis in Water and What We Can Do About It.''
  Paul Simon would go anywhere, and talk to anyone, to try to get 
people and governments to take the global water crisis seriously. In 
the last year of his life, he traveled to Israel to moderate a panel 
between the Israeli and Palestinian water commissioners. He said that 
he and most of the people in the audience--were amazed that the two 
commissioners agreed on almost everything.
  But when he looked in the newspapers the next day, there was nothing 
about the meeting. Not a word. He said that was ``because nobody was 
shouting at each other.'' That's part of the challenge.
  The global water crisis is a quiet killer. In the developing world, 
water-related diseases claim the lives of 5,000 children every day. 
Diarrhea alone kills nearly 2 million children under the age of 5 each 
year. As CSIS's ``Global Water Futures'' report hauntingly points out, 
that is the equivalent of all the children under age 5 in New York and 
London combined.
  Mothers who fear the deaths of their children bear more, in a 
desperate race against the odds. The lack of clean water enslaves poor 
women in other ways, as well. In many poor nations, women and girls 
walk two or three hours or more each way, every day, to collect water 
that is often dirty and unsafe.
  The UN estimates that women and girls in Sub-Saharan Africa spend a 
total of 40 billion working hours each year collecting water. That is 
equivalent to all of the hours worked in France in a year.
  A developing economy cannot grow if its people are too busy 
collecting water, or too sick from drinking unsafe water, to work or to 
go to school.
  What Senator Simon knew 10 years ago, and the rest of us are slowly 
coming around to see, is that we can't begin to solve the problems of 
global hunger and poverty without addressing the global water crisis.
  And water is not simply a humanitarian challenge. It is a threat to 
global stability and the global economy.
  Last June, Goldman Sachs held a meeting to assess the top five risks 
facing the world economy. Resource scarcity--including competition for 
water, food and energy--was at the top of the list.
  Fortune magazine recently predicted that the global water crisis will 
be as serious in the 21st century as the oil crises were in the 20th, 
potentially leading to war.
  Paul Simon understood the potential for conflicts over dwindling 
supplies of clean water. It alarmed him. He used to say, ``Nations go 
to war for oil, but there are substitutes for oil. There are no 
substitutes for water.'' We see that in the roots of the conflict in 
Darfur.
  I have seen the challenge of water in so many of my recent trips 
abroad.
  Two years ago I travelled to Jordan after a trip to Iraq. I went to 
talk with people there about the impact of the

[[Page S3186]]

war in Iraq on one of our most important allies in the region.
  The Jordanian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Ms. 
Suhair-al-Ali, told me that between 600,000 and 700,000 Iraqi refugees 
were living in Jordan at that time. That was equivalent to 10 percent 
of Jordan's entire population. For us in the U.S., that would be the 
equivalent of 30 million refugees.
  The massive influx of Iraqi refugees had strained the ability of 
Jordan's government to provide basic services almost to the breaking 
point. What did the minister identify as one of Jordan's biggest 
problems? Water.
  It is not just Jordan. Water is central to the fate of the entire 
Middle East.
  In his book, Paul Simon quoted former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak 
Rabin as saying, ``If we solve every other problem in the Middle East 
but do not satisfactorily resolve the water problem, our region will 
explode. Peace will not be possible.''
  You do not have to travel halfway around the world to see the 
devastating consequences of lack of access to clean water.
  A few months ago I traveled to Haiti. This was my second visit and it 
is always a shock. A 90-minute plane ride from Miami takes you to 
another world.
  There are no public sewage treatment or disposal systems anywhere in 
the country. Even in the capital, Port-au-Prince, a city of 2 million 
people, the drainage canals are choked with garbage and sewage.
  It is no wonder that Haiti has the highest infant and child mortality 
rate in the Western Hemisphere. One-third of Haiti's children do not 
live to see the age of 5. The leading killer? Water-borne diseases: 
hepatitis, thyphoid and diarrhea.
  While there, I visited a rural health clinic run by a group called 
Partners in Health, co-founded by Dr. Paul Farmer. Dr. Farmer is a 
wonderful man who has improved the lives of so many, from Rwanda to 
Haiti.
  He showed me a water purification kit that his clinic gives to 
nursing mothers with HIV/AIDS. This allows them to make formula for 
their babies and not transmit the virus through breastfeeding. It is 
simple, inexpensive, and life-saving.
  Some years ago I visited Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in 
Latin America. Bolivia is an example of what awaits many countries' 
water supplies because of global warming.
  Much of its population relies on melting glaciers for its water. But 
because of climate change the glaciers are not being replenished and 
some are already disappearing. These trends are happening from the 
snows of Mount Kilimanjaro to the Alps to the Himalayas.
  How will the world respond to the water needs such as Bolivia and 
others who rely on glaciers for their water supplies?
  I recently returned from a visit to Cyprus. The island has been 
divided now for more than 30 years. The leaders on both sides are 
engaged in brave and important discussions to reunify the island. Amid 
this hopeful progress toward peace, another problem plagues this 
island--water.
  The groundwater in Cyprus is being depleted too quickly, often for 
agriculture, and it is being replenished too often with salt water that 
creeps into the water table. Global warming is causing rainfall to 
decrease.
  In recognition of the vast water challenges we face around the world, 
two years after Paul Simon died, Congress passed the Paul Simon Water 
for the Poor Act. President Bush signed it into law in December 2005.
  It represents the first time the U.S. has codified our commitment to 
any of the Millennium Development Goals. The Paul Simon Water for the 
Poor Act makes safe water and basic sanitation a top priority for all 
U.S. foreign assistance.
  In 2007 alone, it helped provide nearly 2 million people in over 30 
countries with access to a better source of drinking water, and more 
than 1.5 million people with better sanitation.
  The Water for the Poor Act is saving lives, but its impact could be 
greater. The Paul Simon Water for the World Act will help us expand 
these efforts to make a profound and sustainable difference in the 
lives of the world's poor.
  As we prepare to mark World Water Day this Sunday, let us recommit 
ourselves to a new effort on safe water and sanitation.
  Throughout history, civilized nations have put aside political 
differences to address compelling issues of life and survival. Our 
generation owes the world nothing less.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
placed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 624

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Senator Paul Simon Water for 
     the World Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 
     (Public Law 109-121)--
       (A) makes access to safe water and sanitation for 
     developing countries a specific policy objective of United 
     States foreign assistance programs;
       (B) requires the Secretary of State to--
       (i) develop a strategy to elevate the role of water and 
     sanitation policy; and
       (ii) improve the effectiveness of United States assistance 
     programs undertaken in support of that strategy;
       (C) codifies Target 10 of the United Nations Millennium 
     Development Goals; and
       (D) seeks to reduce by half between 1990 (the baseline 
     year) and 2015--
       (i) the proportion of people who are unable to reach or 
     afford safe drinking water; and
       (ii) the proportion of people without access to basic 
     sanitation.
       (2) On December 20, 2006, the United Nations General 
     Assembly, in GA Resolution 61/192, declared 2008 as the 
     International Year of Sanitation, in recognition of the 
     impact of sanitation on public health, poverty reduction, 
     economic and social development, and the environment.
       (3) On August 1, 2008, Congress passed H. Con. Res. 318, 
     which--
       (A) supports the goals and ideals of the International Year 
     of Sanitation; and
       (B) recognizes the importance of sanitation on public 
     health, poverty reduction, economic and social development, 
     and the environment.
       (4) While progress is being made on safe water and 
     sanitation efforts--
       (A) more than 884,000,000 people throughout the world lack 
     access to safe drinking water; and
       (B) 2 of every 5 people in the world do not have access to 
     basic sanitation services.
       (5) The health consequences of unsafe drinking water and 
     poor sanitation are significant, accounting for--
       (A) nearly 10 percent of the global burden of disease; and
       (B) more than 2,000,000 deaths each year.
       (6) The effects of climate change are expected to produce 
     severe consequences for water availability and resource 
     management in the future, with 2,800,000,000 people in more 
     than 48 countries expected to face severe and chronic water 
     shortages by 2025.
       (7) According to the November 2008 report entitled, 
     ``Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World'', the National 
     Intelligence Council expects rapid urbanization and future 
     population growth to exacerbate already limited access to 
     water, particularly in agriculture-based economies.
       (8) A 2009 report published in the Proceedings of the 
     National Academy of Sciences projects that the effects of 
     climate change will produce long-term droughts and raise sea 
     levels for the next 1,000 years, regardless of future efforts 
     to combat climate change.
       (9) According to the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 
     commissioned by the United Nations, more than \1/5\ of the 
     world population relies on freshwater that is either polluted 
     or excessively withdrawn.
       (10) The impact of water scarcity on conflict and 
     instability is evident in many parts of the world, including 
     the Darfur region of Sudan, where demand for water resources 
     has contributed to armed conflict between nomadic ethnic 
     groups and local farming communities.
       (11) In order to further the United States contribution to 
     safe water and sanitation efforts, it is necessary to--
       (A) expand foreign assistance capacity to address the 
     challenges described in this section; and
       (B) represent issues related to water and sanitation at the 
     highest levels of United States foreign assistance and 
     diplomatic deliberations, including those related to issues 
     of global health, food security, the environment, global 
     warming, and maternal and child mortality.

     SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that the United States should 
     lead a global effort to bring sustainable access to clean 
     water and sanitation to poor people throughout the world.

     SEC. 4. PURPOSE.

       The purpose of this Act is--
       (1) to provide first-time access to safe water and 
     sanitation, on a sustainable basis, for 100,000,000 people in 
     high priority countries (as designated under section 6(f) of 
     the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (22 
     U.S.C. 2152h note) by 2015; and

[[Page S3187]]

       (2) to enhance the capacity of the United States Government 
     to fully implement the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor 
     Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-121).

     SEC. 5. DEVELOPING UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CAPACITY.

       Section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
     U.S.C. 2152h) is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(e) Office of Water.--
       ``(1) Establishment.--To carry out the purposes of 
     subsection (a), the Administrator of the United States Agency 
     for International Development shall establish the Office of 
     Water within the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and 
     Trade.
       ``(2) Leadership.--The Office of Water shall be headed by a 
     Director for Safe Water and Sanitation, who shall report 
     directly to the Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for 
     Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade.
       ``(3) Duties.--The Director shall--
       ``(A) implement this section and the Senator Paul Simon 
     Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-121);
       ``(B) develop and implement country-specific water 
     strategies and expertise, in collaboration with appropriate 
     United States Agency for International Development Mission 
     Directors, to meet the goal of providing 100,000,000 
     additional people with sustainable access to safe water and 
     sanitation by 2015; and
       ``(C) place primary emphasis on providing safe, affordable, 
     and sustainable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in a 
     manner that--
       ``(i) is consistent with sound water resource management 
     principles; and
       ``(ii) utilizes such approaches as direct service 
     provision, capacity building, institutional strengthening, 
     regulatory reform, and partnership collaboration.
       ``(4) Capacity.--The Director may utilize interagency 
     details or partnerships with universities, civil society, and 
     the private sector, as needed, to strengthen implementation 
     capacity.
       ``(f) Special Coordinator for International Water.--
       ``(1) Establishment.--To increase the capacity of the 
     Department of State to address international issues regarding 
     safe water, sanitation, integrated river basin management, 
     and other international water programs, the Secretary of 
     State shall establish a Special Coordinator for International 
     Water (referred to in this subsection as the `Special 
     Coordinator'), who shall report to the Under Secretary for 
     Democracy and Global Affairs.
       ``(2) Duties.--The Special Coordinator shall--
       ``(A) oversee and coordinate the diplomatic policy of the 
     United States Government with respect to global freshwater 
     issues, including interagency coordination related to--
       ``(i) sustainable access to safe drinking water, 
     sanitation, and hygiene;
       ``(ii) integrated river basin and watershed management;
       ``(iii) transboundary conflict;
       ``(iv) agricultural and urban productivity of water 
     resources;
       ``(v) disaster recovery, response, and rebuilding,
       ``(vi) pollution mitigation; and
       ``(vii) adaptation to hydrologic change due to climate 
     variability; and
       ``(B) ensure that international freshwater issues are 
     represented--
       ``(i) within the United States Government; and
       ``(ii) in key diplomatic, development, and scientific 
     efforts with other nations and multilateral organizations.
       ``(3) Staff.--The Special Coordinator is authorized to hire 
     a limited number of staff to carry out the duties described 
     in paragraph (2).''.

     SEC. 6. SAFE WATER, SANITATION, AND HYGIENE STRATEGY.

       Section 6 of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act 
     of 2005 (22 U.S.C. 2152h note) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following: 
     ``In developing the program activities needed to implement 
     the strategy, the Secretary shall consider the results of the 
     assessment described in subsection (e)(9).''; and
       (2) in subsection (e)--
       (A) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (B) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at the end and 
     inserting a semicolon; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(7) an assessment of all United States Government foreign 
     assistance allocated to the drinking water and sanitation 
     sector during the 3 previous fiscal years, across all United 
     States Government agencies and programs, including an 
     assessment of the extent to which the United States 
     Government's efforts are reaching the goal of providing 
     first-time access to safe water and sanitation on a 
     sustainable basis for 100,000,000 people in high priority 
     countries;
       ``(8) recommendations on what the United States Government 
     would need to do to achieve the goals referred to in 
     paragraph (7), in support of the United Nation's Millennium 
     Development Goal on access to safe drinking water; and
       ``(9) an assessment of best practices for mobilizing and 
     leveraging the financial and technical capacity of business, 
     governments, nongovernmental organizations, and civil society 
     in forming public-private partnerships that measurably 
     increase access to safe drinking water and sanitation.''.

     SEC. 7. DEVELOPING LOCAL CAPACITY.

       The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 
     (Public Law 109-121) is amended--
       (1) by redesignating sections 9, 10, and 11 as sections 10, 
     11, and 12, respectively; and
       (2) by inserting after section 8 the following:

     ``SEC. 9. WATER AND SANITATION INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY-
                   BUILDING PROGRAM.

       ``(a) Establishment.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary of State and the 
     Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
     Development (referred to in this section as the `Secretary' 
     and the `Administrator', respectively), in consultation with 
     host country institutions, the Centers for Disease Control 
     and Prevention, the Department of Agriculture, and other 
     agencies, as appropriate, shall establish, in every high 
     priority country, a program to build the capacity of host 
     country institutions and officials responsible for water and 
     sanitation in countries that receive assistance under section 
     135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, including training 
     at appropriate levels, to--
       ``(A) provide affordable, equitable, and sustainable access 
     to safe drinking water and sanitation;
       ``(B) educate the populations of such countries about the 
     dangers of unsafe drinking water and lack of proper 
     sanitation; and
       ``(C) encourage behavior change to reduce individuals' risk 
     of disease from unsafe drinking water and lack of proper 
     sanitation and hygiene.
       ``(2) Coordination.--The programs established under 
     subsection (a) shall be coordinated in each country by the 
     lead country water manager designated in subsection (b)(2).
       ``(3) Expansion.--The Secretary and the Administrator may 
     establish the program described in this section in additional 
     countries if the receipt of such capacity building would be 
     beneficial for promoting access to safe drinking water and 
     sanitation, with due consideration given to good governance.
       ``(4) Capacity.--The Secretary and the Administrator--
       ``(A) shall designate staff with appropriate expertise to 
     carry out the strategy developed under section 4; and
       ``(B) may utilize, as needed, interagency details or 
     partnerships with universities, civil society, and the 
     private sector to strengthen implementation capacity.
       ``(b) Designation.--The United States Agency for 
     International Development Mission Director for each country 
     receiving a `high priority' designation under section 6(f) 
     and for each region containing a country receiving such 
     designation shall--
       ``(1) designate safe drinking water and sanitation as a 
     strategic objective;
       ``(2) appoint an employee of the United States Agency for 
     International Development as in-country water and sanitation 
     manager to coordinate the in-country implementation of this 
     Act and section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 
     U.S.C. 2152h) with host country officials at various levels 
     of government responsible for water and sanitation, the 
     Department of State, and other relevant United States 
     Government agencies; and
       ``(3) coordinate with the Development Credit Authority and 
     the Global Development Alliance to further the purposes of 
     this Act.''.

     SEC. 8. OTHER ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.

       Section 135(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. 
     2152h(c)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end; 
     and
       (3) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(5) foster global cooperation on research and technology 
     development, including regional partnerships among water 
     experts to address safe drinking water, sanitation, water 
     resource management, and other water-related issues;
       ``(6) establish regional and cross-border cooperative 
     activities between scientists and specialists that work to 
     share technologies and best practices, mitigate shared water 
     challenges, foster international cooperation, and defuse 
     cross-border tensions;
       ``(7) provide grants through the United States Agency for 
     International Development to foster the development, 
     dissemination, and increased and consistent use of low cost 
     and sustainable technologies, such as household water 
     treatment, hand washing stations, and latrines, for providing 
     safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene that are 
     suitable for use in high priority countries, particularly in 
     places with limited resources and infrastructure;
       ``(8) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control 
     and Prevention, Department of Agriculture, the Environmental 
     Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
     Administration, and other agencies, as appropriate, conduct 
     formative and operational research and monitor and evaluate 
     the effectiveness of programs that provide safe drinking 
     water and sanitation; and
       ``(9) integrate efforts to promote safe drinking water, 
     sanitation and hygiene with existing foreign assistance 
     programs, as appropriate, including activities focused on 
     HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, 
     food security, and nutritional support.''.

[[Page S3188]]

     SEC. 9. UPDATED REPORT REGARDING WATER FOR PEACE AND 
                   SECURITY.

       Section 11(b) of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor 
     Act of 2005, as redesignated by section 7, is amended by 
     adding at the end the following: ``The report submitted under 
     this subsection shall include an assessment of current and 
     likely future political tensions over water sources and 
     multidisciplinary assessment of the expected impacts of 
     global climate change on water supplies in 10, 25, and 50 
     years.''.

     SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
     for fiscal year 2009 and for each subsequent fiscal year such 
     sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act and the 
     amendments made by this Act, pursuant to the criteria set 
     forth in the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 
     2005 (Public Law 109-121).
       (b) Use of Funds.--
       (1) General water resource management activities.--Up to 20 
     percent of the amounts appropriated to implement this Act may 
     be used to support general water resource management 
     activities that improve countries' overall water sources.
       (2) Other activities.--Any amounts appropriated to 
     implement this Act that are not used to carry out the 
     activities described in paragraph (1) shall be allocated for 
     activities related to safe drinking water, sanitation, and 
     hygiene.
                                 ______