[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 126 (Monday, September 20, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7222-S7224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           SENATOR PAUL SIMON WATER FOR THE WORLD ACT OF 2009

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 374, S. 624.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will state the bill by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 624) to provide 100 million 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.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill, 
which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign Relations, with 
an amendment to strike all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu 
thereof the following:

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Senator Paul Simon Water for 
     the World Act of 2010''.

     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) Water scarcity has negative consequences for 
     agricultural productivity and food security for the 
     1,200,000,000 people who, as of 2010, suffer from chronic 
     hunger and seriously threatens the ability of the world to 
     more than double food production to meet the demands of a 
     projected population of 9,000,000,000 people by 2050.
       (7) 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.
       (8) 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.
       (9) 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.
       (10) 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.
       (11) 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.
       (12) 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 enable 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) within 6 years of the date of enactment of 
     this Act through direct funding, development activities, and 
     partnerships; and
       (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) Senior Advisor for Water.--
       ``(1) In general.--To carry out the purposes of subsection 
     (a), the Administrator of the United States Agency for 
     International Development shall designate a senior advisor to 
     coordinate and conduct the activities described in this 
     section and the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 
     2005 (Public Law 109-121). The advisor shall report directly 
     to the Administrator and be known as the `Senior Advisor for 
     Water'.
       ``(2) Duties.--The Advisor shall--
       ``(A) implement this section and the Senator Paul Simon 
     Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-121);
       ``(B) develop and oversee implementation in high priority 
     countries of country-specific water strategies and expertise, 
     in coordination with appropriate United States Agency for 
     International Development Mission Directors, to enable the 
     goal of providing 100,000,000 additional people with 
     sustainable access to safe water and sanitation through 
     direct funding, development activities, and partnerships 
     within 6 years of the date of the enactment of the Senator 
     Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2010; and
       ``(C) place primary emphasis on providing safe, affordable, 
     and sustainable drinking

[[Page S7223]]

     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; and
       ``(D) integrate water strategies with country-specific or 
     regional food security strategies.
       ``(3) Capacity.--The Advisor shall be designated 
     appropriate staff and 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) global food security;
       ``(iv) transboundary conflict;
       ``(v) agricultural and urban productivity of water 
     resources;
       ``(vi) disaster recovery, response, and rebuilding,
       ``(vii) pollution mitigation; and
       ``(viii) 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) Support staff.--The Special Coordinator shall be 
     designated appropriate staff to support 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 (b), by adding at the end the following: 
     ``The Coordinator shall take actions to ensure that the safe 
     water and sanitation strategy is integrated into any review 
     or development of a Federal strategy for global development, 
     global health, or global food security that sets forth or 
     establishes the United States mission for global development, 
     guidelines for assistance programs, and how development 
     policy will be coordinated with policies governing trade, 
     immigration, and other relevant international issues.'';
       (2) 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
       (3) 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 and supporting the goal of 
     enabling 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 and support 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, affordable, 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 coordination 
     with mission directors in high priority countries, 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) 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.
       ``(3) Capacity.--The Secretary and the Administrator--
       ``(A) should designate appropriate staff with relevant 
     expertise to carry out the strategy developed under section 
     6; 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 report annually to Congress on the status 
     of--
       ``(1) designating safe drinking water and sanitation as a 
     strategic objective;
       ``(2) integrating the water strategy into a food security 
     strategy;
       ``(3) assigning 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
       ``(4) coordinating with the Development Credit Authority 
     and the Global Development Alliance to further the purposes 
     of this Act.''.

     SEC. 8. OTHER ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.

       In addition to the requirements of section 135(c) of the 
     Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. 2152h(c)) the Administrator 
     should--
       ``(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 
     food security, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and 
     child health, food security, and nutritional support.''.

     SEC. 9. MONITORING AND EVALUATION.

       (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress 
     that--
       (1) achieving United States foreign policy objectives 
     requires the consistent and systematic evaluation of the 
     impact of United States foreign assistance programs and 
     analysis on what programs work and why, when, and where they 
     work;
       (2) the design of assistance programs and projects should 
     include the collection of relevant baseline data required to 
     measure outcomes and impacts;
       (3) the design of assistance programs and projects should 
     reflect the knowledge gained from evaluation and analysis;
       (4) a culture and practice of high quality evaluation 
     should be revitalized at agencies managing foreign assistance 
     programs, which requires that the concepts of evaluation and 
     analysis are used to inform policy and programmatic 
     decisions, including the training of aid professionals in 
     evaluation design and implementation;
       (5) the effective and efficient use of funds cannot be 
     achieved without an understanding of how lessons learned are 
     applicable in various environments and under similar or 
     different conditions; and
       (6) project evaluations should be used as sources of data 
     when running broader analyses of development outcomes and 
     impacts.
       (b) Coordination and Integration.--To the extent possible, 
     the Administrator shall coordinate and integrate evaluation 
     of United States water programs with the learning, 
     evaluation, and analysis efforts of the United States Agency 
     for International Development aimed at measuring development 
     impact.

[[Page S7224]]

     SEC. 10. 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 and agricultural 
     productivity in 10, 25, and 50 years.''.

     SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
     for each of the 6 fiscal years beginning after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act 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.--Any amounts appropriated to implement 
     this Act shall be primarily allocated for activities related 
     to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today, with the passage of the Paul Simon 
Water for the World Act, the Senate will take an important step in 
fighting poverty and saving the lives of the world's poor by increasing 
access to the most fundamental human need--clean water.
  I introduced this bill in honor of my friend and mentor, the man 
whose seat I now occupy in the Senate, the late Senator Paul Simon. 
Solving the global water crisis was his last great campaign and the 
topic of a book he authored called ``Tapped Out: The Coming World 
Crisis in Water and What We Can Do About It.''
  If he were here today, he would be proud of the Senate's action.
  I was joined in this effort by Senators Bob Corker, Patty Murray and 
31 other cosponsors from both sides of the aisle--and would like to 
thank all of them for their support and commitment to addressing one of 
the defining challenges of the 21st century.
  I would also like to thank Senator Tom Coburn for working 
constructively with me to advance legislation that we both could agree 
upon. And finally I would like to express my appreciation to Foreign 
Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry and Ranking Member Richard 
Lugar for their critical support of this bill.
  While we have made progress in recent years on clean water and 
sanitation, tragically nearly 1 billion people around the world still 
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, but today the 
U.S. Senate sent a clear message to them, ``We hear you, we see what 
you're going through, and we want to help with this most basic of human 
needs.''
  We want to help because the global water crisis is not just a problem 
for Africa or the Middle East, but rather a problem for all of 
humanity.
  Mr. President, competition for water is often at the heart of 
international conflict--just look at the conflict in Darfur.
  The burdens of water in the developing world fall most solidly on the 
women. So many thousands of women in Africa spend hours every day 
carrying water back and forth.
  Young girls are often denied the opportunity to go to school because 
they have work to do. They have to carry water, often walking several 
hours both ways.
  And sick children miss nearly 300 million school days a year from 
water-related causes. An estimated 320 million productive work days are 
lost to illness resulting from unsafe drinking water and lack of access 
to sanitation.
  Quite simply, the global water crisis is a quiet killer. In the 
developing world, water-related diseases claim the lives of 5,000 
children every day.
  During my trips overseas, I have seen the hardships that befall 
populations without clean water and sanitation, and I've also seen the 
transformation that gaining access to these basic human needs creates.
  Earlier this year I traveled to Africa with Senator Sherrod Brown 
where we visited a number of countries, including Ethiopia. We visited 
a slum outside Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, where we were greeted by 
two beautiful little girls who gave us flowers and invited us to a 
coffee ceremony.

  The 380 inhabitants of this area lived without running water until a 
nongovernmental organization called AMREF installed a simple but 
critical water kiosk that now provides safe drinking water, showers, 
toilet facilities, and even jobs to the community.
  The same two girls who greeted us beamed with pride as we looked at 
the source of water and sanitation that did not exist before. What 
seems so ordinary to us in the developed world, access to water and 
sanitation, changed the lives of these two young girls living in 
squalor outside Addis Ababa.
  But you do not have to travel halfway around the world to see the 
devastating consequences of a lack of clean water and sanitation--
travel just 90 minutes from Miami to Haiti.
  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.
  And this was before the earthquake.
  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 five.
  The leading killer? Water-borne diseases: hepatitis, typhoid and 
diarrhea.
  The goal of the bill passed today is to reach an additional 100 
million of the world's poorest people with sustainable, first-time 
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation over the next 6 
years.
  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.
  I believe American leadership in helping provide the world's poor 
with such a fundamental human need as clean water is not only the right 
thing to do, but the smart thing to do.
  In fact, for every $1 invested in safe drinking water and sanitation, 
an estimated $8 is saved in work time, productivity and health care 
costs in poor countries.
  Throughout history, civilized nations have put aside political 
differences to address compelling issues of life and survival. Today, 
on this issue, by passing the Paul Simon Water for the World Act, the 
Senate did just that.
  I now urge my colleagues in the House to work with Representatives 
Earl Blumenauer and Donald Payne, House Foreign Affairs Committee 
Chairman Howard Berman and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and 
Speaker Pelosi to do the same.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-
reported substitute amendment be considered; that a Durbin amendment, 
which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the substitute amendment, as 
amended, be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be read the third 
time and passed; that the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table 
with no intervening action or debate; and that any statements related 
to the bill be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 4620) was agreed to.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  The committee amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended, 
was agreed to.
  The bill (S. 624), as amended, was ordered to be engrossed for a 
third reading, was read the third time, and passed.

                          ____________________