[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 167 (Thursday, December 16, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2176]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           SENATOR PAUL SIMON WATER FOR THE WORLD ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 16, 2010

  Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight, as I have the previous 
two nights, in order to prod this body to act to save lives before it 
is too late. It is simply unconscionable that 4,100 children die every 
day from diarrheal diseases spread through poor sanitation and hygiene. 
The mortality rate for children killed by waterborne diseases is six 
times as large as the number of children killed by HIV/AIDS and four 
times as many as killed by malaria.
  Melanie Nakagawa of the National Resources Defense Council has called 
the international water and sanitation crisis ``the most poorly 
addressed environmental problem of our day.'' Indeed, nearly one 
billion people lack safe drinking water. According to the World Health 
Organization, two and a half billion people lack sufficient water 
sanitation facilities.
  Many of us have seen the impacts of this ongoing tragedy first-hand--
from the United States, to Africa, to Haiti, where people are dying 
every day from cholera because of a lack of access to clean water and 
sanitation facilities.
  The gap between access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation 
is widening between those living in poverty and the wealthy. The former 
South African president, Nelson Mandela, challenged global leaders to 
make access to clean water a basic human right and to put water and 
sanitation much higher up on the political, economic and social 
agendas. ``The absence of access to clean water'' he stated ``is most 
stark in the widespread impoverishment of the natural environment.''
  The U.N. agreed with Mandela at the Earth Summit, noting that water 
is the greatest obstacle to sustainable development and the most 
visible symbol of the growing gap between the rich and the poor. As the 
Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, ``No issue has ever been more neglected 
than water and sanitation. And it is neglected because it is of concern 
mainly to the poor and powerless.''
  Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary General, stated that 
``access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a fundamental human 
need and therefore, a basic human right.''
  We have legislation before Congress that will address these 
inequities and demonstrate our government's commitment to the 
fundamental human right of safe and clean water. H.R. 2030, the Senator 
Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2009, would give the U.S. 
government the tools to provide 100 million people with first-time 
access to clean water and sanitation.
  The Senate, which has been repeatedly criticized for not addressing 
the hundreds of bills passed by this body during the 111th Congress, 
has already approved the companion to H.R. 2030. And the Senate passed 
that legislation on September 20, 2010 by unanimous consent.
  Despite the occasional partisan differences here in Washington DC, 
this critical issue has support on both sides of the aisle. There are 
ten Republican cosponsors of the House bill and eight Republican 
cosponsors of the Senate bill.
  Water for the World is also supported by a broad spectrum of 
advocates, including Water Advocates, the Natural Resources Defense 
Council, ONE, Mercy Corps, International Housing Coalition, CARE, and 
Population Services International, Millennium Water Alliance, Living 
Water International and Religious Water Working Group.
  We are down to the wire and the time to act is now. If the 111th 
Congress expires without a vote on the House floor, millions of people 
will have to unnecessarily wait for clean water. And many lives will be 
unnecessarily lost. While many Americans take water for granted, one-
sixth of the world's population, almost a billion people, do not have 
access to safe drinking water. The Water for the World Act is an 
important start to addressing this problem. I urge my colleagues to 
support this legislation before it is too late.