I
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1973
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 28, 2005
Mr. Blumenauer (for himself, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Leach, Mr. George Miller of California, and Mr. Tancredo) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To make access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries a specific policy objective of the United States foreign assistance programs, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Water for the Poor Act of 2005
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Findings
Congress makes the following findings:
Water-related diseases are a human tragedy, killing up to 5 million people annually, preventing millions of people from leading healthy lives, and undermining development efforts.
A child dies an average of every 15 seconds because of lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation.
In the poorest countries in the world, one out of five children dies from a preventable, water-related disease.
Lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene practices are directly responsible for the vast majority of diarrheal diseases which kill over 2 million children each year.
At any given time, half of all people in the developing world are suffering from one or more of the main diseases associated with inadequate provision of water supply and sanitation services.
Over 1.2 billion people, one in every four people in the developing world, lack access to safe drinking water.
Over 2.4 billion people, two in every five people in the developing world, lack access to basic sanitation services.
Nearly 500 million people are affected by water stress or serious water scarcity. Under current trends, two-thirds of the world’s population may be subject to moderate to high water stress by 2025.
Access to safe water and sanitation and improved hygiene are significant factors in controlling the spread of disease in the developing world and positively affecting worker productivity and economic development.
Increasing access to safe water and sanitation advances efforts toward other development objectives, such as fighting poverty and hunger, promoting primary education and gender equality, reducing child mortality, promoting environmental stability, improving the lives of slum dwellers, and strengthening national security.
Providing safe supplies of water and sanitation and hygiene improvements would save millions of lives by reducing the prevalence of water-borne diseases, water-based diseases, water-privation diseases, and water-related vector diseases.
Because women and girls in developing countries are often the carriers of water, lack of access to safe water and sanitation disproportionately affects women and limits women’s opportunities at education, livelihood, and financial independence.
Every $1 invested in safe water and sanitation would yield an economic return of between $3 and $34, depending on the region.
Developing sustainable financing mechanisms, such as pooling mechanisms and revolving funds, is necessary for the long-term viability of improved water and sanitation services.
The annual level of investment needed to meet the water and sanitation needs of developing countries far exceeds the amount of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and spending by governments of developing countries, so facilitating and attracting greater public and private investment is essential.
Meeting the water and sanitation needs of the lowest-income developing countries will require an increase in the resources available as grants from donor countries.
The long-term sustainability of improved water and sanitation services can be advanced by promoting community level action and engagement with civil society.
Target 10 of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015.
The participants in the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, including the United States, agreed to the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development which included an agreement to work to reduce by one-half the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water,
and the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation
by 2015.
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the United States announced the Water for the Poor Initiative, committing $970 million for fiscal years 2003 through 2005 to improve sustainable management of fresh water resources and accelerate and expand international efforts to achieve the goal of cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 58/217 (February 9, 2004) proclaimed the period from 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for Action,
for the purpose of increasing the focus of the international community on water-related issues at all levels and on the implementation of water-related programs and projects.Water for Life
, to commence on World Water Day, 22 March 2005
Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress that—
in order to make the most effective use of amounts of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for water and sanitation and avoid waste and duplication, the United States should seek to establish innovative international coordination mechanisms based on best practices in other development sectors;
the United States should greatly increase the amount of Official Development Assistance made available to carry out section 104D of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 4(a) of this Act;
United States water and sanitation assistance programs should reflect an appropriate balance of grants, loans, investment insurance, loan guarantees, and other assistance to ensure affordability and equity in the provision of access to safe water and sanitation for the very poor;
United States water and sanitation assistance programs, to the extent possible, should support the poverty reduction strategies of recipient countries;
United States water and sanitation assistance programs should promote community-based approaches in the provision of affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation, including the involvement of civil society; and
protecting the supply and availability of safe water requires sound environmental management.
Assistance to provide safe water and sanitation
In general
Part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 104C the following new section:
Assistance to provide safe water and sanitation
Purposes
The purposes of assistance authorized by this section are—
to promote good health, economic development, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, and environmental sustainability by providing assistance to expand access to safe water and sanitation, promoting integrated water resource management, and improving hygiene for people around the world;
to seek to reduce by one-half from the baseline year 1990 the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water and the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015;
to focus water and sanitation assistance toward the countries and people with the greatest need;
to promote affordability and equity in the provision of access to safe water and sanitation for the very poor, women, and other vulnerable populations;
to promote long-term sustainability in the affordable and equitable provision of access to safe water and sanitation through the creation of innovative financing mechanisms such as national revolving funds, and by strengthening the capacity of recipient governments and communities to formulate and implement policies that expand access to safe water and sanitation in a sustainable fashion, including securing loans and strategic planning;
to secure the greatest amount of resources possible, encourage private investment in water and sanitation infrastructure and services, particularly in lower middle-income countries, without creating unsustainable debt for low-income countries or unaffordable water and sanitation costs for the very poor; and
to promote the capacity of recipient governments to provide affordable, equitable, and sustainable access to safe water and sanitation.
Authorization
To carry out the purposes of subsection (a), the President is authorized to furnish assistance for programs in developing countries to provide affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation.
Activities supported
Assistance provided under subsection (b) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, be used to—
expand affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation for underserved populations;
support the construction, maintenance, upkeep, repair, and operation of water delivery and sanitation systems;
improve the safety and reliability of water supplies, including environmental management; and
improve the institutional capacity of recipient governments, including capacity-building programs for improved water resource management.
Local currency
The President may use payments made in local currencies under an agreement made under title I of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to provide assistance under this section, including assistance for activities related to drilling or maintaining wells.
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Conforming amendment
Section 104(c) of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1704(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
Safe water
To provide assistance under section 104D of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to promote good health, economic development, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, and environmental sustainability by improving the safety of water supplies, including programs related to drilling or maintaining wells.
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Safe water and sanitation strategy
Strategy
The Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, in consultation with the heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies, international organizations, international financial institutions, recipient governments, United States and international nongovernmental organizations, indigenous civil society, and other appropriate entities, shall develop and implement a strategy to further the United States foreign assistance objective to provide affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation in developing countries.
Content
The strategy required by subsection (a) shall include—
an assessment of the activities that have been carried out, or that are planned to be carried out, by all appropriate Federal departments and agencies to improve affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation and hygiene in all countries that receive assistance from the United States Agency for International Development;
specific and measurable goals, benchmarks, and timetables to achieve the objective described in subsection (a);
an assessment of the level of resources that are needed each year to achieve the goals, benchmarks, and timetables described in paragraph (2);
methods to mobilize and leverage the financial, technical, and managerial expertise of businesses, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and civil society in the form of public-private alliances;
methods to encourage reforms and increase the capacity of foreign governments to formulate and implement policies that expand access to safe water and sanitation in an affordable, equitable, and sustainable fashion, including securing loans and strategic planning;
methods to coordinate and integrate United States water and sanitation assistance programs with other United States development assistance programs to achieve the objective described in subsection (a);
methods to better coordinate United States water and sanitation assistance programs with programs of other donor countries and entities to achieve the objective described in subsection (a);
methods to take into account the different needs of countries with an absolute lack of resources to expand water and sanitation access and countries with the need to better allocate potentially sufficient existing resources and the different activities appropriate to each, as well as countries with existing markets for investment in water and sanitation and countries without existing markets for investment in water and sanitation; and
methods to take into account the need for an appropriate balance of grants, loans, investment insurance, loan guarantees, and other assistance to ensure affordability and equity in the provision of access to safe water and sanitation for the very poor.
Reports
Initial report
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that describes the strategy required by subsection (a).
Subsequent reports
Not less than once every year after the submission of the initial report under paragraph (1) until 2015, the Administrator shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the status of the implementation of the strategy, progress made in achieving the objective described in subsection (a), and any changes to the strategy since the date of the submission of the last report.
Definition
In this subsection, the term appropriate congressional committees
means—
the Committee on International Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
Authorization of appropriations
In general
There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fiscal year such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
Other amounts
Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations in subsection (a) shall be in addition to the amounts otherwise available to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
Availability
Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations under section (a) are authorized to remain available until expended.
