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Home : Media : News : News Article View

# U.S. Renews Commitment to Securing Water for World's Poor 

By StaffEmbassy of the U.S.

                WASHINGTON, D.C.,  –              
One of the lucky few bills that emerged from the tortuous U.S.  legislative process of the 113th Congress is an extremely important law for the  world’s poor.

The Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014, enacted in mid-December, aims  to strengthen implementation of the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 by  improving the capacity of the U.S. government to implement, monitor and evaluate  programs “to provide first-time or improved access to safe drinking water,  sanitation and hygiene to the world's poorest on an equitable and sustainable  basis,” according to the law’s preamble.

The 2005 law made access to safe water and sanitation for developing  countries a specific policy objective of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Program.  The act was named after the late Senator Paul Simon, who authored a book  entitled *Tapped Out*that warned of the world’s looming clean water  crisis.

“We need to make every dollar of our limited foreign aid resources count by  addressing problems where we can have a real impact on people’s lives,” said  Senator Bob Corker, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a  sponsor of the 2014 law. “By focusing our efforts on clean water and sanitation,  we can save lives, improve public health and provide stability in vulnerable  communities throughout the world.”

The law's aims:

• Ensure water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) funding remains a U.S. foreign  policy priority.

• Sharpen the criteria for selecting high-priority countries and communities  for receiving WASH service.

• Increase integration of WASH programs with other critical interventions,  including child survival, global health, food security and nutrition, and gender  equality to increase program effectiveness.

• Advance best practices for effective aid, including public-private  partnerships.

• Improve the United States’ strategic approach to international safe water,  sanitation and hygiene, and water resource management.

Raj Shah, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development  (USAID), hailed the law’s passage as a boon to U.S. and international efforts to  provide clean water and sanitation services to 2.5 billion people who do not  have access to basic sanitation and 750 million who lack access to clean  water.

The act “provides a solid platform for USAID to work toward our goal of a  water-secure future, free from the diseases caused from inadequate access to  clean water and sanitation, where food is available and affordable, and where  populations are less vulnerable to the risks of a changing planet,” Shah said in  a December 22 statement.

The law supports more targeted, effective, sustainable investments in foreign  assistance and aligns with the global community’s work toward sustainable  development goals, he said, adding that water and sanitation intersect with  “nearly every aspect of USAID’s mission to end extreme global poverty by  ensuring every child survives and thrives, improving education, advancing human  rights, responding to crises, strengthening food security through Feed the  Future, and bolstering global health outcomes such as ending preventable child  and maternal deaths.”

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Securing Water for World's Poor

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