III 

Calendar No. 131 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 81 

Supporting the goals and ideals of World Water Day. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2009 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. KERRY, and Mr. DURBIN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

JULY 28, 2009 

Reported by Mr. KERRY, with an amendment and with amendments to the 

preamble 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals and ideals of World Water Day. 

Whereas the United Nations General Assembly, by resolution, 

has designated March 22 of each year as ‘‘World Water 

Day’’; 

Whereas a person needs 4 to 5 litersgallons of water per day 

to survive; 

Whereas a person can live weeks without food, but only days 

without water; 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•SRES 81 RS 

Whereas every 15 seconds a child dies from a water-borne 

disease; 

Whereas, for children under 5 years of age 5, waterbornerelated diseases are the second leading cause of 

death; 

Whereas millions of women and children already spend several hours a day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources; 

Whereas every dollar spent on water and sanitation saves an 

average of $9 in costs averted and productivity 

gained884,000,000 people do not have access to safe drinking water; 

Whereas 2,500,000,000 people do not have access to adequate 

sanitation and 1,200,000,000 people do not have access to 

any sanitation facilities; 

Whereas water-related diseases are responsible for 80 percent of 

all illness and deaths in the developing world; 

Whereas, at any given time, 1⁄2 of the hospital beds in the 

worldsub-Saharan Africa are occupied by patients suffering from a water-borne diseasewater-related diseases; 

Whereas 88 percent of all diseases are caused by unsafe 

drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene50 percent of childhood malnutrition is associated 

with water- and sanitation-related diseases; 

Whereas 1,100,000,000 (1 in 6) people lack access to anevery 

dollar invested in improved water supply and sanitation 

yield gains of $4 to $12, depending on the type of intervention; 

Whereas 2,600,000,000 people in the world lack access to improved sanitation; 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•SRES 81 RS 

Whereas the 263 transboundary lake and river basins in the 

world are part of the territory of 145 countries and cover 

nearly 1⁄2 of the land surface of the Earth; 

Whereas climate change may cause more extreme floods and 

droughts, increasing political tension and the potential 

for clashes over transboundary fresh water resources; 

Whereas the global celebration of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 

Whereas the participants in the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, including the United States, agreed toadopted the Plan of 

Implementation which included an agreement to work to 

reduce by 1⁄2from the baseline year 1990, between 1990 

and 2015— 

(1) ‘‘the proportion of people who are unable to 

reach or to afford safe drinking water’’,; and 

(2) ‘‘and the proportion of people without access to 

basic sanitation’’by 2015; and 

Whereas Congress passed and the President signed into law 

the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 

(Public Law 109–121), which was intended to ‘‘elevate 

the role of water and sanitation policy in the development 

of U.S. foreign policy and improve the effectiveness of 

U.S. official programs’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) supports the goals and ideals of World 

3 Water Day; 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•SRES 81 RS 

1 (2) urges an increased effort and the invest2 ment of greater resources by the Department of 

3 State, the United States Agency for International 

4 Development, and all relevant Federal departments 

5 and agencies toward providing sustainable and equi6 table access to safe drinking water and sanitation 

7 for the poor and the very poor; and 

8 (3) encourages the people of the United States 

9 to observe the week of World Water Day with appro10 priate activities that promote awareness of the im11 portance of— 

12 (A) access to clean water and sanitation; 

13 and 

14 (B) cooperation between stakeholders in 

15 transboundary water management. 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS

tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
Calendar No. 131 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 81 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals and ideals of World Water 

Day. 

JULY 28, 2009 

Reported with an amendment and with amendments to 

the preamble 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS