III 

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 and Mr. KERRY) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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 liters of water per day to survive; 

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

without water; 

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

disease; 

Whereas, for children under age 5, water-borne diseases are 

the leading cause of death; 


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•SRES 81 IS 

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 gained; 

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

world are occupied by patients suffering from a waterborne disease; 

Whereas 88 percent of all diseases are caused by unsafe 

drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene; 

Whereas 1,100,000,000 (1 in 6) people lack access to an improved water supply; 

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

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; 

Whereas the participants in the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, including the 

United States, agreed to the Plan of Implementation 

which included an agreement to work to reduce by 1⁄2

from the baseline year 1990 ‘‘the proportion of people 

who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking 


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•SRES 81 IS 

water’’, ‘‘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; 

4 (2) urges an increased effort and the invest5 ment of greater resources by the Department of 

6 State, the United States Agency for International 

7 Development, and all relevant Federal departments 

8 and agencies toward providing sustainable and equi9 table access to safe drinking water and sanitation 

10 for the poor and the very poor; and 

11 (3) encourages the people of the United States 

12 to observe the week of World Water Day with appro13 priate activities that promote awareness of the im14 portance of— 

15 (A) access to clean water; and 

16 (B) cooperation between stakeholders in 

17 transboundary water management. 

Æ 


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