I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1973

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. 

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.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water for the Poor 

5 Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 
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1 (1) Water-related diseases are a human trag2 edy, killing up to 5 million people annually, pre3 venting millions of people from leading healthy lives, 

4 and undermining development efforts. 

5 (2) A child dies an average of every 15 seconds 

6 because of lack of access to safe water and adequate 

7 sanitation. 

8 (3) In the poorest countries in the world, one 

9 out of five children dies from a preventable, water10 related disease. 

11 (4) Lack of access to safe drinking water, inad12 equate sanitation, and poor hygiene practices are di13 rectly responsible for the vast majority of diarrheal 

14 diseases which kill over 2 million children each year. 

15 (5) At any given time, half of all people in the 

16 developing world are suffering from one or more of 

17 the main diseases associated with inadequate provi18 sion of water supply and sanitation services. 

19 (6) Over 1.2 billion people, one in every four 

20 people in the developing world, lack access to safe 

21 drinking water. 

22 (7) Over 2.4 billion people, two in every five 

23 people in the developing world, lack access to basic 

24 sanitation services. 
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1 (8) Nearly 500 million people are affected by 

2 water stress or serious water scarcity. Under current 

3 trends, two-thirds of the world’s population may be 

4 subject to moderate to high water stress by 2025. 

5 (9) Access to safe water and sanitation and im6 proved hygiene are significant factors in controlling 

7 the spread of disease in the developing world and 

8 positively affecting worker productivity and economic 

9 development. 

10 (10) Increasing access to safe water and sanita11 tion advances efforts toward other development ob12 jectives, such as fighting poverty and hunger, pro13 moting primary education and gender equality, re14 ducing child mortality, promoting environmental sta15 bility, improving the lives of slum dwellers, and 

16 strengthening national security. 

17 (11) Providing safe supplies of water and sani18 tation and hygiene improvements would save millions 

19 of lives by reducing the prevalence of water-borne 

20 diseases, water-based diseases, water-privation dis21 eases, and water-related vector diseases. 

22 (12) Because women and girls in developing 

23 countries are often the carriers of water, lack of ac24 cess to safe water and sanitation disproportionately 
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1 affects women and limits women’s opportunities at 

2 education, livelihood, and financial independence. 

3 (13) Every $1 invested in safe water and sani4 tation would yield an economic return of between $3 

5 and $34, depending on the region. 

6 (14) Developing sustainable financing mecha7 nisms, such as pooling mechanisms and revolving 

8 funds, is necessary for the long-term viability of im9 proved water and sanitation services. 

10 (15) The annual level of investment needed to 

11 meet the water and sanitation needs of developing 

12 countries far exceeds the amount of Official Develop13 ment Assistance (ODA) and spending by govern14 ments of developing countries, so facilitating and at15 tracting greater public and private investment is es16 sential. 

17 (16) Meeting the water and sanitation needs of 

18 the lowest-income developing countries will require 

19 an increase in the resources available as grants from 

20 donor countries. 

21 (17) The long-term sustainability of improved 

22 water and sanitation services can be advanced by 

23 promoting community level action and engagement 

24 with civil society. 
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1 (18) Target 10 of the United Nations Millen2 nium Development Goals is to reduce by half the 

3 proportion of people without sustainable access to 

4 safe drinking water by 2015. 

5 (19) The participants in the 2002 World Sum6 mit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannes7 burg, South Africa, including the United States, 

8 agreed to the Plan of Implementation of the World 

9 Summit on Sustainable Development which included 

10 an agreement to work to reduce by one-half ‘‘the 

11 proportion of people who are unable to reach or af12 ford safe drinking water,’’ and ‘‘the proportion of 

13 people without access to basic sanitation’’ by 2015. 

14 (20) At the World Summit on Sustainable De15 velopment, the United States announced the Water 

16 for the Poor Initiative, committing $970 million for 

17 fiscal years 2003 through 2005 to improve sustain18 able management of fresh water resources and accel19 erate and expand international efforts to achieve the 

20 goal of cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of 

21 people who are unable to reach or to afford safe 

22 drinking water. 

23 (21) United Nations General Assembly Resolu24 tion 58/217 (February 9, 2004) proclaimed ‘‘the pe25 riod from 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for 
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1 Action, ‘Water for Life’, to commence on World 

2 Water Day, 22 March 2005’’ for the purpose of in3 creasing the focus of the international community on 

4 water-related issues at all levels and on the imple5 mentation of water-related programs and projects. 

6 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that—

8 (1) in order to make the most effective use of 

9 amounts of Official Development Assistance (ODA) 

10 for water and sanitation and avoid waste and dupli11 cation, the United States should seek to establish in12 novative international coordination mechanisms 

13 based on best practices in other development sectors; 

14 (2) the United States should greatly increase 

15 the amount of Official Development Assistance made 

16 available to carry out section 104D of the Foreign 

17 Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 4(a) of 

18 this Act; 

19 (3) United States water and sanitation assist20 ance programs should reflect an appropriate balance 

21 of grants, loans, investment insurance, loan guaran22 tees, and other assistance to ensure affordability and 

23 equity in the provision of access to safe water and 

24 sanitation for the very poor; 
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1 (4) United States water and sanitation assist2 ance programs, to the extent possible, should sup3 port the poverty reduction strategies of recipient 

4 countries; 

5 (5) United States water and sanitation assist6 ance programs should promote community-based ap7 proaches in the provision of affordable and equitable 

8 access to safe water and sanitation, including the in9 volvement of civil society; and 

10 (6) protecting the supply and availability of safe 

11 water requires sound environmental management. 

12 SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND SANI13 TATION. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of the Foreign Assistance 

15 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by in16 serting after section 104C the following new section: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 104D. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND 

18 SANITATION. 

19 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of assistance author20 ized by this section are—

21 ‘‘(1) to promote good health, economic develop22 ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, and 

23 environmental sustainability by providing assistance 

24 to expand access to safe water and sanitation, pro-
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1 moting integrated water resource management, and 

2 improving hygiene for people around the world; 

3 ‘‘(2) to seek to reduce by one-half from the 

4 baseline year 1990 the proportion of people who are 

5 unable to reach or afford safe drinking water and 

6 the proportion of people without access to basic sani7 tation by 2015; 

8 ‘‘(3) to focus water and sanitation assistance 

9 toward the countries and people with the greatest 

10 need; 

11 ‘‘(4) to promote affordability and equity in the 

12 provision of access to safe water and sanitation for 

13 the very poor, women, and other vulnerable popu14 lations; 

15 ‘‘(5) to promote long-term sustainability in the 

16 affordable and equitable provision of access to safe 

17 water and sanitation through the creation of innova18 tive financing mechanisms such as national revolving 

19 funds, and by strengthening the capacity of recipient 

20 governments and communities to formulate and im21 plement policies that expand access to safe water 

22 and sanitation in a sustainable fashion, including se23 curing loans and strategic planning; 

24 ‘‘(6) to secure the greatest amount of resources 

25 possible, encourage private investment in water and 
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1 sanitation infrastructure and services, particularly in 

2 lower middle-income countries, without creating 

3 unsustainable debt for low-income countries or 

4 unaffordable water and sanitation costs for the very 

5 poor; and 

6 ‘‘(7) to promote the capacity of recipient gov7 ernments to provide affordable, equitable, and sus8 tainable access to safe water and sanitation. 

9 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—To carry out the purposes of 

10 subsection (a), the President is authorized to furnish as11 sistance for programs in developing countries to provide 

12 affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanita13 tion. 

14 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance provided 

15 under subsection (b) shall, to the maximum extent prac16 ticable, be used to—

17 ‘‘(1) expand affordable and equitable access to 

18 safe water and sanitation for underserved popu19 lations; 

20 ‘‘(2) support the construction, maintenance, up21 keep, repair, and operation of water delivery and 

22 sanitation systems; 

23 ‘‘(3) improve the safety and reliability of water 

24 supplies, including environmental management; and 
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1 ‘‘(4) improve the institutional capacity of recipi2 ent governments, including capacity-building pro3 grams for improved water resource management. 

4 ‘‘(d) LOCAL CURRENCY.—The President may use 

5 payments made in local currencies under an agreement 

6 made under title I of the Agricultural Trade Development 

7 and Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to 

8 provide assistance under this section, including assistance 

9 for activities related to drilling or maintaining wells.’’. 

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 104(c) of 

11 the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act 

12 of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1704(c)) is amended by adding at the 

13 end the following new paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(9) SAFE WATER.—To provide assistance 

15 under section 104D of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

16 1961 to promote good health, economic development, 

17 poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, and envi18 ronmental sustainability by improving the safety of 

19 water supplies, including programs related to drilling 

20 or maintaining wells.’’. 

21 SEC. 5. SAFE WATER AND SANITATION STRATEGY. 

22 (a) STRATEGY.—The Administrator of the United 

23 States Agency for International Development, in consulta24 tion with the heads of other appropriate Federal depart25 ments and agencies, international organizations, inter-
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1 national financial institutions, recipient governments, 

2 United States and international nongovernmental organi3 zations, indigenous civil society, and other appropriate en4 tities, shall develop and implement a strategy to further 

5 the United States foreign assistance objective to provide 

6 affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanita7 tion in developing countries. 

8 (b) CONTENT.—The strategy required by subsection 

9 (a) shall include—

10 (1) an assessment of the activities that have 

11 been carried out, or that are planned to be carried 

12 out, by all appropriate Federal departments and 

13 agencies to improve affordable and equitable access 

14 to safe water and sanitation and hygiene in all coun15 tries that receive assistance from the United States 

16 Agency for International Development; 

17 (2) specific and measurable goals, benchmarks, 

18 and timetables to achieve the objective described in 

19 subsection (a); 

20 (3) an assessment of the level of resources that 

21 are needed each year to achieve the goals, bench22 marks, and timetables described in paragraph (2); 

23 (4) methods to mobilize and leverage the finan24 cial, technical, and managerial expertise of busi25 nesses, governments, nongovernmental organizations, 
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1 and civil society in the form of public-private alli2 ances; 

3 (5) methods to encourage reforms and increase 

4 the capacity of foreign governments to formulate 

5 and implement policies that expand access to safe 

6 water and sanitation in an affordable, equitable, and 

7 sustainable fashion, including securing loans and 

8 strategic planning; 

9 (6) methods to coordinate and integrate United 

10 States water and sanitation assistance programs 

11 with other United States development assistance 

12 programs to achieve the objective described in sub13 section (a); 

14 (7) methods to better coordinate United States 

15 water and sanitation assistance programs with pro16 grams of other donor countries and entities to 

17 achieve the objective described in subsection (a); 

18 (8) methods to take into account the different 

19 needs of countries with an absolute lack of resources 

20 to expand water and sanitation access and countries 

21 with the need to better allocate potentially sufficient 

22 existing resources and the different activities appro23 priate to each, as well as countries with existing 

24 markets for investment in water and sanitation and 
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1 countries without existing markets for investment in 

2 water and sanitation; and 

3 (9) methods to take into account the need for 

4 an appropriate balance of grants, loans, investment 

5 insurance, loan guarantees, and other assistance to 

6 ensure affordability and equity in the provision of 

7 access to safe water and sanitation for the very poor. 

8 (c) REPORTS.—

9 (1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad11 ministrator of the United States Agency for Inter12 national Development shall submit to the appro13 priate congressional committees a report that de14 scribes the strategy required by subsection (a). 

15 (2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—Not less than 

16 once every year after the submission of the initial re17 port under paragraph (1) until 2015, the Adminis18 trator shall submit to the appropriate congressional 

19 committees a report on the status of the implemen20 tation of the strategy, progress made in achieving 

21 the objective described in subsection (a), and any 

22 changes to the strategy since the date of the submis23 sion of the last report. 

24 (3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

25 ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means—
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1 (A) the Committee on International Rela2 tions and the Committee on Appropriations of 

3 the House of Representatives; and 

4 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

5 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

6 Senate. 

7 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro9 priated for fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fiscal 

10 year such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act 

11 and the amendments made by this Act. 

12 (b) OTHER AMOUNTS.—Amounts appropriated pur13 suant to the authorization of appropriations in subsection 

14 (a) shall be in addition to the amounts otherwise available 

15 to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this 

16 Act. 

17 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant 

18 to the authorization of appropriations under section (a) 

19 are authorized to remain available until expended.

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