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Union Calendar No. 141 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1973 

[Report No. 109–260] 

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 

OCTOBER 28, 2005 

Additional sponsors: Mr. SCHWARZ of Michigan, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 

CROWLEY, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. SANDERS, 

Mr. SERRANO, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SPRATT, Mr. KIND, 

Mr. WALSH, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. MILLER

of North Carolina, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. CARDOZA, Ms. LEE, Mr. RYAN of 

Ohio, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. STARK, Ms. MCCOLLUM of 

Minnesota, Mr. LIPINSKI, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. RUSH, Mr. 

SMITH of Washington, Mr. OWENS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 

FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. BASS, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GORDON, 

Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. SMITH

of New Jersey, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. 

MOORE of Kansas, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. EVANS, Mr. FARR, Mr. 

HYDE, Ms. WATSON, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. 

COSTELLO, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. WAMP, Mr. UDALL of New 

Mexico, Mr. WU, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. 

GILCHREST, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, 

Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. TURNER, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. KIRK, Mr. DENT, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. PETRI, 

Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. 
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RAMSTAD, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. WATT, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. 

HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. UPTON, Mr. 

BOOZMAN, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Mr. 

INGLIS of South Carolina, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. ACKERMAN

OCTOBER 28, 2005 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 28, 2005] 

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 ‘‘Senator Paul Simon 

5 Water for the Poor Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Water-related diseases are a human tragedy, 

9 killing up to five million people annually, preventing 

10 millions of people from leading healthy lives, and un11 dermining development efforts. 

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

13 because of lack of access to safe water and adequate 

14 sanitation. 
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1 (3) In the poorest countries in the world, one out 

2 of five children dies from a preventable, water-related 

3 disease. 

4 (4) Lack of access to safe drinking water, inad5 equate sanitation, and poor hygiene practices are di6 rectly responsible for the vast majority of diarrheal 

7 diseases which kill over two million children each 

8 year. 

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

10 developing world are suffering from one or more of 

11 the main diseases associated with inadequate provi12 sion of water supply and sanitation services. 

13 (6) Over 1.1 billion people, one in every six peo14 ple in the world, lack access to safe drinking water. 

15 (7) Nearly 2.6 billion people, two in every five 

16 people in the world, lack access to basic sanitation 

17 services. 

18 (8) Half of all schools in the world do not have 

19 access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. 

20 (9) Over the past 20 years, two billion people 

21 have gained access to safe drinking water and 600 

22 million people have gained access to basic sanitation 

23 services. 

24 (10) Access to safe water and sanitation and im25 proved hygiene are significant factors in controlling 
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1 the spread of disease in the developing world and 

2 positively affecting worker productivity and economic 

3 development. 

4 (11) Increasing access to safe water and sanita5 tion advances efforts toward other development objec6 tives, such as fighting poverty and hunger, promoting 

7 primary education and gender equality, reducing 

8 child mortality, promoting environmental stability, 

9 improving the lives of slum dwellers, and strength10 ening national security. 

11 (12) Providing safe supplies of water and sanita12 tion and hygiene improvements would save millions 

13 of lives by reducing the prevalence of water-borne dis14 eases, water-based diseases, water-privation diseases, 

15 and water-related vector diseases. 

16 (13) Because women and girls in developing 

17 countries are often the carriers of water, lack of access 

18 to safe water and sanitation disproportionately affects 

19 women and limits women’s opportunities at edu20 cation, livelihood, and financial independence. 

21 (14) Between 20 percent and 50 percent of exist22 ing water systems in developing countries are not op23 erating or are operating poorly. 
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1 (15) In developing world water delivery systems, 

2 an average of 50 percent of all water is lost before it 

3 gets to the end-user. 

4 (16) Every $1 invested in safe water and sanita5 tion would yield an economic return of between $3 

6 and $34, depending on the region. 

7 (17) Developing sustainable financing mecha8 nisms, such as pooling mechanisms and revolving 

9 funds, is necessary for the long-term viability of im10 proved water and sanitation services. 

11 (18) The annual level of investment needed to 

12 meet the water and sanitation needs of developing 

13 countries far exceeds the amount of Official Develop14 ment Assistance (ODA) and spending by governments 

15 of developing countries, so facilitating and attracting 

16 greater public and private investment is essential. 

17 (19) Meeting the water and sanitation needs of 

18 the lowest-income developing countries will require an 

19 increase in the resources available as grants from 

20 donor countries. 

21 (20) 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 (21) Target 10 of the United Nations Millen2 nium Development Goals is to reduce by half the pro3 portion of people without sustainable access to safe 

4 drinking water by 2015. 

5 (22) 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 pro11 portion of people who are unable to reach or afford 

12 safe drinking water,’’ and ‘‘the proportion of people 

13 without access to basic sanitation’’ by 2015. 

14 (23) At the World Summit on Sustainable Devel15 opment, the United States announced the Water for 

16 the Poor Initiative, committing $970 million for fis17 cal years 2003 through 2005 to improve sustainable 

18 management of fresh water resources and accelerate 

19 and expand international efforts to achieve the goal 

20 of cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of people 

21 who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking 

22 water. 

23 (24) 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 Water 

2 Day, 22 March 2005’’ for the purpose of increasing 

3 the focus of the international community on water-re4 lated issues at all levels and on the implementation 

5 of water-related programs and projects. 

6 (25) Around the world, 263 river basins are 

7 shared by two or more countries, and many more ba8 sins and watersheds cross political or ethnic bound9 aries. 

10 (26) Water scarcity can contribute to insecurity 

11 and conflict on subnational, national, and inter12 national levels, thus endangering the national secu13 rity of the United States. 

14 (27) Opportunities to manage water problems 

15 can be leveraged in ways to build confidence, trust, 

16 and peace between parties in conflict. 

17 (28) Cooperative water management can help re18 solve conflicts caused by other problems and is often 

19 a crucial component in resolving such conflicts. 

20 (29) Cooperative water management can help 

21 countries recover from conflict and, by promoting dia22 logue and cooperation among former parties in con23 flict, can help prevent the reemergence of conflict. 

24 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

25 It is the policy of the United States— 
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1 (1) to increase the percentage of water and sani2 tation assistance targeted toward countries designated 

3 as high priority countries under section 6(f) of this 

4 Act; 

5 (2) to ensure that water and sanitation assist6 ance reflect an appropriate balance of grants, loans, 

7 contracts, investment insurance, loan guarantees, and 

8 other assistance to further ensure affordability and 

9 equity in the provision of access to safe water and 

10 sanitation for the very poor; 

11 (3) to ensure that the targeting of water and 

12 sanitation assistance reflect an appropriate balance 

13 between urban, periurban, and rural areas to meet 

14 the purposes of assistance described in section 135 of 

15 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by sec16 tion 5(a) of this Act; 

17 (4) to ensure that forms of water and sanitation 

18 assistance provided reflect the level of existing re19 sources and markets for investment in water and 

20 sanitation within recipient countries; 

21 (5) to ensure that water and sanitation assist22 ance, to the extent possible, supports the poverty re23 duction strategies of recipient countries and, when 

24 appropriate, encourages the inclusion of water and 

25 sanitation within such poverty reduction strategies; 
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1 (6) to promote country and local ownership of 

2 safe water and sanitation programs, to the extent ap3 propriate; 

4 (7) to promote community-based approaches in 

5 the provision of affordable and equitable access to safe 

6 water and sanitation, including the involvement of 

7 civil society; 

8 (8) to mobilize and leverage the financial and 

9 technical capacity of businesses, governments, non10 governmental organizations, and civil society in the 

11 form of public-private alliances; 

12 (9) to encourage reforms and increase the capac13 ity of foreign governments to formulate and imple14 ment policies that expand access to safe water and 

15 sanitation in an affordable, equitable, and sustainable 

16 manner, including integrated strategic planning; and 

17 (10) to protect the supply and availability of 

18 safe water through sound environmental management, 

19 including preventing the destruction and degradation 

20 of ecosystems and watersheds. 

21 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

22 It is the sense of Congress that— 

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

24 amounts of Official Development Assistance for water 

25 and sanitation and avoid waste and duplication, the 
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1 United States should seek to establish innovative 

2 international coordination mechanisms based on best 

3 practices in other development sectors; and 

4 (2) the United States should greatly increase the 

5 amount of Official Development Assistance made 

6 available to carry out section 135 of the Foreign As7 sistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this 

8 Act. 

9 SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND SANITA10 TION. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign 

12 Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended 

13 by adding at the end the following new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 135. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND 

15 SANITATION. 

16 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of assistance author17 ized by this section are— 

18 ‘‘(1) to promote good health, economic develop19 ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, con20 flict prevention, and environmental sustainability by 

21 providing assistance to expand access to safe water 

22 and sanitation, promoting integrated water resource 

23 management, and improving hygiene for people 

24 around the world; 
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1 ‘‘(2) to seek to reduce by one-half from the base2 line year 1990 the proportion of people who are un3 able to reach or afford safe drinking water and the 

4 proportion of people without access to basic sanita5 tion by 2015; 

6 ‘‘(3) to focus water and sanitation assistance to7 ward the countries, locales, and people with the great8 est need; 

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

10 provision of access to safe water and sanitation for 

11 the very poor, women, and other vulnerable popu12 lations; 

13 ‘‘(5) to improve water efficiency through water 

14 demand management and reduction of unaccounted15 for water; 

16 ‘‘(6) to promote long-term sustainability in the 

17 affordable and equitable provision of access to safe 

18 water and sanitation through the creation of innova19 tive financing mechanisms such as national revolving 

20 funds, and by strengthening the capacity of recipient 

21 governments and communities to formulate and im22 plement policies that expand access to safe water and 

23 sanitation in a sustainable fashion, including inte24 grated planning; 
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1 ‘‘(7) to secure the greatest amount of resources 

2 possible, encourage private investment in water and 

3 sanitation infrastructure and services, particularly in 

4 lower middle-income countries, without creating 

5 unsustainable debt for low-income countries or 

6 unaffordable water and sanitation costs for the very 

7 poor; and 

8 ‘‘(8) to promote the capacity of recipient govern9 ments to provide affordable, equitable, and sustain10 able access to safe water and sanitation. 

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

12 subsection (a), the President is authorized to furnish assist13 ance for programs in developing countries to provide afford14 able and equitable access to safe water and sanitation. 

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

16 under subsection (b) shall, to the maximum extent prac17 ticable, be used to— 

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

19 safe water and sanitation for underserved popu20 lations; 

21 ‘‘(2) support the design, construction, mainte22 nance, upkeep, repair, and operation of water deliv23 ery and sanitation systems; 

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

25 supplies, including environmental management; and 
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1 ‘‘(4) improve the capacity of recipient govern2 ments and local communities, including capacity3 building programs for improved water resource man4 agement. 

5 ‘‘(d) LOCAL CURRENCY.—The President may use pay6 ments made in local currencies under an agreement made 

7 under title I of the Agricultural Trade Development and 

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

9 assistance under this section.’’. 

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

11 Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 

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

13 following new paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(9) SAFE WATER AND SANITATION.—To provide 

15 assistance under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance 

16 Act of 1961 to promote good health, economic develop17 ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, con18 flict prevention, and environmental sustainability by 

19 increasing affordable and equitable access to safe 

20 water and sanitation.’’. 

21 SEC. 6. SAFE WATER AND SANITATION STRATEGY. 

22 (a) STRATEGY.—The President, acting through the 

23 Secretary of State, shall develop a strategy to further the 

24 United States foreign assistance objective to provide afford25 able and equitable access to safe water and sanitation in 
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1 developing countries, as described in section 135 of the For2 eign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of 

3 this Act. 

4 (b) CONSULTATION.—The strategy required by sub5 section (a) shall be developed in consultation with the Ad6 ministrator of the United States Agency for International 

7 Development, the heads of other appropriate Federal de8 partments and agencies, international organizations, inter9 national financial institutions, recipient governments, 

10 United States and international nongovernmental organi11 zations, indigenous civil society, and other appropriate en12 tities. 

13 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of State, acting 

14 through the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

15 International Development, shall implement the strategy re16 quired by subsection (a). The strategy may also be imple17 mented in part by other Federal departments and agencies, 

18 as appropriate. 

19 (d) CONSISTENT WITH SAFE WATER AND SANITATION

20 POLICY.—The strategy required by subsection (a) shall be 

21 consistent with the policy stated in section 3 of this Act. 

22 (e) CONTENT.—The strategy required by subsection (a) 

23 shall include— 

24 (1) an assessment of the activities that have been 

25 carried out, or that are planned to be carried out, by 
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1 all appropriate Federal departments and agencies to 

2 improve affordable and equitable access to safe water 

3 and sanitation in all countries that receive assistance 

4 from the United States; 

5 (2) specific and measurable goals, benchmarks, 

6 and timetables to achieve the objective described in 

7 subsection (a); 

8 (3) an assessment of the level of funding and 

9 other assistance for United States water and sanita10 tion programs needed each year to achieve the goals, 

11 benchmarks, and timetables described in paragraph 

12 (2); 

13 (4) methods to coordinate and integrate United 

14 States water and sanitation assistance programs with 

15 other United States development assistance programs 

16 to achieve the objective described in subsection (a); 

17 (5) methods to better coordinate United States 

18 water and sanitation assistance programs with pro19 grams of other donor countries and entities to achieve 

20 the objective described in subsection (a); and 

21 (6) an assessment of the commitment of govern22 ments of countries that receive assistance under sec23 tion 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as 

24 added by section 5(a) of this Act, to policies or policy 

25 reforms that support affordable and equitable access 
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1 by the people of such countries to safe water and sani2 tation. 

3 (f) DESIGNATION OF HIGH PRIORITY COUNTRIES.— 

4 The strategy required by subsection (a) shall further include 

5 the designation of high priority countries for assistance 

6 under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, 

7 as added by section 5(a) of this Act. This designation shall 

8 be made on the basis of— 

9 (1) countries in which the need for increased ac10 cess to safe water and sanitation is greatest; and 

11 (2) countries in which assistance under such sec12 tion can be expected to make the greatest difference in 

13 promoting good health, economic development, poverty 

14 reduction, women’s empowerment, conflict prevention, 

15 and environmental sustainability. 

16 (g) REPORTS.— 

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

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec19 retary of State shall submit to the appropriate con20 gressional committees a report that describes the 

21 strategy required by subsection (a). 

22 (2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not less than once every 

24 year after the submission of the initial report 

25 under paragraph (1) until 2015, the Secretary of 
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1 State shall submit to the appropriate congres2 sional committees a report on the status of the 

3 implementation of the strategy, progress made in 

4 achieving the objective described in subsection 

5 (a), and any changes to the strategy since the 

6 date of the submission of the last report. 

7 (B) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—Such re8 ports shall include information on the amount of 

9 funds expended in each country or program, 

10 disaggregated by purpose of assistance, including 

11 information on capital investments, and the 

12 source of such funds by account. 

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

14 ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means— 

15 (A) the Committee on International Rela16 tions and the Committee on Appropriations of 

17 the House of Representatives; and 

18 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

19 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

20 Senate. 

21 SEC. 7. MONITORING REQUIREMENT. 

22 The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the 

23 United States Agency for International Development shall 

24 monitor the implementation of assistance under section 135 

25 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 
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1 5(a) of this Act, to ensure that the assistance is reaching 

2 its intended targets and meeting the intended purposes of 

3 assistance. 

4 SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING DEVELOPMENT 

5 OF LOCAL CAPACITY. 

6 It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State 

7 should expand current programs and develop new pro8 grams, as necessary, to train local water and sanitation 

9 managers and other officials of countries that receive assist10 ance under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 

11 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this Act. 

12 SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ADDITIONAL 

13 WATER AND SANITATION PROGRAMS. 

14 It is the sense of the Congress that— 

15 (1) the United States should further support, as 

16 appropriate, water and sanitation activities of 

17 United Nations agencies, such as the United Nations 

18 Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations De19 velopment Programme (UNDP), and the United Na20 tions Environment Programme (UNEP); and 

21 (2) the Secretary of the Treasury should instruct 

22 each United States Executive Director at the multi23 lateral development banks (within the meaning of sec24 tion 1701(c) of the International Financial Institu25 tions Act) to encourage the inclusion of water and 
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1 sanitation programs as a critical element of their de2 velopment assistance. 

3 SEC. 10. REPORT REGARDING WATER FOR PEACE AND SE4 CURITY. 

5 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 

6 that United States programs to support and encourage ef7 forts around the world to develop river basin, aquifer, and 

8 other watershed-wide mechanisms for governance and co9 operation are critical components of long-term United 

10 States national security and should be expanded. 

11 (b) REPORT.—The Secretary of State, in consultation 

12 with the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

13 International Development, shall submit to the Committee 

14 on International Relations of the House of Representatives 

15 and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a 

16 report on efforts that the United States is making to sup17 port and promote programs that develop river basin, aqui18 fer, and other watershed-wide mechanisms for governance 

19 and cooperation. 

20 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro22 priated for fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fiscal year 

23 such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act and 

24 the amendments made by this Act. 
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1 (b) OTHER AMOUNTS.—Amounts appropriated pursu2 ant to the authorization of appropriations in subsection (a) 

3 shall be in addition to the amounts otherwise available to 

4 carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 

5 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant 

6 to the authorization of appropriations under section (a) are 

7 authorized to remain available until expended. 

Union Calendar No. 141 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1973 

[Report No. 109–260] 

A BILL 

To make access to safe water and sanitation for deand for other purposes. the United States foreign assistance programs, veloping countries a specific policy objective of 

OCTOBER 28, 2005 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,