109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1973

AN ACT

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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senator Paul Simon 

3 Water for the Poor Act of 2005’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) Water-related diseases are a human trag7 edy, killing up to five million people annually, pre8 venting millions of people from leading healthy lives, 

9 and undermining development efforts. 

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

11 because of lack of access to safe water and adequate 

12 sanitation. 

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

14 out of five children dies from a preventable, water15 related disease. 

16 (4) Lack of access to safe drinking water, inad17 equate sanitation, and poor hygiene practices are di18 rectly responsible for the vast majority of diarrheal 

19 diseases which kill over two million children each 

20 year. 

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

22 developing world are suffering from one or more of 

23 the main diseases associated with inadequate provi24 sion of water supply and sanitation services. 

25 (6) Over 1.1 billion people, one in every six peo26 ple in the world, lack access to safe drinking water. 
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1 (7) Nearly 2.6 billion people, two in every five 

2 people in the world, lack access to basic sanitation 

3 services. 

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

5 access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. 

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

7 have gained access to safe drinking water and 600 

8 million people have gained access to basic sanitation 

9 services. 

10 (10) Access to safe water and sanitation and 

11 improved hygiene are significant factors in control12 ling the spread of disease in the developing world 

13 and positively affecting worker productivity and eco14 nomic development. 

15 (11) Increasing access to safe water and sanita16 tion advances efforts toward other development ob17 jectives, such as fighting poverty and hunger, pro18 moting primary education and gender equality, re19 ducing child mortality, promoting environmental sta20 bility, improving the lives of slum dwellers, and 

21 strengthening national security. 

22 (12) Providing safe supplies of water and sani23 tation and hygiene improvements would save millions 

24 of lives by reducing the prevalence of water-borne 
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1 diseases, water-based diseases, water-privation dis2 eases, and water-related vector diseases. 

3 (13) Because women and girls in developing 

4 countries are often the carriers of water, lack of ac5 cess to safe water and sanitation disproportionately 

6 affects women and limits women’s opportunities at 

7 education, livelihood, and financial independence. 

8 (14) Between 20 percent and 50 percent of ex9 isting water systems in developing countries are not 

10 operating or are operating poorly. 

11 (15) In developing world water delivery sys12 tems, an average of 50 percent of all water is lost 

13 before it gets to the end-user. 

14 (16) Every $1 invested in safe water and sani15 tation would yield an economic return of between $3 

16 and $34, depending on the region. 

17 (17) Developing sustainable financing mecha18 nisms, such as pooling mechanisms and revolving 

19 funds, is necessary for the long-term viability of im20 proved water and sanitation services. 

21 (18) The annual level of investment needed to 

22 meet the water and sanitation needs of developing 

23 countries far exceeds the amount of Official Develop24 ment Assistance (ODA) and spending by govern25 ments of developing countries, so facilitating and at-
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1 tracting greater public and private investment is es2 sential. 

3 (19) Meeting the water and sanitation needs of 

4 the lowest-income developing countries will require 

5 an increase in the resources available as grants from 

6 donor countries. 

7 (20) The long-term sustainability of improved 

8 water and sanitation services can be advanced by 

9 promoting community level action and engagement 

10 with civil society. 

11 (21) Target 10 of the United Nations Millen12 nium Development Goals is to reduce by half the 

13 proportion of people without sustainable access to 

14 safe drinking water by 2015. 

15 (22) The participants in the 2002 World Sum16 mit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannes17 burg, South Africa, including the United States, 

18 agreed to the Plan of Implementation of the World 

19 Summit on Sustainable Development which included 

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

21 proportion of people who are unable to reach or af22 ford safe drinking water,’’ and ‘‘the proportion of 

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

24 (23) At the World Summit on Sustainable De25 velopment, the United States announced the Water 
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1 for the Poor Initiative, committing $970 million for 

2 fiscal years 2003 through 2005 to improve sustain3 able management of fresh water resources and accel4 erate and expand international efforts to achieve the 

5 goal of cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of 

6 people who are unable to reach or to afford safe 

7 drinking water. 

8 (24) United Nations General Assembly Resolu9 tion 58/217 (February 9, 2004) proclaimed ‘‘the pe10 riod from 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for 

11 Action, ‘Water for Life’, to commence on World 

12 Water Day, 22 March 2005’’ for the purpose of in13 creasing the focus of the international community on 

14 water-related issues at all levels and on the imple15 mentation of water-related programs and projects. 

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

17 shared by two or more countries, and many more 

18 basins and watersheds cross political or ethnic 

19 boundaries. 

20 (26) Water scarcity can contribute to insecurity 

21 and conflict on subnational, national, and inter22 national levels, thus endangering the national secu23 rity of the United States. 
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1 (27) Opportunities to manage water problems 

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

3 and peace between parties in conflict. 

4 (28) Cooperative water management can help 

5 resolve conflicts caused by other problems and is 

6 often a crucial component in resolving such conflicts. 

7 (29) Cooperative water management can help 

8 countries recover from conflict and, by promoting 

9 dialogue and cooperation among former parties in 

10 conflict, can help prevent the reemergence of con11 flict. 

12 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

13 It is the policy of the United States—

14 (1) to increase the percentage of water and 

15 sanitation assistance targeted toward countries des16 ignated as high priority countries under section 6(f) 

17 of this Act; 

18 (2) to ensure that water and sanitation assist19 ance reflect an appropriate balance of grants, loans, 

20 contracts, investment insurance, loan guarantees, 

21 and other assistance to further ensure affordability 

22 and equity in the provision of access to safe water 

23 and sanitation for the very poor; 

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

25 sanitation assistance reflect an appropriate balance 
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1 between urban, periurban, and rural areas to meet 

2 the purposes of assistance described in section 135 

3 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by 

4 section 5(a) of this Act; 

5 (4) to ensure that forms of water and sanita6 tion assistance provided reflect the level of existing 

7 resources and markets for investment in water and 

8 sanitation within recipient countries; 

9 (5) to ensure that water and sanitation assist10 ance, to the extent possible, supports the poverty re11 duction strategies of recipient countries and, when 

12 appropriate, encourages the inclusion of water and 

13 sanitation within such poverty reduction strategies; 

14 (6) to promote country and local ownership of 

15 safe water and sanitation programs, to the extent 

16 appropriate; 

17 (7) to promote community-based approaches in 

18 the provision of affordable and equitable access to 

19 safe water and sanitation, including the involvement 

20 of civil society; 

21 (8) to mobilize and leverage the financial and 

22 technical capacity of businesses, governments, non23 governmental organizations, and civil society in the 

24 form of public-private alliances; 
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1 (9) to encourage reforms and increase the ca2 pacity of foreign governments to formulate and im3 plement policies that expand access to safe water 

4 and sanitation in an affordable, equitable, and sus5 tainable manner, including integrated strategic plan6 ning; and 

7 (10) to protect the supply and availability of 

8 safe water through sound environmental manage9 ment, including preventing the destruction and deg10 radation of ecosystems and watersheds. 

11 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

12 It is the sense of Congress that—

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

14 amounts of Official Development Assistance for 

15 water and sanitation and avoid waste and duplica16 tion, the United States should seek to establish inno17 vative international coordination mechanisms based 

18 on best practices in other development sectors; and 

19 (2) the United States should greatly increase 

20 the amount of Official Development Assistance made 

21 available to carry out section 135 of the Foreign As22 sistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of 

23 this Act. 
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1 SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND SANI2 TATION. 

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

4 Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amend5 ed by adding at the end the following new section: 

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

7 SANITATION. 

8 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of assistance author9 ized by this section are—

10 ‘‘(1) to promote good health, economic develop11 ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, 

12 conflict prevention, and environmental sustainability 

13 by providing assistance to expand access to safe 

14 water and sanitation, promoting integrated water re15 source management, and improving hygiene for peo16 ple around the world; 

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

18 baseline year 1990 the proportion of people who are 

19 unable to reach or afford safe drinking water and 

20 the proportion of people without access to basic sani21 tation by 2015; 

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

23 toward the countries, locales, and people with the 

24 greatest need; 

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

26 provision of access to safe water and sanitation for 
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1 the very poor, women, and other vulnerable popu2 lations; 

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

4 demand management and reduction of unaccounted5 for water; 

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

7 affordable and equitable provision of access to safe 

8 water and sanitation through the creation of innova9 tive financing mechanisms such as national revolving 

10 funds, and by strengthening the capacity of recipient 

11 governments and communities to formulate and im12 plement policies that expand access to safe water 

13 and sanitation in a sustainable fashion, including in14 tegrated planning; 

15 ‘‘(7) to secure the greatest amount of resources 

16 possible, encourage private investment in water and 

17 sanitation infrastructure and services, particularly in 

18 lower middle-income countries, without creating 

19 unsustainable debt for low-income countries or 

20 unaffordable water and sanitation costs for the very 

21 poor; and 

22 ‘‘(8) to promote the capacity of recipient gov23 ernments to provide affordable, equitable, and sus24 tainable access to safe water and sanitation. 
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1 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—To carry out the purposes of 

2 subsection (a), the President is authorized to furnish as3 sistance for programs in developing countries to provide 

4 affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanita5 tion. 

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

7 under subsection (b) shall, to the maximum extent prac8 ticable, be used to—

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

10 safe water and sanitation for underserved popu11 lations; 

12 ‘‘(2) support the design, construction, mainte13 nance, upkeep, repair, and operation of water deliv14 ery and sanitation systems; 

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

16 supplies, including environmental management; and 

17 ‘‘(4) improve the capacity of recipient govern18 ments and local communities, including capacity19 building programs for improved water resource man20 agement. 

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

22 payments made in local currencies under an agreement 

23 made under title I of the Agricultural Trade Development 

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

25 provide assistance under this section.’’. 
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 104(c) of 

2 the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act 

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

4 end the following new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(9) SAFE WATER AND SANITATION.—To pro6 vide assistance under section 135 of the Foreign As7 sistance Act of 1961 to promote good health, eco8 nomic development, poverty reduction, women’s em9 powerment, conflict prevention, and environmental 

10 sustainability by increasing affordable and equitable 

11 access to safe water and sanitation.’’. 

12 SEC. 6. SAFE WATER AND SANITATION STRATEGY. 

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

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

15 United States foreign assistance objective to provide af16 fordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation 

17 in developing countries, as described in section 135 of the 

18 Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) 

19 of this Act. 

20 (b) CONSULTATION.—The strategy required by sub21 section (a) shall be developed in consultation with the Ad22 ministrator of the United States Agency for International 

23 Development, the heads of other appropriate Federal de24 partments and agencies, international organizations, inter25 national financial institutions, recipient governments, 
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1 United States and international nongovernmental organi2 zations, indigenous civil society, and other appropriate en3 tities. 

4 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of State, act5 ing through the Administrator of the United States Agen6 cy for International Development, shall implement the 

7 strategy required by subsection (a). The strategy may also 

8 be implemented in part by other Federal departments and 

9 agencies, as appropriate. 

10 (d) CONSISTENT WITH SAFE WATER AND SANITA11 TION POLICY.—The strategy required by subsection (a) 

12 shall be consistent with the policy stated in section 3 of 

13 this Act. 

14 (e) CONTENT.—The strategy required by subsection 

15 (a) shall include—

16 (1) an assessment of the activities that have 

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

18 out, by all appropriate Federal departments and 

19 agencies to improve affordable and equitable access 

20 to safe water and sanitation in all countries that re21 ceive assistance from the United States; 

22 (2) specific and measurable goals, benchmarks, 

23 and timetables to achieve the objective described in 

24 subsection (a); 
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1 (3) an assessment of the level of funding and 

2 other assistance for United States water and sanita3 tion programs needed each year to achieve the goals, 

4 benchmarks, and timetables described in paragraph 

5 (2); 

6 (4) methods to coordinate and integrate United 

7 States water and sanitation assistance programs 

8 with other United States development assistance 

9 programs to achieve the objective described in sub10 section (a); 

11 (5) methods to better coordinate United States 

12 water and sanitation assistance programs with pro13 grams of other donor countries and entities to 

14 achieve the objective described in subsection (a); and 

15 (6) an assessment of the commitment of gov16 ernments of countries that receive assistance under 

17 section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, 

18 as added by section 5(a) of this Act, to policies or 

19 policy reforms that support affordable and equitable 

20 access by the people of such countries to safe water 

21 and sanitation. 

22 (f) DESIGNATION OF HIGH PRIORITY COUNTRIES.—

23 The strategy required by subsection (a) shall further in24 clude the designation of high priority countries for assist25 ance under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
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1 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this Act. This designa2 tion shall be made on the basis of—

3 (1) countries in which the need for increased 

4 access to safe water and sanitation is greatest; and 

5 (2) countries in which assistance under such 

6 section can be expected to make the greatest dif7 ference in promoting good health, economic develop8 ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, 

9 conflict prevention, and environmental sustainability. 

10 (g) REPORTS.—

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

12 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec13 retary of State shall submit to the appropriate con14 gressional committees a report that describes the 

15 strategy required by subsection (a). 

16 (2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not less than once 

18 every year after the submission of the initial re19 port under paragraph (1) until 2015, the Sec20 retary of State shall submit to the appropriate 

21 congressional committees a report on the status 

22 of the implementation of the strategy, progress 

23 made in achieving the objective described in 

24 subsection (a), and any changes to the strategy 
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1 since the date of the submission of the last re2 port. 

3 (B) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—Such re4 ports shall include information on the amount 

5 of funds expended in each country or program, 

6 disaggregated by purpose of assistance, includ7 ing information on capital investments, and the 

8 source of such funds by account. 

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

10 ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means—

11 (A) the Committee on International Rela12 tions and the Committee on Appropriations of 

13 the House of Representatives; and 

14 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

15 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

16 Senate. 

17 SEC. 7. MONITORING REQUIREMENT. 

18 The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the 

19 United States Agency for International Development shall 

20 monitor the implementation of assistance under section 

21 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by 

22 section 5(a) of this Act, to ensure that the assistance is 

23 reaching its intended targets and meeting the intended 

24 purposes of assistance. 
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1 SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING DEVELOPMENT 

2 OF LOCAL CAPACITY. 

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

4 should expand current programs and develop new pro5 grams, as necessary, to train local water and sanitation 

6 managers and other officials of countries that receive as7 sistance under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act 

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

9 SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ADDITIONAL 

10 WATER AND SANITATION PROGRAMS. 

11 It is the sense of the Congress that—

12 (1) the United States should further support, 

13 as appropriate, water and sanitation activities of 

14 United Nations agencies, such as the United Na15 tions Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Na16 tions Development Programme (UNDP), and the 

17 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); 

18 and 

19 (2) the Secretary of the Treasury should in20 struct each United States Executive Director at the 

21 multilateral development banks (within the meaning 

22 of section 1701(c) of the International Financial In23 stitutions Act) to encourage the inclusion of water 

24 and sanitation programs as a critical element of 

25 their development assistance. 
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1 SEC. 10. REPORT REGARDING WATER FOR PEACE AND SE2 CURITY. 

3 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con4 gress that United States programs to support and encour5 age efforts around the world to develop river basin, aqui6 fer, and other watershed-wide mechanisms for governance 

7 and cooperation are critical components of long-term 

8 United States national security and should be expanded. 

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

10 with the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

11 International Development, shall submit to the Committee 

12 on International Relations of the House of Representa13 tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen14 ate a report on efforts that the United States is making 

15 to support and promote programs that develop river basin, 

16 aquifer, and other watershed-wide mechanisms for govern17 ance and cooperation. 

18 SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro20 priated for fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fiscal 

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

22 and the amendments made by this Act. 

23 (b) OTHER AMOUNTS.—Amounts appropriated pur24 suant to the authorization of appropriations in subsection 

25 (a) shall be in addition to the amounts otherwise available 
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1 to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this 

2 Act. 

3 (c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant 

4 to the authorization of appropriations under section (a) 

5 are authorized to remain available until expended.

Passed the House of Representatives November 7, 

2005. 

Attest:

Clerk. 
109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1973

AN ACT

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