II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 641 

To provide 100,000,000 people with first-time access to safe drinking water 

and sanitation on a sustainable basis within six years by improving 

the capacity of the United States Government to fully implement the 

Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 17, 2011 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. CORKER, Mr. REID, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. 

CARDIN, Mr. ISAKSON, and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To provide 100,000,000 people with first-time access to safe 

drinking water and sanitation on a sustainable basis 

within six years by improving the capacity of the United 

States Government to fully implement the Senator Paul 

Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005. 

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 World Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Senator Paul Simon Water for the 

2 Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–121)— 

3 (A) makes access to safe water and sanita4 tion for developing countries a specific policy 

5 objective of United States foreign assistance 

6 programs; 

7 (B) requires the Secretary of State to— 

8 (i) develop a strategy to elevate the 

9 role of water and sanitation policy; and 

10 (ii) improve the effectiveness of 

11 United States assistance programs under12 taken in support of that strategy; 

13 (C) codifies Target 10 of the United Na14 tions Millennium Development Goals; and 

15 (D) seeks to reduce by half between 1990 

16 (the baseline year) and 2015— 

17 (i) the proportion of people who are 

18 unable to reach or afford safe drinking 

19 water; and 

20 (ii) the proportion of people without 

21 access to basic sanitation. 

22 (2) On December 20, 2006, the United Nations 

23 General Assembly, in GA Resolution 61/192, de24 clared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation, 

25 in recognition of the impact of sanitation on public 


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1 health, poverty reduction, economic and social devel2 opment, and the environment. 

3 (3) On August 1, 2008, Congress passed H. 

4 Con. Res. 318, which— 

5 (A) supports the goals and ideals of the 

6 International Year of Sanitation; and 

7 (B) recognizes the importance of sanitation 

8 on public health, poverty reduction, economic 

9 and social development, and the environment. 

10 (4) While progress is being made on safe water 

11 and sanitation efforts— 

12 (A) more than 884,000,000 people 

13 throughout the world lack access to safe drink14 ing water; and 

15 (B) 2 of every 5 people in the world do not 

16 have access to basic sanitation services. 

17 (5) The health consequences of unsafe drinking 

18 water and poor sanitation are significant, accounting 

19 for— 

20 (A) nearly 10 percent of the global burden 

21 of disease; and 

22 (B) more than 2,000,000 deaths each year. 

23 (6) Water scarcity has negative consequences 

24 for agricultural productivity and food security for 

25 the 1,200,000,000 people who, as of 2010, suffer 


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1 from chronic hunger and seriously threatens the 

2 ability of the world to more than double food pro3 duction to meet the demands of a projected popu4 lation of 9,000,000,000 people by 2050. 

5 (7) According to the November 2008 report en6 titled, ‘‘Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World’’, 

7 the National Intelligence Council expects rapid ur8 banization and future population growth to exacer9 bate already limited access to water, particularly in 

10 agriculture-based economies. 

11 (8) According to the 2005 Millennium Eco12 system Assessment, commissioned by the United Nations, more than 1 13 ⁄5 of the world population relies on 

14 freshwater that is either polluted or excessively with15 drawn. 

16 (9) The impact of water scarcity on conflict and 

17 instability is evident in many parts of the world, in18 cluding the Darfur region of Sudan, where demand 

19 for water resources has contributed to armed conflict 

20 between nomadic ethnic groups and local farming 

21 communities. 

22 (10) In order to further the United States con23 tribution to safe water and sanitation efforts, it is 

24 necessary to— 


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1 (A) expand foreign assistance capacity to 

2 address the challenges described in this section; 

3 and 

4 (B) represent issues related to water and 

5 sanitation at the highest levels of United States 

6 foreign assistance and diplomatic deliberations, 

7 including those related to issues of global 

8 health, food security, the environment, global 

9 warming, and maternal and child mortality. 

10 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

11 It is the sense of Congress that the United States 

12 should help undertake a global effort to bring sustainable 

13 access to clean water and sanitation to poor people 

14 throughout the world. 

15 SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 

16 The purpose of this Act is— 

17 (1) to enable first-time access to safe water and 

18 sanitation, on a sustainable basis, for 100,000,000 

19 people in high priority countries (as designated 

20 under section 6(f) of the Senator Paul Simon Water 

21 for the Poor Act of 2005 (22 U.S.C. 2152h note)) 

22 within 6 years of the date of enactment of this Act 

23 through direct funding, development activities, and 

24 partnerships; and 


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1 (2) to enhance the capacity of the United 

2 States Government to fully implement the Senator 

3 Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (Public 

4 Law 109–121). 

5 SEC. 5. DEVELOPING UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CA6 PACITY. 

7 Section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

8 (22 U.S.C. 2152h) is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(e) SENIOR ADVISOR FOR WATER.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out the purposes 

12 of subsection (a), the Administrator of the United 

13 States Agency for International Development shall 

14 designate a senior advisor to coordinate and conduct 

15 the activities described in this section and the Sen16 ator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 

17 (Public Law 109–121). The Advisor shall report di18 rectly to the Administrator and be known as the 

19 ‘Senior Advisor for Water’. The initial Senior Advi20 sor for Water shall be the individual serving as the 

21 USAID Global Water Coordinator as of the date of 

22 the enactment of the Senator Paul Simon Water for 

23 the World Act of 2010. 

24 ‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The Advisor shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) implement this section and the Sen2 ator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 

3 2005 (Public Law 109–121); 

4 ‘‘(B) develop and oversee implementation 

5 in high priority countries of country-specific 

6 water strategies and expertise, in coordination 

7 with appropriate United States Agency for 

8 International Development Mission Directors, 

9 to enable the goal of providing 100,000,000 ad10 ditional people with sustainable access to safe 

11 water and sanitation through direct funding, 

12 development activities, and partnerships within 

13 6 years of the date of the enactment of the Sen14 ator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 

15 2011; and 

16 ‘‘(C) place primary emphasis on providing 

17 safe, affordable, and sustainable drinking water, 

18 sanitation, and hygiene in a manner that— 

19 ‘‘(i) is consistent with sound water re20 source management principles; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) utilizes such approaches as direct 

22 service provision, capacity building, institu23 tional strengthening, regulatory reform, 

24 and partnership collaboration; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) integrate water strategies with coun2 try-specific or regional food security strategies. 

3 ‘‘(3) CAPACITY.—The Advisor shall be des4 ignated appropriate staff and may utilize inter5 agency details or partnerships with universities, civil 

6 society, and the private sector, as needed, to 

7 strengthen implementation capacity. 

8 ‘‘(4) FUNDING SOURCES.—The Advisor shall 

9 ensure that at least 25 percent of the overall fund10 ing necessary to meet the global goal set forth under 

11 paragraph (2)(B) is provided by non-Federal 

12 sources, including foreign governments, international 

13 institutions, and through partnerships with univer14 sities, civil society, and the private sector, including 

15 private and corporate foundations. 

16 ‘‘(f) SPECIAL COORDINATOR FOR INTERNATIONAL

17 WATER.— 

18 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—To increase the capac19 ity of the Department of State to address inter20 national issues regarding safe water, sanitation, in21 tegrated river basin management, and other inter22 national water programs, the Secretary of State 

23 shall establish a Special Coordinator for Inter24 national Water (referred to in this subsection as the 

25 ‘Special Coordinator’), who shall report to the Under 


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1 Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs. The 

2 initial Special Coordinator shall be the individual 

3 serving as Special Coordinator for Water Resources 

4 as of the date of the enactment of the Senator Paul 

5 Simon Water for the World Act of 2011. 

6 ‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The Special Coordinator shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) oversee and coordinate the diplomatic 

8 policy of the United States Government with re9 spect to global freshwater issues, including 

10 interagency coordination related to— 

11 ‘‘(i) sustainable access to safe drink12 ing water, sanitation, and hygiene; 

13 ‘‘(ii) integrated river basin and water14 shed management; 

15 ‘‘(iii) global food security; 

16 ‘‘(iv) transboundary conflict; 

17 ‘‘(v) agricultural and urban produc18 tivity of water resources; 

19 ‘‘(vi) disaster recovery, response, and 

20 rebuilding; 

21 ‘‘(vii) pollution mitigation; and 

22 ‘‘(viii) adaptation to hydrologic change 

23 due to climate variability; and 

24 ‘‘(B) ensure that international freshwater 

25 issues are represented— 


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1 ‘‘(i) within the United States Govern2 ment; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) in key diplomatic, development, 

4 and scientific efforts with other nations 

5 and multilateral organizations. 

6 ‘‘(3) SUPPORT STAFF.—The Special Coordi7 nator shall be designated appropriate staff to sup8 port the duties described in paragraph (2).’’. 

9 SEC. 6. SAFE WATER, SANITATION, AND HYGIENE STRAT10 EGY. 

11 Section 6 of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the 

12 Poor Act of 2005 (22 U.S.C. 2152h note) is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 

14 following: ‘‘The Special Coordinator for Inter15 national Water established under section 135(f) of 

16 the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

17 2152h(f)) shall take actions to ensure that the safe 

18 water and sanitation strategy is integrated into any 

19 review or development of a Federal strategy for 

20 global development, global health, or global food se21 curity that sets forth or establishes the United 

22 States mission for global development, guidelines for 

23 assistance programs, and how development policy 

24 will be coordinated with policies governing trade, im25 migration, and other relevant international issues.’’; 


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1 (2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 

2 following: ‘‘In developing the program activities 

3 needed to implement the strategy, the Secretary 

4 shall consider the results of the assessment de5 scribed in subsection (e)(9).’’; and 

6 (3) in subsection (e)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

8 the end; 

9 (B) in paragraph (6), by striking the pe10 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

11 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(7) an assessment of all United States Govern13 ment foreign assistance allocated to the drinking 

14 water and sanitation sector during the 3 previous 

15 fiscal years, across all United States Government 

16 agencies and programs, including an assessment of 

17 the extent to which the United States Government’s 

18 efforts are reaching and supporting the goal of ena19 bling first-time access to safe water and sanitation 

20 on a sustainable basis for 100,000,000 people in 

21 high priority countries; 

22 ‘‘(8) recommendations on what the United 

23 States Government would need to do to achieve and 

24 support the goals referred to in paragraph (7), in 


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1 support of the United Nation’s Millennium Develop2 ment Goal on access to safe drinking water; and 

3 ‘‘(9) an assessment of best practices for mobi4 lizing and leveraging the financial and technical ca5 pacity of business, governments, nongovernmental 

6 organizations, and civil society in forming public-pri7 vate partnerships that measurably increase access to 

8 safe, affordable, drinking water and sanitation.’’. 

9 SEC. 7. DEVELOPING LOCAL CAPACITY. 

10 The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 

11 2005 (Public Law 109–121) is amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating sections 9, 10, and 11 as 

13 sections 10, 11, and 12, respectively; and 

14 (2) by inserting after section 8 the following: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 9. WATER AND SANITATION INSTITUTIONAL CAPAC16 ITY-BUILDING PROGRAM. 

17 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State and 

19 the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

20 International Development (referred to in this sec21 tion as the ‘Secretary’ and the ‘Administrator’ ‘’, re22 spectively), in consultation with host country institu23 tions, the Centers for Disease Control and Preven24 tion, the Department of Agriculture, and other agen25 cies, as appropriate, shall establish, in coordination 


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1 with mission directors in high priority countries, a 

2 program to build the capacity of host country insti3 tutions and officials responsible for water and sani4 tation in countries that receive assistance under sec5 tion 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, in6 cluding training at appropriate levels, to— 

7 ‘‘(A) provide affordable, equitable, and sus8 tainable access to safe drinking water and sani9 tation; 

10 ‘‘(B) educate the populations of such coun11 tries about the dangers of unsafe drinking 

12 water and lack of proper sanitation; and 

13 ‘‘(C) encourage behavior change to reduce 

14 individuals’ risk of disease from unsafe drinking 

15 water and lack of proper sanitation and hy16 giene. 

17 ‘‘(2) EXPANSION.—The Secretary and the Ad18 ministrator may establish the program described in 

19 this section in additional countries if the receipt of 

20 such capacity building would be beneficial for pro21 moting access to safe drinking water and sanitation, 

22 with due consideration given to good governance. 

23 ‘‘(3) CAPACITY.—The Secretary and the Ad24 ministrator— 


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1 ‘‘(A) should designate appropriate staff 

2 with relevant expertise to carry out the strategy 

3 developed under section 6; and 

4 ‘‘(B) may utilize, as needed, interagency 

5 details or partnerships with universities, civil 

6 society, and the private sector to strengthen im7 plementation capacity. 

8 ‘‘(b) DESIGNATION.—The United States Agency for 

9 International Development Mission Director for each 

10 country receiving a ‘high priority’ designation under sec11 tion 6(f) and for each region containing a country receiv12 ing such designation shall report annually to Congress on 

13 the status of— 

14 ‘‘(1) designating safe drinking water and sani15 tation as a strategic objective; 

16 ‘‘(2) integrating the water strategy into a food 

17 security strategy; 

18 ‘‘(3) assigning an employee of the United 

19 States Agency for International Development as in20 country water and sanitation manager to coordinate 

21 the in-country implementation of this Act and sec22 tion 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 

23 U.S.C. 2152h) with host country officials at various 

24 levels of government responsible for water and saniVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:16 Mar 25, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S641.IS S641

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1 tation, the Department of State, and other relevant 

2 United States Government agencies; and 

3 ‘‘(4) coordinating with the Development Credit 

4 Authority and the Global Development Alliance to 

5 further the purposes of this Act.’’. 

6 SEC. 8. OTHER ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED. 

7 In addition to the requirements of section 135(c) of 

8 the Foreign Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. 2152h(c)) the Ad9 ministrator should— 

10 (1) foster global cooperation on research and 

11 technology development, including regional partner12 ships among water experts to address safe drinking 

13 water, sanitation, water resource management, and 

14 other water-related issues; 

15 (2) establish regional and cross-border coopera16 tive activities between scientists and specialists that 

17 work to share technologies and best practices, miti18 gate shared water challenges, foster international co19 operation, and defuse cross-border tensions; 

20 (3) provide grants through the United States 

21 Agency for International Development to foster the 

22 development, dissemination, and increased and con23 sistent use of low-cost and sustainable technologies, 

24 such as household water treatment, hand washing 

25 stations, and latrines, for providing safe drinking 


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1 water, sanitation, and hygiene that are suitable for 

2 use in high priority countries, particularly in places 

3 with limited resources and infrastructure; 

4 (4) in collaboration with the Centers for Dis5 ease Control and Prevention, Department of Agri6 culture, the Environmental Protection Agency, the 

7 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 

8 and other agencies, as appropriate, conduct forma9 tive and operational research and monitor and evalu10 ate the effectiveness of programs that provide safe 

11 drinking water and sanitation; and 

12 (5) integrate efforts to promote safe drinking 

13 water, sanitation and hygiene with existing foreign 

14 assistance programs, as appropriate, including ac15 tivities focused on food security, HIV/AIDS, ma16 laria, tuberculosis, maternal and child health, food 

17 security, and nutritional support. 

18 SEC. 9. MONITORING AND EVALUATION. 

19 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con20 gress that— 

21 (1) achieving United States foreign policy objec22 tives requires the consistent and systematic evalua23 tion of the impact of United States foreign assist24 ance programs and analysis on what programs work 

25 and why, when, and where they work; 


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1 (2) the design of assistance programs and 

2 projects should include the collection of relevant 

3 baseline data required to measure outcomes and im4 pacts; 

5 (3) the design of assistance programs and 

6 projects should reflect the knowledge gained from 

7 evaluation and analysis; 

8 (4) a culture and practice of high-quality eval9 uation should be revitalized at agencies managing 

10 foreign assistance programs, which requires that the 

11 concepts of evaluation and analysis are used to in12 form policy and programmatic decisions, including 

13 the training of aid professionals in evaluation design 

14 and implementation; 

15 (5) the effective and efficient use of funds can16 not be achieved without an understanding of how 

17 lessons learned are applicable in various environ18 ments and under similar or different conditions; and 

19 (6) project evaluations should be used as 

20 sources of data when running broader analyses of 

21 development outcomes and impacts. 

22 (b) COORDINATION AND INTEGRATION.—To the ex23 tent possible, the Administrator shall coordinate and inte24 grate evaluation of United States water programs with the 

25 learning, evaluation, and analysis efforts of the United 


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1 States Agency for International Development aimed at 

2 measuring development impact. 

3 SEC. 10. UPDATED REPORT REGARDING WATER FOR PEACE 

4 AND SECURITY. 

5 Section 11(b) of the Senator Paul Simon Water for 

6 the Poor Act of 2005, as redesignated by section 7, is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The report 

8 submitted under this subsection shall include an assess9 ment of current and likely future political tensions over 

10 water sources and multidisciplinary assessment of the ex11 pected impacts of changes to water supplies and agricul12 tural productivity in 10, 25, and 50 years.’’. 

13 SEC. 11. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON EFFECTIVE14 NESS AND EFFICIENCY OF UNITED STATES 

15 EFFORTS TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND 

16 SANITATION FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. 

17 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comp19 troller General of the United States shall submit to the 

20 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representa21 tives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen22 ate a report on the effectiveness and efficiency of United 

23 States efforts to provide safe water and sanitation for de24 veloping countries. 


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1 (b) ELEMENTS.—In preparing the report required by 

2 subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall, at a min3 imum— 

4 (1) identify all programs (and respective Fed5 eral agencies) in the Federal Government that per6 form the mission of providing safe water and sanita7 tion for developing countries, including capacity8 building, professional exchanges, and other related 

9 programs; 

10 (2) list the actual costs for the implementation, 

11 operation, and support of the individual programs; 

12 (3) assess the effectiveness of these programs in 

13 meeting their goals; 

14 (4) assess the efficiency of these programs com15 pared to each other and to programs to provide simi16 lar aid performed by nongovernmental organizations 

17 and other governments, and identify best practices 

18 from this assessment; 

19 (5) identify and assess programs that are dupli20 cative of each other or of efforts by nongovernmental 

21 organizations and other governments; 

22 (6) assess whether appropriate oversight of 

23 these programs is being conducted by Federal agen24 cies, especially in the programs in which Federal 


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1 agencies are utilizing contractors instead of govern2 ment employees to perform this mission; and 

3 (7) make such recommendations as the Comp4 troller General considers appropriate. 

Æ 


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