II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3642 

To enhance the capacity of the United States Government to fully implement 

the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 and to improve 

access to safe drinking water and sanitation throughout the world. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. CORKER, Mr. KERRY, and Mrs. MURRAY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To enhance the capacity of the United States Government 

to fully implement the Senator Paul Simon Water for 

the Poor Act of 2005 and to improve access to safe 

drinking water and sanitation throughout the world. 

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 Enhancement Act of 2008’’. 

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 the proportion of peo16 ple who are unable to reach or afford safe 

17 drinking water and basic sanitation by 50 per18 cent by 2015. 

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

20 General Assembly, in GA Resolution 61/192, de21 clared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation, 

22 in recognition of the impact of sanitation on public 

23 health, poverty reduction, economic and social devel24 opment, and the environment. 


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

2 Con. Res. 318, which— 

3 (A) supports the goals and ideals of the 

4 International Year of Sanitation; and 

5 (B) recognizes the importance of sanitation 

6 on public health, poverty reduction, economic 

7 and social development, and the environment. 

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

9 and sanitation efforts— 

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

11 throughout the world lack access to safe drink12 ing water; and 

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

14 have access to basic sanitation services. 

15 (5) The health consequences of unsafe drinking 

16 water and poor sanitation are staggering, accounting 

17 for— 

18 (A) nearly 10 percent of the global burden 

19 of disease; and 

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

21 (6) The effects of climate change are expected 

22 to produce severe consequences for water availability 

23 and resource management in the future, with 

24 2,800,000,000 people in more than 48 countries exVerDate Aug 31 2005 01:11 Sep 29, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3642.IS S3642

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1 pected to face severe and chronic water shortages by 

2 2025. 

3 (7) The impact of water scarcity on conflict and 

4 instability is evident in many parts of the world, in5 cluding the Darfur region of Sudan, where demand 

6 for water resources has contributed to armed conflict 

7 between nomadic ethnic groups and local farming 

8 communities. 

9 (8) In order to further the United States con10 tribution to safe water and sanitation efforts, it is 

11 necessary to— 

12 (A) expand foreign assistance capacity to 

13 address the challenges described in this section; 

14 and 

15 (B) represent issues related to water and 

16 sanitation at the highest levels of United States 

17 foreign assistance deliberations, including delib18 erations related to issues of global health, food 

19 security, the environment, global warming, and 

20 maternal and child mortality. 

21 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

22 The purpose of this Act is to enhance the capacity 

23 of the United States Government to fully implement the 

24 Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (Pub25 lic Law 109–121). 


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1 SEC. 4. DEVELOPING UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CA2 PACITY. 

3 Section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

4 (22 U.S.C. 2151h) is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(e) OFFICE OF WATER.— 

7 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—To carry out the pur8 poses of subsection (a), the Administrator of the 

9 United States Agency for International Development 

10 shall establish the Office of Water. 

11 ‘‘(2) LEADERSHIP.—The Office of Water shall 

12 be headed by an Assistant Administrator for Safe 

13 Water and Sanitation, who shall report directly to 

14 the Administrator. 

15 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The Assistant Administrator 

16 shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) implement this section and the Sen18 ator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 

19 2005 (Public Law 109–121); and 

20 ‘‘(B) place primary emphasis on providing 

21 safe, affordable, and sustainable drinking water, 

22 sanitation, and hygiene. 

23 ‘‘(f) BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL WATER.— 

24 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—To increase the capac25 ity of the Department of State to address inter26 national issues regarding safe water, sanitation, and 


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1 other international water programs, the Secretary of 

2 State shall establish the Bureau for International 

3 Water within the Office of the Under Secretary for 

4 Democracy and Global Affairs (referred to in this 

5 subsection as the ‘Bureau’). 

6 ‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The Bureau shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) oversee and coordinate the diplomatic 

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

10 ‘‘(i) access to safe drinking water and 

11 sanitation; 

12 ‘‘(ii) river basin and watershed man13 agement; 

14 ‘‘(iii) transboundary conflict; 

15 ‘‘(iv) agricultural and urban produc16 tivity of water resources; 

17 ‘‘(v) pollution mitigation; and 

18 ‘‘(vi) adaptation to hydrologic change 

19 due to climate variability; and 

20 ‘‘(B) ensure that international freshwater 

21 issues are represented— 

22 ‘‘(i) within the United States Govern23 ment; and 


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

2 and scientific efforts with other nations 

3 and multilateral organizations.’’. 

4 SEC. 5. SAFE WATER AND SANITATION STRATEGY. 

5 Section 6(e) of the Senator Paul Simon Water for 

6 the Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–121) is amended— 

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

8 end; 

9 (2) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at 

10 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

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

12 ‘‘(7) an assessment of the extent to which the 

13 United States Government’s efforts are reaching the 

14 goal described in section 135(a)(2) of the Foreign 

15 Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152h(a)(2)); 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(8) recommendations on what the United 

18 States Government would need to do to help achieve 

19 the goal referred to in paragraph (7) if the United 

20 States Government’s efforts were proportional to its 

21 share of the world’s economy.’’. 

22 SEC. 6. DEVELOPING LOCAL CAPACITY. 

23 The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 

24 2005 (Public Law 109–121) is amended— 


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

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

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

4 ‘‘SEC. 9. WATER AND SANITATION MANAGERS TRAINING 

5 PROGRAM. 

6 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

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

8 the Administrator of the United States Agency for 

9 International Development shall establish, in every 

10 priority country, a program to train local, in-country 

11 water and sanitation managers, and other officials of 

12 countries that receive assistance under section 135 

13 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to promote 

14 the capacity of recipient governments to provide af15 fordable, equitable, and sustainable access to safe 

16 drinking water and sanitation. 

17 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION.—The program established 

18 under subsection (a) shall be coordinated by the lead 

19 country water manager designated in subsection 

20 (c)(2). 

21 ‘‘(3) EXPANSION.—The Secretary and Adminis22 trator may establish the program described in this 

23 section in additional countries if the receipt of such 

24 training would be most beneficial, with due consider25 ation given to good governance. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DESIGNATION.—The United States Chief of 

2 Mission within each country receiving a ‘high priority’ des3 ignation under section 6(f) shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) designate safe drinking water and sanita5 tion as a strategic objective; 

6 ‘‘(2) appoint an in-country water and sanitation 

7 manager within the Mission to coordinate the in8 country implementation of this Act and section 135 

9 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 with local 

10 water managers, local government officials, the De11 partment of State, and the Office of Water of the 

12 United States Agency for International Develop13 ment; and 

14 ‘‘(3) coordinate with the Development Credit 

15 Authority and the Global Development Alliance to 

16 further the purposes of this Act.’’. 

17 SEC. 7. GRANTS FOR LOW COST CLEAN WATER AND SANI18 TATION TECHNOLOGIES. 

19 Section 135(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act (22 

20 U.S.C. 2152h(c)) is amended— 

21 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

22 end; 

23 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at 

24 the end; and 

25 (3) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(5) provide grants through the United States 

2 Agency for International Development to foster the 

3 development of low cost and sustainable technologies 

4 for providing clean water and sanitation that are 

5 suitable for use in high priority countries, particu6 larly in places with limited resources and infrastruc7 ture.’’. 

8 SEC. 8. UPDATED REPORT REGARDING WATER FOR PEACE 

9 AND SECURITY. 

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

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

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

13 submitted under this subsection shall include an assess14 ment of current and likely future political tensions over 

15 water sources and an assessment of the expected impacts 

16 of global climate change on water supplies in 10, 25, and 

17 50 years.’’. 

18 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal 

20 year 2009 and each subsequent fiscal year such sums as 

21 may be necessary to carry out this Act and the amend22 ments made by this Act. 

23 SEC. 10. CONSTRUCTION. 

24 This Act shall be implemented in a manner consistent 

25 with the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 


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1 2005 (Public Law 109–121). Nothing in this Act shall be 

2 construed in such a way as to override or take precedence 

3 over the implementation of that Act. 

Æ 


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