IB 
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 fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Rela-
tions 
OCTOBER 28, 2005 
Additional sponsors: Mr. SCHWARZ of Michigan, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 
CROWLEY, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. BUR-
TON 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. BER-
MAN, 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 Col-
orado, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. KIRK, Mr. DENT, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. PETRI, 
Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr.
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senator Paul Simon 
Water for the Poor Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Water-related diseases are a human tragedy, 
killing up to five million people annually, preventing 
millions of people from leading healthy lives, and un-
dermining development efforts. 
(2) A child dies an average of every 15 seconds 
because of lack of access to safe water and adequate 
sanitation.
(3) In the poorest countries in the world, one out 
of five children dies from a preventable, water-related 
disease. 
(4) Lack of access to safe drinking water, inad-
equate sanitation, and poor hygiene practices are di-
rectly responsible for the vast majority of diarrheal 
diseases which kill over two million children each 
year. 
(5) At any given time, half of all people in the 
developing world are suffering from one or more of 
the main diseases associated with inadequate provi-
sion of water supply and sanitation services. 
(6) Over 1.1 billion people, one in every six peo-
ple in the world, lack access to safe drinking water. 
(7) Nearly 2.6 billion people, two in every five 
people in the world, lack access to basic sanitation 
services. 
(8) Half of all schools in the world do not have 
access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. 
(9) Over the past 20 years, two billion people 
have gained access to safe drinking water and 600 
million people have gained access to basic sanitation 
services. 
(10) Access to safe water and sanitation and im-
proved hygiene are significant factors in controlling
the spread of disease in the developing world and 
positively affecting worker productivity and economic 
development. 
(11) Increasing access to safe water and sanita-
tion advances efforts toward other development objec-
tives, such as fighting poverty and hunger, promoting 
primary education and gender equality, reducing 
child mortality, promoting environmental stability, 
improving the lives of slum dwellers, and strength-
ening national security. 
(12) Providing safe supplies of water and sanita-
tion and hygiene improvements would save millions 
of lives by reducing the prevalence of water-borne dis-
eases, water-based diseases, water-privation diseases, 
and water-related vector diseases. 
(13) Because women and girls in developing 
countries are often the carriers of water, lack of access 
to safe water and sanitation disproportionately affects 
women and limits women’s opportunities at edu-
cation, livelihood, and financial independence. 
(14) Between 20 percent and 50 percent of exist-
ing water systems in developing countries are not op-
erating or are operating poorly.
(15) In developing world water delivery systems, 
an average of 50 percent of all water is lost before it 
gets to the end-user. 
(16) Every $1 invested in safe water and sanita-
tion would yield an economic return of between $3 
and $34, depending on the region. 
(17) Developing sustainable financing mecha-
nisms, such as pooling mechanisms and revolving 
funds, is necessary for the long-term viability of im-
proved water and sanitation services. 
(18) The annual level of investment needed to 
meet the water and sanitation needs of developing 
countries far exceeds the amount of Official Develop-
ment Assistance (ODA) and spending by governments 
of developing countries, so facilitating and attracting 
greater public and private investment is essential. 
(19) Meeting the water and sanitation needs of 
the lowest-income developing countries will require an 
increase in the resources available as grants from 
donor countries. 
(20) The long-term sustainability of improved 
water and sanitation services can be advanced by 
promoting community level action and engagement 
with civil society.
(21) Target 10 of the United Nations Millen-
nium Development Goals is to reduce by half the pro-
portion of people without sustainable access to safe 
drinking water by 2015. 
(22) The participants in the 2002 World Sum-
mit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannes-
burg, South Africa, including the United States, 
agreed to the Plan of Implementation of the World 
Summit on Sustainable Development which included 
an agreement to work to reduce by one-half ‘‘the pro-
portion of people who are unable to reach or afford 
safe drinking water,’’ and ‘‘the proportion of people 
without access to basic sanitation’’ by 2015. 
(23) At the World Summit on Sustainable Devel-
opment, the United States announced the Water for 
the Poor Initiative, committing $970 million for fis-
cal years 2003 through 2005 to improve sustainable 
management of fresh water resources and accelerate 
and expand international efforts to achieve the goal 
of cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of people 
who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking 
water. 
(24) United Nations General Assembly Resolu-
tion 58/217 (February 9, 2004) proclaimed ‘‘the pe-
riod from 2005 to 2015 the International Decade for
Action, ‘Water for Life’, to commence on World Water 
Day, 22 March 2005’’ for the purpose of increasing 
the focus of the international community on water-re-
lated issues at all levels and on the implementation 
of water-related programs and projects. 
(25) Around the world, 263 river basins are 
shared by two or more countries, and many more ba-
sins and watersheds cross political or ethnic bound-
aries. 
(26) Water scarcity can contribute to insecurity 
and conflict on subnational, national, and inter-
national levels, thus endangering the national secu-
rity of the United States. 
(27) Opportunities to manage water problems 
can be leveraged in ways to build confidence, trust, 
and peace between parties in conflict. 
(28) Cooperative water management can help re-
solve conflicts caused by other problems and is often 
a crucial component in resolving such conflicts. 
(29) Cooperative water management can help 
countries recover from conflict and, by promoting dia-
logue and cooperation among former parties in con-
flict, can help prevent the reemergence of conflict. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States—
(1) to increase the percentage of water and sani-
tation assistance targeted toward countries designated 
as high priority countries under section 6(f) of this 
Act; 
(2) to ensure that water and sanitation assist-
ance reflect an appropriate balance of grants, loans, 
contracts, investment insurance, loan guarantees, and 
other assistance to further ensure affordability and 
equity in the provision of access to safe water and 
sanitation for the very poor; 
(3) to ensure that the targeting of water and 
sanitation assistance reflect an appropriate balance 
between urban, periurban, and rural areas to meet 
the purposes of assistance described in section 135 of 
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by sec-
tion 5(a) of this Act; 
(4) to ensure that forms of water and sanitation 
assistance provided reflect the level of existing re-
sources and markets for investment in water and 
sanitation within recipient countries; 
(5) to ensure that water and sanitation assist-
ance, to the extent possible, supports the poverty re-
duction strategies of recipient countries and, when 
appropriate, encourages the inclusion of water and 
sanitation within such poverty reduction strategies;
(6) to promote country and local ownership of 
safe water and sanitation programs, to the extent ap-
propriate; 
(7) to promote community-based approaches in 
the provision of affordable and equitable access to safe 
water and sanitation, including the involvement of 
civil society; 
(8) to mobilize and leverage the financial and 
technical capacity of businesses, governments, non-
governmental organizations, and civil society in the 
form of public-private alliances; 
(9) to encourage reforms and increase the capac-
ity of foreign governments to formulate and imple-
ment policies that expand access to safe water and 
sanitation in an affordable, equitable, and sustainable 
manner, including integrated strategic planning; and 
(10) to protect the supply and availability of 
safe water through sound environmental management, 
including preventing the destruction and degradation 
of ecosystems and watersheds. 
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) in order to make the most effective use of 
amounts of Official Development Assistance for water 
and sanitation and avoid waste and duplication, the
United States should seek to establish innovative 
international coordination mechanisms based on best 
practices in other development sectors; and 
(2) the United States should greatly increase the 
amount of Official Development Assistance made 
available to carry out section 135 of the Foreign As-
sistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of this 
Act. 
SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND SANITA-
TION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign 
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 135. ASSISTANCE TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND 
SANITATION. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of assistance author-
ized by this section are— 
‘‘(1) to promote good health, economic develop-
ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, con-
flict prevention, and environmental sustainability by 
providing assistance to expand access to safe water 
and sanitation, promoting integrated water resource 
management, and improving hygiene for people 
around the world;
‘‘(2) to seek to reduce by one-half from the base-
line year 1990 the proportion of people who are un-
able to reach or afford safe drinking water and the 
proportion of people without access to basic sanita-
tion by 2015; 
‘‘(3) to focus water and sanitation assistance to-
ward the countries, locales, and people with the great-
est need; 
‘‘(4) to promote affordability and equity in the 
provision of access to safe water and sanitation for 
the very poor, women, and other vulnerable popu-
lations; 
‘‘(5) to improve water efficiency through water 
demand management and reduction of unaccounted- 
for water; 
‘‘(6) to promote long-term sustainability in the 
affordable and equitable provision of access to safe 
water and sanitation through the creation of innova-
tive financing mechanisms such as national revolving 
funds, and by strengthening the capacity of recipient 
governments and communities to formulate and im-
plement policies that expand access to safe water and 
sanitation in a sustainable fashion, including inte-
grated planning;
‘‘(7) to secure the greatest amount of resources 
possible, encourage private investment in water and 
sanitation infrastructure and services, particularly in 
lower middle-income countries, without creating 
unsustainable debt for low-income countries or 
unaffordable water and sanitation costs for the very 
poor; and 
‘‘(8) to promote the capacity of recipient govern-
ments to provide affordable, equitable, and sustain-
able access to safe water and sanitation. 
‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION.—To carry out the purposes of 
subsection (a), the President is authorized to furnish assist-
ance for programs in developing countries to provide afford-
able and equitable access to safe water and sanitation. 
‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance provided 
under subsection (b) shall, to the maximum extent prac-
ticable, be used to— 
‘‘(1) expand affordable and equitable access to 
safe water and sanitation for underserved popu-
lations; 
‘‘(2) support the design, construction, mainte-
nance, upkeep, repair, and operation of water deliv-
ery and sanitation systems; 
‘‘(3) improve the safety and reliability of water 
supplies, including environmental management; and
‘‘(4) improve the capacity of recipient govern-
ments and local communities, including capacity- 
building programs for improved water resource man-
agement. 
‘‘(d) LOCAL CURRENCY.—The President may use pay-
ments made in local currencies under an agreement made 
under title I of the Agricultural Trade Development and 
Assistance Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to provide 
assistance under this section.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 104(c) of the 
Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 
(7 U.S.C. 1704(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(9) SAFE WATER AND SANITATION.—To provide 
assistance under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 to promote good health, economic develop-
ment, poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, con-
flict prevention, and environmental sustainability by 
increasing affordable and equitable access to safe 
water and sanitation.’’. 
SEC. 6. SAFE WATER AND SANITATION STRATEGY. 
(a) STRATEGY.—The President, acting through the 
Secretary of State, shall develop a strategy to further the 
United States foreign assistance objective to provide afford-
able and equitable access to safe water and sanitation in
developing countries, as described in section 135 of the For-
eign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 5(a) of 
this Act. 
(b) CONSULTATION.—The strategy required by sub-
section (a) shall be developed in consultation with the Ad-
ministrator of the United States Agency for International 
Development, the heads of other appropriate Federal de-
partments and agencies, international organizations, inter-
national financial institutions, recipient governments, 
United States and international nongovernmental organi-
zations, indigenous civil society, and other appropriate en-
tities. 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of State, acting 
through the Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development, shall implement the strategy re-
quired by subsection (a). The strategy may also be imple-
mented in part by other Federal departments and agencies, 
as appropriate. 
(d) CONSISTENT WITH SAFE WATER AND SANITATION 
POLICY.—The strategy required by subsection (a) shall be 
consistent with the policy stated in section 3 of this Act. 
(e) CONTENT.—The strategy required by subsection (a) 
shall include— 
(1) an assessment of the activities that have been 
carried out, or that are planned to be carried out, by
all appropriate Federal departments and agencies to 
improve affordable and equitable access to safe water 
and sanitation in all countries that receive assistance 
from the United States; 
(2) specific and measurable goals, benchmarks, 
and timetables to achieve the objective described in 
subsection (a); 
(3) an assessment of the level of funding and 
other assistance for United States water and sanita-
tion programs needed each year to achieve the goals, 
benchmarks, and timetables described in paragraph 
(2); 
(4) methods to coordinate and integrate United 
States water and sanitation assistance programs with 
other United States development assistance programs 
to achieve the objective described in subsection (a); 
(5) methods to better coordinate United States 
water and sanitation assistance programs with pro-
grams of other donor countries and entities to achieve 
the objective described in subsection (a); and 
(6) an assessment of the commitment of govern-
ments of countries that receive assistance under sec-
tion 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as 
added by section 5(a) of this Act, to policies or policy 
reforms that support affordable and equitable access
by the people of such countries to safe water and sani-
tation. 
(f) DESIGNATION OF HIGH PRIORITY COUNTRIES.— 
The strategy required by subsection (a) shall further include 
the designation of high priority countries for assistance 
under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, 
as added by section 5(a) of this Act. This designation shall 
be made on the basis of— 
(1) countries in which the need for increased ac-
cess to safe water and sanitation is greatest; and 
(2) countries in which assistance under such sec-
tion can be expected to make the greatest difference in 
promoting good health, economic development, poverty 
reduction, women’s empowerment, conflict prevention, 
and environmental sustainability. 
(g) REPORTS.— 
(1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of State shall submit to the appropriate con-
gressional committees a report that describes the 
strategy required by subsection (a). 
(2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Not less than once every 
year after the submission of the initial report 
under paragraph (1) until 2015, the Secretary of
State shall submit to the appropriate congres-
sional committees a report on the status of the 
implementation of the strategy, progress made in 
achieving the objective described in subsection 
(a), and any changes to the strategy since the 
date of the submission of the last report. 
(B) ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION.—Such re-
ports shall include information on the amount of 
funds expended in each country or program, 
disaggregated by purpose of assistance, including 
information on capital investments, and the 
source of such funds by account. 
(3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 
‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on International Rela-
tions and the Committee on Appropriations of 
the House of Representatives; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 
and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate. 
SEC. 7. MONITORING REQUIREMENT. 
The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the 
United States Agency for International Development shall 
monitor the implementation of assistance under section 135 
of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section
5(a) of this Act, to ensure that the assistance is reaching 
its intended targets and meeting the intended purposes of 
assistance. 
SEC. 8. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING DEVELOPMENT 
OF LOCAL CAPACITY. 
It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of State 
should expand current programs and develop new pro-
grams, as necessary, to train local water and sanitation 
managers and other officials of countries that receive assist-
ance under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
1961, as added by section 5(a) of this Act. 
SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ADDITIONAL 
WATER AND SANITATION PROGRAMS. 
It is the sense of the Congress that— 
(1) the United States should further support, as 
appropriate, water and sanitation activities of 
United Nations agencies, such as the United Nations 
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations De-
velopment Programme (UNDP), and the United Na-
tions Environment Programme (UNEP); and 
(2) the Secretary of the Treasury should instruct 
each United States Executive Director at the multi-
lateral development banks (within the meaning of sec-
tion 1701(c) of the International Financial Institu-
tions Act) to encourage the inclusion of water and
sanitation programs as a critical element of their de-
velopment assistance. 
SEC. 10. REPORT REGARDING WATER FOR PEACE AND SE-
CURITY. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress 
that United States programs to support and encourage ef-
forts around the world to develop river basin, aquifer, and 
other watershed-wide mechanisms for governance and co-
operation are critical components of long-term United 
States national security and should be expanded. 
(b) REPORT.—The Secretary of State, in consultation 
with the Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development, shall submit to the Committee 
on International Relations of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a 
report on efforts that the United States is making to sup-
port and promote programs that develop river basin, aqui-
fer, and other watershed-wide mechanisms for governance 
and cooperation. 
SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated for fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fiscal year 
such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act and 
the amendments made by this Act.
(b) OTHER AMOUNTS.—Amounts appropriated pursu-
ant to the authorization of appropriations in subsection (a) 
shall be in addition to the amounts otherwise available to 
carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 
(c) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant 
to the authorization of appropriations under section (a) are 
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 de-
veloping countries a specific policy objective of 
the United States foreign assistance programs, 
and for other purposes. 
OCTOBER 28, 2005 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed