I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2901 
To strengthen implementation of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the 
Poor Act of 2005 by improving the capacity of the United States Govern-
ment to implement, leverage, and monitor and evaluate programs to 
provide first-time or improved access to safe drinking water, sanitation, 
and hygiene to the world’s poorest on an equitable and sustainable 
basis, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 1, 2013 
Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. POE of Texas, Mr. COLE, Mr. JONES, Mr. 
RIBBLE, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. 
SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. TERRY, Mr. HANNA, Mr. SCHOCK, and Ms. 
EDWARDS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To strengthen implementation of the Senator Paul Simon 
Water for the Poor Act of 2005 by improving the capac-
ity of the United States Government to implement, lever-
age, and monitor and evaluate programs to provide first- 
time or improved access to safe drinking water, sanita-
tion, and hygiene to the world’s poorest on an equitable 
and sustainable basis, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2013’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. Sense of Congress. 
Sec. 4. Purpose. 
Sec. 5. Improving coordination and oversight of safe water, sanitation, and hy-
giene projects and activities. 
Sec. 6. Increasing sustainability of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene projects 
and activities. 
Sec. 7. United States complimentary strategies to increase sustainable, afford-
able, and equitable access to safe water, sanitation, and hy-
giene. 
Sec. 8. Transparency and monitoring and evaluation. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Senator Paul Simon Water for the 
Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–121; 119 Stat. 
2533)— 
(A) makes access to affordable, equitable, 
and sustainable clean water, sanitation, and hy-
giene for developing countries a specific policy 
objective of United States foreign assistance 
programs; 
(B) requires the United States Govern-
ment to— 
(i) develop a strategy to elevate and 
further the United States foreign policy 
and foreign assistance objective to provide 
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(B) recognizes the importance of sanitation 
on public health, poverty reduction, economic 
and social development, and the environment. 
(5) According to the 2005 Millennium Eco-
system Assessment, commissioned by the United Na-
tions, more than one-fifth of the world’s population 
relies on freshwater sources that are either polluted 
or excessively withdrawn. Healthy ecosystems pro-
vide multiple water-related services, such as flood 
control and water purification, upon which human 
security, health and well-being depend. Therefore, 
measures aiming to maintain or restore those serv-
ices ensure the long-term sustainability of strategies 
to secure safe and reliable access to water and sani-
tation. 
(6) While progress is being made on safe water 
and sanitation efforts— 
(A) 
more 
than 
783,000,000 
people 
throughout the world lack access to safe drink-
ing water; and 
(B) approximately 35 percent of the total 
global population does not have access to basic 
sanitation services. 
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(7) A lack of access to clean water and ade-
quate sanitation has disproportionate, and too often 
deadly impacts on children: 
(A) Water and sanitation-related disease, 
despite being preventable, remains one of the 
most significant child health problems world-
wide. Diarrhea is the most serious of these dis-
eases, alone killing over 3,000 children each 
day, and is the second biggest cause of death in 
children in the post neonatal period, aged one 
month to 5 years. Ninety percent of all people 
that die from diarrheal disease are children 
under the age of 5. Eighty-eight percent of di-
arrheal disease is attributed to unsafe drinking 
water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. 
(B) Even when bouts of diarrhea don’t kill, 
these episodes can physically and mentally stunt 
children, affecting them for the rest of their 
lives. 
(C) Having adequate and appropriate 
water supply and sanitation facilities in schools 
is a major factor influencing whether children, 
and especially adolescent girls, attend school. 
(D) Adequate sanitation facilities and 
practices contributes to reducing malnutrition 
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in children, improves the quality of life and dig-
nity of girls and women, protects the environ-
ment, and generates economic benefits for com-
munities and nations. 
(8) The health and environmental consequences 
of unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation are sig-
nificant, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the 
global burden of disease, and as further indicated by 
the following: 
(A) At any given time, half of the hospital 
beds in developing countries are occupied by pa-
tients suffering from diseases associated with 
lack of access to safe drinking water, inad-
equate sanitation, and poor hygiene. 
(B) More than 3,575,000 people die each 
year from water-related disease. 
(C) Chronic or acute diarrhea can lead to 
cognitive delays, with severe repercussions for 
economic development. 
(D) Lack of adequate sanitation contami-
nates rivers worldwide, as one of the most sig-
nificant sources of water pollution. Every day, 
2,000,000 tons of untreated sewage and indus-
trial and agricultural waste are discharged into 
the world’s freshwaters. 
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(9) Clean water and sanitation are among the 
most powerful drivers for human development. They 
extend opportunity, enhance dignity, and help create 
a virtuous cycle of improving health and rising 
wealth. 
(10) Diseases linked to unsafe water and poor 
sanitation, as well as the time and energy women 
often devote to collecting water, significantly reduce 
economic productivity in less developed countries 
and promote lifecycles of disadvantage. 
(11) Expanding access to clean water, sanita-
tion, and hygiene, while protecting the natural infra-
structures that store, deliver, and purify water for 
nature and people, are essential steps in reducing 
the global burden of disease, advancing sustainable 
economic and social development, protecting basic 
human rights, preventing violence against girls and 
women, and mitigating sources of conflict associated 
with water scarcity, mass migration, and water re-
lated disasters, both within and between countries. 
(12) Nearly 1,000,000,000 people across the 
globe still suffer from chronic hunger. Water scar-
city and poor water management reduce agricultural 
productivity and add pressures on valuable fisheries, 
posing a major threat to food security and local live-
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lihoods, and limits the ability of the world to provide 
the resources necessary for the doubling of food pro-
duction that will be required to meet the demands 
of a projected population of 9,000,000,000 people by 
2050. 
(13) 2.8 billion people in more than 48 coun-
tries are expected to face severe and chronic water 
shortages by 2025, with major impacts on energy 
and food security, development, livelihoods, human 
health, and natural infrastructure. 
(14) Agriculture consumes 70 percent of all 
freshwater withdrawn globally. Global increases in 
the efficiency and productivity of both irrigated and 
rain-fed agriculture will be needed to meet future 
food production requirements. 
(15) Approximately half the world’s population 
lives in cities, often in slums characterized by unsafe 
water, poor sanitation, lack of basic services, over-
crowding, inferior construction and insecure tenure. 
(16) According to the United Nations, women 
make up 70 percent of the world’s poor. Yet, the 
time they spend collecting water prevents them from 
undertaking other activities, such as generating in-
come or attending school. 
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(17) A lack of access to safe water and im-
proved sanitation close to home and at school can 
impact girls’ educational attainment and retention, 
limiting their ability to break the cycle of poverty. 
Research has found increases in girls’ school enroll-
ment when clean water points were installed closer 
to home, and increases in girls’ school attendance 
when separate latrines for boys and girls were pro-
vided on site. Meeting Target 10 of the Millennium 
Development Goals for water and sanitation would 
provide an estimated 272,000,000 additional school 
days per year. 
(18) A lack of water points close to home or 
safe, private latrines can put women and girls in iso-
lated situations, making them more vulnerable to 
sexual and physical violence. Violence against women 
and girls has consequences ranging from psycho-
social trauma to heightened risk of HIV/AIDS. 
(19) Faith communities and nonprofit develop-
ment and conservation organizations across the 
United States contribute significantly to the im-
provement of water, sanitation, and hygiene in devel-
oping countries. By applying their expertise, pro-
viding services, building the capacity of local organi-
zations, establishing long-term partnerships with 
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local communities, empowering marginalized groups, 
supporting sustainable water management and serv-
ing as a voice for the poor, faith-based and nonprofit 
organizations complement and leverage assistance 
provided by the United States Government. 
(20) United States businesses have developed 
key technologies, donated goods and services, 
partnered with private and public sector entities, 
and invested their capital to improve water and sani-
tation and freshwater sources in many developing 
countries. Corporate actors have also partnered with 
other stakeholders to implement sustainable water 
management and water use efficiency within their 
plants and throughout their supply chain. 
(21) Implementation of the Senator Paul Simon 
Water for the Poor Act of 2005 must be signifi-
cantly strengthened if the purposes of section 135 of 
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 
2152h; relating to assistance to provide safe water 
and sanitation), as added by section 5(a) of the Sen-
ator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, 
are to be met. 
(22) The monitoring and evaluation of the per-
formance of United States foreign assistance pro-
grams and their contribution to policy, strategies, 
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projects, program goals, and priorities undertaken 
by the Federal Government is essential to improving 
aid effectiveness. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) In May 2013, the United States Agency for 
International Development released a Water and De-
velopment Strategy, whose goal is ‘‘to save lives and 
advance development through improvements in water 
supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs, 
and through sound management and use of water 
for food security.’’. 
(2) The Water and Development Strategy 
states that it supports the efforts of the Senator 
Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 ‘‘by ad-
vancing many activities consistent with the goals of 
the Act.’’. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) the initial United States Agency for Inter-
national Development’s Water and Development 
Strategy, released in May 2013— 
(A) is a significant accomplishment and 
improves the Agency’s capacity to provide sus-
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tainable and effective water, sanitation, and hy-
giene assistance; 
(B) is supportive of and should continue to 
reinforce the United States foreign policy and 
development objectives for clean water, sanita-
tion, and hygiene; 
(C) should be refined and expanded by the 
United States Agency for International Devel-
opment as often as necessary to ensure best 
practices are used and the purposes of the Sen-
ator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 
2005 (Public Law 109–121; 119 Stat. 2533) 
and this Act are met, should target the world’s 
poorest and those suffering from the lowest lev-
els of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, 
and hygiene, and should be updated by the 
Agency not later than every 5 years, to more 
fully meet the requirements and spirit of the 
Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 
2005 and section 135 of the Foreign Assistance 
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152h), as added by 
section 5(a) of the Senator Paul Simon Water 
for the Poor Act of 2005; and 
(D) is not, on its own, the holistic United 
States water strategy required by the Senator 
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Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, 
but instead addresses components of a com-
prehensive strategy for how the United States 
plans to support the United States foreign pol-
icy and development objectives and measure its 
success towards the objectives required by the 
Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 
2005 and this Act, and must be complimented 
by the development of a whole-of-government 
United States Government global water strat-
egy aimed at creating an enabling environment 
through diplomatic channels for the Agency’s 
water, sanitation, and hygiene programming 
that will better allow the Agency to succeed in 
its mission; and 
(2) the Secretary of State, acting through the 
Special Advisor for Water Resources (established by 
136(f) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961), as 
added by section 5(a)(2)(C) of this Act, and in col-
laboration and consultation with the Administrator 
of the United States Agency for International Devel-
opment, should develop a Global Water Resources 
Strategy relating to United States foreign policy ob-
jectives for water, pursuant to section 6(a) of the 
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Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 
2005, as added by section 7 of this Act, that— 
(A) articulates a vision for the role played 
by the Department of State, including in its 
power as a convener, in addressing the foreign 
policy and national security issues identified in 
the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act 
of 2005 and this Act, the 2012 National Intel-
ligence Estimate on Global Water Security, and 
other 
relevant 
whole-of-government 
assess-
ments, strategies, and approaches; 
(B) is an ambitious United States foreign 
policy framework that advances the objectives 
of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor 
Act of 2005 and this Act to provide sustainable 
access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and 
hygiene to poor and marginalized people 
through improved United States diplomatic ef-
forts to build political will and coordination 
across the Federal Government to better enable 
United States Government agencies and part-
ners to meet their international development ob-
jectives; 
(C) is complementary to, supportive of, 
and does not inhibit, the Water and Develop-
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ment Strategy, and establishes clear roles and 
responsibilities insofar as possible among Fed-
eral agencies and departments responsible for 
jointly carrying out the strategy, as required by 
section 6(b) of the Senator Paul Simon Water 
for the Poor Act of 2005, as added by section 
7 of this Act. 
SEC. 4. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act and the amendments made 
by this Act is to strengthen implementation of the Senator 
Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 
109–121; 119 Stat. 2533) by— 
(1) improving coordination and oversight of 
international water, sanitation, hygiene, and sustain-
able water management programs within and be-
tween United States Government agencies; 
(2) increasing the sustainability of United 
States Government-supported water, sanitation, and 
hygiene programs, including in terms of afford-
ability, accountability, and financial, operational, in-
stitutional, and environmental sustainability; 
(3) enhancing water, sanitation, and hygiene 
expertise within the United States Agency for Inter-
national Development and the Department of State, 
which shall include a whole of agency approach to 
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establish a learning agenda aimed at increasing the 
quality, effectiveness, and sustainability of the 
United States Government-supported water, sanita-
tion, and hygiene programs; and 
(4) ensuring water, sanitation, and hygiene pro-
grams and strategies are reflected in and supported 
by other development initiatives such as food secu-
rity, global health, environment, education, gender 
quality, and conflict prevention and mitigation with-
in and between countries, with the goal of meeting 
the needs of the poorest and most marginalized peo-
ple. 
SEC. 5. IMPROVING COORDINATION AND OVERSIGHT OF 
SAFE WATER, SANITATION, AND HYGIENE 
PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign 
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by redesignating section 135, as added by 
section 5(a) of the Senator Paul Simon Water for 
the Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–121; 119 
Stat. 2536; 22 U.S.C. 2152h note), as section 136; 
and 
(2) in section 136, as redesignated by para-
graph (1) of this section— 
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(A) in the section heading, by striking 
‘‘AND
SANITATION’’ and inserting ‘‘, SANITA-
TION, AND HYGIENE’’; 
(B) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘and 
sanitation’’ and inserting ‘‘, sanitation, and hy-
giene’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
subsections: 
‘‘(e) GLOBAL WATER COORDINATOR.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 
United States Agency for International Development 
(USAID) shall designate a senior advisor to coordi-
nate and oversee the Agency’s programs in devel-
oping countries that seek to provide affordable and 
equitable access to safe water, sanitation, and hy-
giene, who shall be known as the ‘Global Water Co-
ordinator’, who shall administer and oversee an of-
fice to be known as the Office of Water, Sanitation, 
and Development, and who shall report directly to 
the Administrator and the Assistant Administrator 
overseeing water programs. 
‘‘(2) DUTIES.—The Global Water Coordinator 
shall— 
‘‘(A) oversee implementation of this sec-
tion, the Senator Paul Simon Water for the 
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Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–121; 119 
Stat. 2533; 22 U.S.C. 2152h note) and the 
Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act 
of 2013; 
‘‘(B) oversee the buildup of capacity and 
expertise within USAID to implement this sec-
tion, the Senator Paul Simon Water for the 
Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–121; 119 
Stat. 2533; 22 U.S.C. 2152h note), and the 
Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act 
of 2013, including— 
‘‘(i) by appointing USAID mission 
water advisors in each high priority coun-
try, who— 
‘‘(I) shall have or be given the 
opportunity to fully develop their tech-
nical skills and competencies nec-
essary to provide appropriate guidance 
to technical and program staff to en-
sure the Water and Development 
Strategy can be successfully imple-
mented; and 
‘‘(II) shall ensure water, sanita-
tion, and hygiene objectives and indi-
cators are reflected throughout pro-
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Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 
2013; 
‘‘(ii) opportunities to leverage existing 
indigenous public sector, local, donor or 
private sector investments in the water, 
sanitation and water resource management 
sector; 
‘‘(iii) the number of people and per-
cent of the population without access to an 
improved source of safe drinking water in 
or close to home, disaggregated by rural, 
peri-urban, or urban geographic location; 
‘‘(iv) the number of people and per-
cent of the population without access to an 
improved source of sanitation in or close to 
home, disaggregated by rural, peri-urban, 
or urban geographic location; 
‘‘(v) the mortality rate and number of 
deaths of children under 5 years old due to 
diarrhea; 
‘‘(vi) the mortality rate and number of 
deaths of children under 5 years old due to 
pneumonia; 
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