Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, on March 22, countries around the world will celebrate World Water Day--a day to mark the progress we have made protecting this most important resource and to reflect on the many challenges we still face in providing clean, safe water to the world's poor.

In 2005, Congress in a bipartisan effort, passed the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act to establish American leadership on this issue. The bill had the support of then-Majority Leader Bill Frist and then-Congressman Henry Hyde in the House. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law.

The bill was appropriately named after my predecessor in the Senate, Paul Simon, who was years ahead of many others recognizing the importance of water.

This act has already done a great deal to help bring clean water and sanitation to the world's poor. But we can do more.

That is why today Senators Corker, Reid, Roberts, Cardin, Isakson, Leahy, and I are reintroducing the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act. This bill would improve the original Water for the Poor Act--by strengthening America's ability to provide clean water and sanitation to 100 million of the world's poor within six years of enactment.

Tragically, today nearly 1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, and more than 2 billion still lack basic sanitation. Lack of access to stable supplies of water is reaching critical proportions, particularly for agricultural purposes. And the problem will only worsen with rapid urbanization worldwide. Experts suggest that another 1.2 billion people will lack access to clean water and sanitation within 20 years.

The overall economic loss in Africa alone due to lack of access to safe water and basic sanitation is estimated at $28.4 billion a year. In many poor nations, women and girls walk 2 or 3 hours or more each way, every day, to collect water that is often dirty and unsafe.

The United Nations estimates that women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa spend a total of 40 billion working hours each year collecting water. That is equivalent to all of the hours worked in France in a year. Clearly, the world needs to do more to help with such a basic human need.

Last year, the Senate passed the Water for the World Act with 33 cosponsors representing the broad political spectrum of the Senate. You see, American leadership in providing the world's poor with this most basic of human needs has always been bipartisan in the past--and it should be today.

As we celebrate World Water Day next week, let's renew our commitment to making sure the world's poor have access to water and sanitation need by sending this critical piece of legislation to the President's desk.

The Water for the World Act is not an effort to create vast new programs, but rather to focus our foreign assistance on a comprehensive, strategic series of investments related to water and sanitation. These are simple, common-sense steps that will make a real difference in people's lives.

Our legislation would make the United States a leader in trying to meet Millennium Development Goals for drinking water and sanitation, which is to reduce by half the proportion of people without safe water and sanitation by 2015. The bill targets aid to areas with the greatest need and helps build the capacity of poor nations to meet their own water and sanitation challenges.

The Water for the World Act also supports research of clean water technologies and regional partnerships to find solutions to shared water challenges. The bill provides technical assistance--best practices, credit authorities, and training--to help countries expand access to clean water and sanitation. Our development experts will design the assistance based on local needs.

The bill also would strengthen the capacity of USAID and the State Department to implement development assistance efforts related to water and ramp up U.S. developmental and diplomatic leadership.

And lastly, the bill includes a 25 percent cost share for these water and sanitation programs--requiring USAID to partner with universities, philanthropies, and other donors in meeting the key goals.

USAID's sustained commitment to addressing water and sanitation issues has been invaluable in combating poverty and disease worldwide. In fact, USAID recently announced the position of a Senior Water Coordinator, Chris Holmes, whom I had the pleasure of meeting this week. I applaud USAID Administrator Shah for taking this important step that will save lives.

Not only is helping people access clean water and sanitation the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. For example, research shows that for every dollar put into clean water and sanitation, $8 in returns are gained in health, education and economic productivity.

Water scarcity can also be a source of conflict and economic calamity. Without reliable supplies of water, farmers struggle to grow crops, and areas once abundant with water are slowly becoming barren. Quite simply, no other issue is more important to human health, peace and security than access to sustainable supplies of water.

Helping other nations is in our national interest. Some say that now is not the time to invest in poor nations half a world away, when our economy is in crisis and so many Americans are hurting. That view is understandable. Recovering from this recession and rebuilding our economy for the long term must be, and is, our government's top priority.

But investing in clean water for the world is a smart strategy that will make our foreign assistance dollars achieve more--something we need in these hard economic times.

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