(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2011 - (Sec. 3) Calls for the United States to help undertake a global effort to bring sustainable access to clean water and sanitation to poor people throughout the world.
(Sec. 5) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to direct the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to designate a Senior Advisor for Water to coordinate and conduct the activities described in this Act and the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005. Requires the Senior Advisor to: (1) report directly to the Administrator; (2) develop and oversee implementation in high priority countries of country-specific water strategies and expertise to enable the goal of providing 100 million additional people with sustainable access to safe water and sanitation through direct funding, development activities, and partnerships within six years of this Act's enactment; (3) place primary emphasis on providing safe, affordable, and sustainable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in a manner that is consistent with sound water resource management principles; (4) integrate water strategies with country-specific or regional food security strategies; and (5) ensure that at least 25% of the overall funding necessary to meet such goal is provided by non-federal sources. Designates the individual serving as USAID Global Water Coordinator as of this Act's enactment as the initial Senior Advisor.
Requires the Secretary of State, in order to increase the capacity of the Department of State to address international issues regarding safe water, sanitation, integrated river basin management, and other international water programs, to establish a Special Coordinator for International Water to: (1) report to the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs; (2) oversee and coordinate U.S. diplomatic policy with respect to global freshwater issues; and (3) ensure that international freshwater issues are represented within the U.S. government and in key diplomatic, development, and scientific efforts with other nations and multilateral organizations. Designates the individual serving as Special Coordinator for Water Resources as of this Act's enactment as the initial Special Coordinator for International Water.
(Sec. 6) Amends the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 to require the Special Coordinator to ensure that the safe water and sanitation strategy is integrated into any review or development of a federal strategy for global development, global health, or global food security that sets forth or establishes the U.S. mission for global development, guidelines for assistance programs, and how development policy will be coordinated with policies governing trade, immigration, and other relevant international issues. Requires the safe water and sanitation strategy to include: (1) an assessment of U.S. foreign assistance allocated to the drinking water and sanitation sector during the three previous fiscal years, including assessing whether U.S. efforts are reaching and supporting the goal of enabling first-time access to safe water and sanitation on a sustainable basis for 100 million people in high priority countries; (2) recommendations on actions needed to achieve and support such goals and support the United Nation's Millennium Development Goal on access to safe drinking water; and (3) an assessment of best practices for mobilizing and leveraging the capacity of business, governments, organizations, and civil society in forming public-private partnerships that measurably increase access to safe, affordable, drinking water sanitation.
(Sec. 7) Requires the Secretary and the Administrator to establish a program to build the capacity of host country institutions and officials responsible for water and sanitation in countries that receive assistance to provide safe water and sanitation under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Authorizes the Secretary and the Administrator to establish such program in additional countries if the receipt of such capacity building would be beneficial for promoting access to safe drinking water and sanitation, with due consideration given to good governance.
Requires the USAID Director for each country receiving a high priority designation and for each region containing a country receiving such designation to report annually to Congress on drinking water and sanitation, including the status of: (1) designating safe drinking water and sanitation as a strategic objective, and (2) integrating the water strategy into a food security strategy.
(Sec. 8) Expands the list of activities that may be supported by assistance furnished by the President for programs in developing countries to provide affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation.
(Sec. 10) Requires the report regarding water for peace and security to include an assessment of political tensions over water sources and a multidisciplinary assessment of the expected impacts of changes to water supplies in 10, 25, and 50 years.
(Sec. 11) Requires the Comptroller General of the United States to report to specified congressional committees on the effectiveness and efficiency of U.S. efforts to provide safe water and sanitation for developing countries.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 641 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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
World Act of 2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005
(Public Law 109-121)--
(A) makes access to safe water and sanitation for
developing countries a specific policy objective of
United States foreign assistance programs;
(B) requires the Secretary of State to--
(i) develop a strategy to elevate the role
of water and sanitation policy; and
(ii) improve the effectiveness of United
States assistance programs undertaken in
support of that strategy;
(C) codifies Target 10 of the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals; and
(D) seeks to reduce by half between 1990 (the
baseline year) and 2015--
(i) the proportion of people who are unable
to reach or afford safe drinking water; and
(ii) the proportion of people without
access to basic sanitation.
(2) On December 20, 2006, the United Nations General
Assembly, in GA Resolution 61/192, declared 2008 as the
International Year of Sanitation, in recognition of the impact
of sanitation on public health, poverty reduction, economic and
social development, and the environment.
(3) On August 1, 2008, Congress passed H. Con. Res. 318,
which--
(A) supports the goals and ideals of the
International Year of Sanitation; and
(B) recognizes the importance of sanitation on
public health, poverty reduction, economic and social
development, and the environment.
(4) While progress is being made on safe water and
sanitation efforts--
(A) more than 884,000,000 people throughout the
world lack access to safe drinking water; and
(B) 2 of every 5 people in the world do not have
access to basic sanitation services.
(5) The health consequences of unsafe drinking water and
poor sanitation are significant, accounting for--
(A) nearly 10 percent of the global burden of
disease; and
(B) more than 2,000,000 deaths each year.
(6) Water scarcity has negative consequences for
agricultural productivity and food security for the
1,200,000,000 people who, as of 2010, suffer from chronic
hunger and seriously threatens the ability of the world to more
than double food production to meet the demands of a projected
population of 9,000,000,000 people by 2050.
(7) According to the November 2008 report entitled,
``Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World'', the National
Intelligence Council expects rapid urbanization and future
population growth to exacerbate already limited access to
water, particularly in agriculture-based economies.
(8) According to the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment,
commissioned by the United Nations, more than \1/5\ of the
world population relies on freshwater that is either polluted
or excessively withdrawn.
(9) The impact of water scarcity on conflict and
instability is evident in many parts of the world, including
the Darfur region of Sudan, where demand for water resources
has contributed to armed conflict between nomadic ethnic groups
and local farming communities.
(10) In order to further the United States contribution to
safe water and sanitation efforts, it is necessary to--
(A) expand foreign assistance capacity to address
the challenges described in this section; and
(B) represent issues related to water and
sanitation at the highest levels of United States
foreign assistance and diplomatic deliberations,
including those related to issues of global health,
food security, the environment, global warming, and
maternal and child mortality.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that the United States should help
undertake a global effort to bring sustainable access to clean water
and sanitation to poor people throughout the world.
SEC. 4. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is--
(1) to enable first-time access to safe water and
sanitation, on a sustainable basis, for 100,000,000 people in
high priority countries (as designated under section 6(f) of
the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (22
U.S.C. 2152h note)) within 6 years of the date of enactment of
this Act through direct funding, development activities, and
partnerships; and
(2) to enhance the capacity of the United States Government
to fully implement the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor
Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-121).
SEC. 5. DEVELOPING UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT CAPACITY.
Section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152h)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(e) Senior Advisor for Water.--
``(1) In general.--To carry out the purposes of subsection
(a), the Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development shall designate a senior advisor to
coordinate and conduct the activities described in this section
and the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005
(Public Law 109-121). The Advisor shall report directly to the
Administrator and be known as the `Senior Advisor for Water'.
The initial Senior Advisor for Water shall be the individual
serving as the USAID Global Water Coordinator as of the date of
the enactment of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act
of 2010.
``(2) Duties.--The Advisor shall--
``(A) implement this section and the Senator Paul
Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-
121);
``(B) develop and oversee implementation in high
priority countries of country-specific water strategies
and expertise, in coordination with appropriate United
States Agency for International Development Mission
Directors, to enable the goal of providing 100,000,000
additional people with sustainable access to safe water
and sanitation through direct funding, development
activities, and partnerships within 6 years of the date
of the enactment of the Senator Paul Simon Water for
the World Act of 2011; and
``(C) place primary emphasis on providing safe,
affordable, and sustainable drinking water, sanitation,
and hygiene in a manner that--
``(i) is consistent with sound water
resource management principles; and
``(ii) utilizes such approaches as direct
service provision, capacity building,
institutional strengthening, regulatory reform,
and partnership collaboration; and
``(D) integrate water strategies with country-
specific or regional food security strategies.
``(3) Capacity.--The Advisor shall be designated
appropriate staff and may utilize interagency details or
partnerships with universities, civil society, and the private
sector, as needed, to strengthen implementation capacity.
``(4) Funding sources.--The Advisor shall ensure that at
least 25 percent of the overall funding necessary to meet the
global goal set forth under paragraph (2)(B) is provided by
non-Federal sources, including foreign governments,
international institutions, and through partnerships with
universities, civil society, and the private sector, including
private and corporate foundations.
``(f) Special Coordinator for International Water.--
``(1) Establishment.--To increase the capacity of the
Department of State to address international issues regarding
safe water, sanitation, integrated river basin management, and
other international water programs, the Secretary of State
shall establish a Special Coordinator for International Water
(referred to in this subsection as the `Special Coordinator'),
who shall report to the Under Secretary for Democracy and
Global Affairs. The initial Special Coordinator shall be the
individual serving as Special Coordinator for Water Resources
as of the date of the enactment of the Senator Paul Simon Water
for the World Act of 2011.
``(2) Duties.--The Special Coordinator shall--
``(A) oversee and coordinate the diplomatic policy
of the United States Government with respect to global
freshwater issues, including interagency coordination
related to--
``(i) sustainable access to safe drinking
water, sanitation, and hygiene;
``(ii) integrated river basin and watershed
management;
``(iii) global food security;
``(iv) transboundary conflict;
``(v) agricultural and urban productivity
of water resources;
``(vi) disaster recovery, response, and
rebuilding;
``(vii) pollution mitigation; and
``(viii) adaptation to hydrologic change
due to climate variability; and
``(B) ensure that international freshwater issues
are represented--
``(i) within the United States Government;
and
``(ii) in key diplomatic, development, and
scientific efforts with other nations and
multilateral organizations.
``(3) Support staff.--The Special Coordinator shall be
designated appropriate staff to support the duties described in
paragraph (2).''.
SEC. 6. SAFE WATER, SANITATION, AND HYGIENE STRATEGY.
Section 6 of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005
(22 U.S.C. 2152h note) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the following:
``The Special Coordinator for International Water established
under section 135(f) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2152h(f)) shall take actions to ensure that the safe
water and sanitation strategy is integrated into any review or
development of a Federal strategy for global development,
global health, or global food security that sets forth or
establishes the United States mission for global development,
guidelines for assistance programs, and how development policy
will be coordinated with policies governing trade, immigration,
and other relevant international issues.'';
(2) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the following:
``In developing the program activities needed to implement the
strategy, the Secretary shall consider the results of the
assessment described in subsection (e)(9).''; and
(3) in subsection (e)--
(A) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' at the
end;
(B) in paragraph (6), by striking the period at the
end and inserting a semicolon; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(7) an assessment of all United States Government foreign
assistance allocated to the drinking water and sanitation
sector during the 3 previous fiscal years, across all United
States Government agencies and programs, including an
assessment of the extent to which the United States
Government's efforts are reaching and supporting the goal of
enabling first-time access to safe water and sanitation on a
sustainable basis for 100,000,000 people in high priority
countries;
``(8) recommendations on what the United States Government
would need to do to achieve and support the goals referred to
in paragraph (7), in support of the United Nation's Millennium
Development Goal on access to safe drinking water; and
``(9) an assessment of best practices for mobilizing and
leveraging the financial and technical capacity of business,
governments, nongovernmental organizations, and civil society
in forming public-private partnerships that measurably increase
access to safe, affordable, drinking water and sanitation.''.
SEC. 7. DEVELOPING LOCAL CAPACITY.
The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law
109-121) is amended--
(1) by redesignating sections 9, 10, and 11 as sections 10,
11, and 12, respectively; and
(2) by inserting after section 8 the following:
``SEC. 9. WATER AND SANITATION INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY-BUILDING PROGRAM.
``(a) Establishment.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary of State and the
Administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development (referred to in this section as the `Secretary' and
the `Administrator' `', respectively), in consultation with
host country institutions, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the Department of Agriculture, and other agencies,
as appropriate, shall establish, in coordination with mission
directors in high priority countries, a program to build the
capacity of host country institutions and officials responsible
for water and sanitation in countries that receive assistance
under section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961,
including training at appropriate levels, to--
``(A) provide affordable, equitable, and
sustainable access to safe drinking water and
sanitation;
``(B) educate the populations of such countries
about the dangers of unsafe drinking water and lack of
proper sanitation; and
``(C) encourage behavior change to reduce
individuals' risk of disease from unsafe drinking water
and lack of proper sanitation and hygiene.
``(2) Expansion.--The Secretary and the Administrator may
establish the program described in this section in additional
countries if the receipt of such capacity building would be
beneficial for promoting access to safe drinking water and
sanitation, with due consideration given to good governance.
``(3) Capacity.--The Secretary and the Administrator--
``(A) should designate appropriate staff with
relevant expertise to carry out the strategy developed
under section 6; and
``(B) may utilize, as needed, interagency details
or partnerships with universities, civil society, and
the private sector to strengthen implementation
capacity.
``(b) Designation.--The United States Agency for International
Development Mission Director for each country receiving a `high
priority' designation under section 6(f) and for each region containing
a country receiving such designation shall report annually to Congress
on the status of--
``(1) designating safe drinking water and sanitation as a
strategic objective;
``(2) integrating the water strategy into a food security
strategy;
``(3) assigning an employee of the United States Agency for
International Development as in-country water and sanitation
manager to coordinate the in-country implementation of this Act
and section 135 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2152h) with host country officials at various levels of
government responsible for water and sanitation, the Department
of State, and other relevant United States Government agencies;
and
``(4) coordinating with the Development Credit Authority
and the Global Development Alliance to further the purposes of
this Act.''.
SEC. 8. OTHER ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.
In addition to the requirements of section 135(c) of the Foreign
Assistance Act (22 U.S.C. 2152h(c)) the Administrator should--
(1) foster global cooperation on research and technology
development, including regional partnerships among water
experts to address safe drinking water, sanitation, water
resource management, and other water-related issues;
(2) establish regional and cross-border cooperative
activities between scientists and specialists that work to
share technologies and best practices, mitigate shared water
challenges, foster international cooperation, and defuse cross-
border tensions;
(3) provide grants through the United States Agency for
International Development to foster the development,
dissemination, and increased and consistent use of low-cost and
sustainable technologies, such as household water treatment,
hand washing stations, and latrines, for providing safe
drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene that are suitable for
use in high priority countries, particularly in places with
limited resources and infrastructure;
(4) in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, Department of Agriculture, the Environmental
Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and other agencies, as appropriate, conduct
formative and operational research and monitor and evaluate the
effectiveness of programs that provide safe drinking water and
sanitation; and
(5) integrate efforts to promote safe drinking water,
sanitation and hygiene with existing foreign assistance
programs, as appropriate, including activities focused on food
security, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and child
health, food security, and nutritional support.
SEC. 9. MONITORING AND EVALUATION.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that--
(1) achieving United States foreign policy objectives
requires the consistent and systematic evaluation of the impact
of United States foreign assistance programs and analysis on
what programs work and why, when, and where they work;
(2) the design of assistance programs and projects should
include the collection of relevant baseline data required to
measure outcomes and impacts;
(3) the design of assistance programs and projects should
reflect the knowledge gained from evaluation and analysis;
(4) a culture and practice of high-quality evaluation
should be revitalized at agencies managing foreign assistance
programs, which requires that the concepts of evaluation and
analysis are used to inform policy and programmatic decisions,
including the training of aid professionals in evaluation
design and implementation;
(5) the effective and efficient use of funds cannot be
achieved without an understanding of how lessons learned are
applicable in various environments and under similar or
different conditions; and
(6) project evaluations should be used as sources of data
when running broader analyses of development outcomes and
impacts.
(b) Coordination and Integration.--To the extent possible, the
Administrator shall coordinate and integrate evaluation of United
States water programs with the learning, evaluation, and analysis
efforts of the United States Agency for International Development aimed
at measuring development impact.
SEC. 10. UPDATED REPORT REGARDING WATER FOR PEACE AND SECURITY.
Section 11(b) of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of
2005, as redesignated by section 7, is amended by adding at the end the
following: ``The report submitted under this subsection shall include
an assessment of current and likely future political tensions over
water sources and multidisciplinary assessment of the expected impacts
of changes to water supplies and agricultural productivity in 10, 25,
and 50 years.''.
SEC. 11. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY OF
UNITED STATES EFFORTS TO PROVIDE SAFE WATER AND
SANITATION FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
(a) Report Required.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States
shall submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a
report on the effectiveness and efficiency of United States efforts to
provide safe water and sanitation for developing countries.
(b) Elements.--In preparing the report required by subsection (a),
the Comptroller General shall, at a minimum--
(1) identify all programs (and respective Federal agencies)
in the Federal Government that perform the mission of providing
safe water and sanitation for developing countries, including
capacity-building, professional exchanges, and other related
programs;
(2) list the actual costs for the implementation,
operation, and support of the individual programs;
(3) assess the effectiveness of these programs in meeting
their goals;
(4) assess the efficiency of these programs compared to
each other and to programs to provide similar aid performed by
nongovernmental organizations and other governments, and
identify best practices from this assessment;
(5) identify and assess programs that are duplicative of
each other or of efforts by nongovernmental organizations and
other governments;
(6) assess whether appropriate oversight of these programs
is being conducted by Federal agencies, especially in the
programs in which Federal agencies are utilizing contractors
instead of government employees to perform this mission; and
(7) make such recommendations as the Comptroller General
considers appropriate.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1848)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1848-1850)
Committee on Foreign Relations. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
Committee on Foreign Relations. Reported by Senator Kerry without amendment. With written report No. 112-194.
Committee on Foreign Relations. Reported by Senator Kerry without amendment. With written report No. 112-194.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 481.
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