Background- Why are Water
and Sanitation Important
GLOBAL HEALTH
• 2.6 billion people live without access to adequate
sanitation.
• 1.1 billion people do not have safe water.
• Over 2.5 million people die each year from mostly
preventable water and sanitation-related diseases.
• 50% of hospital beds in the developing world are
filled with patients with waterborne diseases.
EDUCATION
• 50% of schools in the developing world do not have
access to a safe water source
• 75% of schools in the developing world do not have
sanitation facilities
• A child dies every 15 seconds from illnesses related
to unsafe water and inadequate sanitation
IMAGE COURTESY OF WEDC, JONATHAN ROUSE
IMAGE COURTESY OF GIL GARCETTI “WATER IS KEY”
DEVELOPMENT
Women in Africa spend 40 billion hours every year
collecting water.
“The failure to provide safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services to all people is
perhaps the greatest development failure of the 20th century.”
- Peter H Gleick, Pacific Institute
Contribution of Water/Sanitation
to Millennium Development Goals
• MDG 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
30%
• MDG 2 Achieve universal primary education
30%
• MDG 3 Promote gender equality and empower women
20%
• MDG 4 Reduce child mortality
30%
• MDG 5 Improve maternal health
45%
• MDG 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
25%
• MDG 7 Ensure environmental sustainability
>50%
WATER FOR THE POOR ACT
• Promotes increased access to safe water and
sanitation for vulnerable populations in
developing countries
• Elevates the safe drinking water and sanitation
crisis in developing countries to a priority of U.S.
foreign policy
• Requires the Department of State to submit to
Congress a “safe water and sanitation strategy,”
through an inter-agency consultative process and
must include “specific and measurable goals,
benchmarks, and timetables…”
• Requires annual progress reports to Congress
WFTPA HISTORY
• Senators Frist, Reid and McConnell, and
Representatives Blumenauer and Hyde supported the
WFTPA. Signed into law in Dec. 05
• This has been, continues to be, and must remain a
bipartisan issue.
• Congress appropriated $300 million for FY’08 with
strong statutory language – requires it be spent on
WFTPA priorities (e.g. not disasters and not Iraq)
• Supporters of FY’08 Appropriations included
Senators Leahy, Durbin, Bennett and Brownback, and
Representatives Obey, Lowey, Dicks, Culberson, and
Jackson, Jr.
Religious Working Group on Water Objectives for FY
2009 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill
• Increase Water for the Poor Act appropriations to
$500 million, repeating last year’s strong statutory
language.
• Of the appropriated amount, $250 million should
be appropriated from the Development Assistance
Account.
• The other $250 million should come from the billwide total of foreign operations appropriations,
which in FY08 was $34b
Additional RWG Objectives for FY 2009
• From the Development Assistance Account,
adequate appropriations should be made available
to establish a senior-level position at USAID to
assure effective implementation of the Water for
the Poor Act.
• Full funding of the President’s request for USAID
operating expenses, with strong report language
urging additional personnel at USAID missions
and bureaus able to implement the Water for the
Poor Act.