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/SanitationContribution of Water/Sanitation to Millennium Development Goalsto Millennium Development Goals

• • MDG 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger                       30% MDG 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger                       30%

• MDG 2 Achieve universal primary education                          30% • MDG 2 Achieve universal primary education                          30%

• MDG 3 Promote gender equality and empower women         20% • MDG 3 Promote gender equality and empower women         20%

• MDG 4 Reduce child mortality                                               30% • MDG 4 Reduce child mortality                                               30%

• MDG 5 Improve maternal health                                            45% • MDG 5 Improve maternal health                                            45%

• MDG 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases         25% • MDG 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases         25%

• MDG 7 Ensure environmental sustainability                          >50% • 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 bill-wide 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.