Water Associates and National Geographic Partnership

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Background- Why are Water and Sanitation Important
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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.

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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

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IMAGE COURTESY OF WEDC, JONATHAN ROUSE
IMAGE COURTESY OF GIL GARCETTI WATER IS KEY
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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

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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                      
    gt50
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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

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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 FY08 with
  strong statutory language requires it be spent
  on WFTPA priorities (e.g. not disasters and not
  Iraq)
• Supporters of FY08 Appropriations included
  Senators Leahy, Durbin, Bennett and Brownback,
  and Representatives Obey, Lowey, Dicks,
  Culberson, and Jackson, Jr.

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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 years 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

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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 Presidents 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.

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