The Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2009, was introduced in March by Senate Assistant Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Bob Corker (R-TN).

The bipartisan legislation would make water and sanitation important pillars of America’s development policy, with the target of providing 100 million people with first-time access to safe and sustainable drinking water and sanitation by 2015.

The Water for the World Act targets underdeveloped countries with focused initiatives to improve access to clean water and sanitation, fosters global cooperation on research and development, provides technical assistance and capacity-building, and provides seed money for the deployment of clean water and sanitation technologies.  The bill would elevate water as a U.S. foreign policy priority by creating an Office of Water within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and a Special Coordinator for International Water within the Department of State.

This act builds upon earlier landmark legislation, theSenator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, which represented the first time a Millennium Development Goal (to halve the percentage of people without access to safe water or sanitation by 2015), was written into American law.

The Water for the World Act was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 17th. With only five cosponsors, the bill isn’t receiving the attention needed for further congressional action. Ask your senators to cosponsor S. 624 now

-Rena Pacheco-Theard