U.S. Department of State

The U.S. Department of State, in coordination with partnering U.S. governmental agencies, is actively engaged and has made water a foreign policy priority. Our strategy is founded in the belief that U.S. investments in water and sanitation translate into investments in people, economic sustainability, as well as productive, safe living environments for everyone on the planet.

In FY2008, the United States committed about $1 billion worldwide for water and sanitation related activities in developing countries (excluding Iraq). The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) obligated $390 million and $429 million respectively for water and sanitation-related activities in more than 75 countries. In 2008, funding support to the Sub-Saharan Africa region nearly doubled over 2007 and now represents 43 percent of total USAID support—more than to any other region.

As a result of USAID investments in FY2008, more than 7.7 million people received improved access to safe drinking water, and nearly 6.3 million received improved access to sanitation. Of these, more than 4.6 million received first-time access to an improved drinking water source and more than 2.1 million to improved sanitation. USAID-sponsored activities to improve the quality of water at its point of use resulted in more than 7.4 billion liters of disinfected drinking water.

The United States is one of the largest bilateral donors to water supply and sanitation efforts in developing countries, accounting for ten percent of all official assistance to the water and sanitation sector in 2006–2007 (includes $1.5 billion allocated in 2007 for an Iraq water/sanitation project). The United States is also one of the largest donors to several multilateral development banks (e.g., the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank) and intergovernmental organizations (e.g., the UN agencies, the Global Environment Facility), which collectively provided nearly $5 billion for water- and sanitation-related activities in FY2008.

In December 2005, the U.S. Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act. The Act emphasizes the provision of affordable and equitable access to safe drinking water and sanitation in developing countries as a key component of U.S. foreign assistance programs. It requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with USAID and other U.S. Government agencies, to develop and implement a strategy “to provide affordable and equitable access to safe water and sanitation in developing countries” within the context of sound water resources management. It also requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the USAID Administrator, to submit an annual report to Congress describing changes in the U.S. strategy and progress in achieving the objectives of the Water for the Poor Act.

The Global Water Challenge – Key Facts

• By 2025, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population will be living under water-stressed conditions, including roughly two billion people who will face absolute water scarcity. Water scarcity and poor water quality will increase disease, undermine economic growth, limit food production, and become an increasing threat to peace and security.

• We need clean water for a healthy world. It is estimated that 1.5 million children die each year from diarrheal diseases, most often related to conditions of poor hygiene, sanitation, and water supply. There are additional deaths due to complications of malnutrition. Children cannot be adequately nourished if they suffer from chronic diarrhea.

• Access to safe drinking water and access to sanitation are important measures of a country’s commitment to meeting basic needs, and each dollar invested can return as much as $34, according to the World Health Organization.

• Women and girls are water collectors and are disproportionately impacted by the lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation. In some parts of the world, women and girls often spend several hours per day collecting water, foregoing other economic and education opportunities; girls often have to drop out of school because of the lack of adequate sanitation.

• Achieving sustainable increases in food production requires sound water management. Eighty percent of cropland worldwide is rain fed (96% in Africa). Seventy percent of the world’s freshwater goes to agriculture. Without proper soil management, watershed management, and integrated management of water supply and demand, sufficient clean water will not be available to meet the needs of people, agriculture and ecosystems.

• More than 2.6 billion people in developing countries acquire over 20% of their food protein from fish. In areas near lakes, rivers, estuaries, seas and oceans, the amount can be as high as 50% or more. Sufficient water quantity and quality are vital to the continued availability of fish for these people’s nutrition.

• More than 260 river basins, home to over 40% of the world’s population, are shared between two or more countries. Increasing demands and greater variability in rainfall will increase regional tensions over water.

• Perhaps the greatest impact of climate change will be on the hydrological cycle. Greater variability in rainfall will likely increase the number and severity of floods and droughts, and rising sea levels, storm surges, flood damage, and saltwater intrusion will threaten human lives and livelihoods both directly and indirectly through diminished freshwater supplies. More frequent and heavier precipitation events are likely to flush more pollutants into water systems, for reasons ranging from increased agricultural runoff to overloaded storm and wastewater systems.