Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
“I don’t know, but I think it has something to do with a fellow named Paul Simon.” That was the response Senator Richard Durbin got when he asked a doctor in Port Au Prince, Haiti, about a recently built well. In this wonderful video message from Senator Richard Durbin, he explains why access to water, sanitation, and health (WASH) is an issue he is passionate about. 663 million people do not have access to clean, safe drinking water and 2.4 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation.
Senator Durbin’s mentor is also the former Senator Paul Simon of Illinois who played a hugely influential role in advocating for proper water and sanitation for all. In 1998, Simon wrote a book entitled Tapped Out and argued that the biggest challenge of the 21st century would most certainly be water.
Simon is right. Countries lacking clean water and sanitation are likely to have higher death rates from preventable diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia, and undernutrition.
As Durbin states, the work the US is doing to improve access to clean water and adequate sanitation is vital. The US Congress established WASH as a priority in foreign policy with the passage of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act in 2005. This legislation is making a difference in countries around the world, like in Port Au-Prince where the construction of wells, which cost less than $25,000 and provide clean drinking water for 10,000 people.
Congressman Ted Poe shares this sentiment and fully supports the US’s commitment to providing clean water for all.
“It is unacceptable that in the year 2015, women are still forced to walk miles to fetch water. Many times this water is from polluted rivers infected with waste, parasites, and other insects. Water is crucial to almost every type of development.”
Poe could not have said it better. Without access to clean water, development efforts such as schooling and access to vaccines will constantly be undermined.
Essentially, global development begins with clean water.
“Everybody, every family deserves access to clean water, no matter where they are in the world--and that’s just how it is.” states Congressman Poe.