Foreign Affairs Briefing & Hearing on the African Water Crisis
Subcommittee Chairman Donald Payne (NJ-10) gave opening remarks:
| Rep. Payne: "The subject of today's hearing is tasteless, odorless, and colorless. It is a naturally occurring compound, which we in the West often take for granted. Civilization flourished around it, yet it is a source of conflict and disease, and costs of many thousands of deaths each day. We're talking about water. More people died due to the lack of water globally than due to armed conflicts. Therefore, this is a global crisis." |
Cecilia Ugaz, an economist who works on institutional development, poverty alleviation and fiscal/redistributive issues with the United Nations gave testimony:
| Cecilia Ugaz: "Ladies and gentlemen, as we speak at the moment, 50% of the population in developing countries suffers from related illnesses that correspond to the lack of water and sanitation. As the Congressman said before, at the end of today 5,000 children will die because of diarrhea, which is one of the illnesses associated also to the lack of water and sanitation. This is indeed a global crisis, and actually the Human Development Report of 2006 is also a call for action." |
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) testified on the Water for the Poor Act, which was signed into law in 2005:
| Rep. Blumenauer: "I have not been led to expect that this [State Department] report will include the strategy that we put into law. Now I would suggest, respectfully, that when we pass a law, it's not an option or a recommendation, it's a requirement. It's unacceptable that the Administration continues to believe as if this committee and this Congress has no role in foreign assistance and to violate the law that we passed with such broad bipartisan support and with such broad expectation." |