Senators Leahy, Durbin, Bennett and Brownback and Representatives Obey, Lowey, Dicks, Culberson, and Jackson, Jr. all received awards based on their roles in dramatically increasing federal funding for safe drinking water and sanitation projects in the developing world. Over the course of the last year, the award recipients worked with other members of Congress to provide $300 million in federal funding to implement the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act. This Act, signed into law in December 2005, made addressing the global safe drinking water and sanitation challenge a priority of U.S. foreign policy.
PSI Senior Vice President Sally Cowal, with responsibility for maternal and child health activities, attended the reception on Capitol Hill. PSI advocates that the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act be fully funded and implemented according to the spirit of its framers – in countries most in need and for long-term development, not in emergency and disaster situations.
Worldwide, billions of people still lack safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, and related illnesses kill 4,500 children per day. PSI’s product portfolio includes oral rehydration salts to treat diarrheal dehydration, and point-of-use water treatments to prevent diarrhea and waterborne diseases.