Safeguarding the world's water : 2010 report on USAID fiscal year 2009 water sector activities

The following report summarizes the fiscal year (FY) 2009 investments and programs of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in water and sanitation supply projects pursuant to the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 (Public Law [PL] 109–121). The funding figures it presents are based upon estimates of budget allocations and budget commitments reported by USAID operating units around the world through May 2010. Described are all USAID water management programs that help ensure “water security and sustainability with equity.” These programs address the following specific areas: 1) water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WSSH); 2) water resources management (WRM) and global climate change adaptation (CCA); 3) water productivity (WP) and food security (FS); and 4) water-related disaster risk reduction (DRR) from floods, storms, and droughts. The world faces enormous water challenges. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), nearly 900 million people do not use improved sources of drinking water, and nearly three times that many – 2.6 billion – do not use improved sanitation. Implicit in these two figures are a host of multidimensional water-related challenges to short- and long-term development progress, because without significant improvements in water and sanitation access, global development goals in child mortality, primary education, disease reduction, environmental sustainability, and poverty reduction will not be achieved. [authors abstract]