Congressional resolution about the emerging challenges we are facing globally with water usage.
FW: Congressional Briefing-Water Rights Resolution
108TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION.
Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to the world's freshwater resources.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Ms. SCHAKOWSKY submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to the world's freshwater resources.
Whereas, freshwater is fundamental for life and a finite natural resource and belongs to the earth and all species for all time;
Whereas, available freshwater represents less than one-half of one-percent of the world's total water stock;
Whereas, global consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, more than twice the rate of human population growth;
Whereas, 31 countries currently face water shortages with another 17 likely to be added to this list by 2025;
Whereas more than one billion people lack adequate access to safe drinking water; 2.5 billion people have no access to proper sanitation and more than five million people, mostly children, die each year from water-related
diseases;
Whereas, unsustainable practices lead to depletion of aquifers, falling water tables, and ground and surface water pollution;
Whereas, indigenous peoples have had the waters on which they depend exceedingly polluted and exploited;
Whereas, current United Nations' Millennium Development Goals call for reducing by one-half the number of those without safe drinking water and sanitation by the year 2015; and
Whereas, the United Nations' Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has adopted the General Comment on the right to water, which
states that the human right to drinking water is fundamental for life and health, and sufficient and safe drinking water is a precondition for the
realization of all other human rights;
Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 1 concurring), That the Congress:
(1) affirms water as a public trust and global public good that should not be treated as a private commodity where this would limit or deny public access to freshwater resources;
(2) recognizes that government policies should ensure that all individuals have equitable access to a water lifeline to meet basic human needs and that no one is cut-off from water for survival due to economic constraints;
(3) upholds the principle that governments should engage all members of society, including local civil society organizations, citizens'
associations, environmental groups, indigenous peoples, farmers, women, workers and others, in direct and meaningful participation in overseeing
decisions about the conservation, distribution, use, and management of water in their communities, localities, and regions;
(4) asserts that water management priorities should reflect the goals of safeguarding and sus
taining water resources;
(5) recognizes that more sustainable agricultural practices are necessary to protect water resources and eco-systems;
(6) affirms that the United States Congress firmly commits itself to meet the Millennium Development Goals, especially as they pertain to universal access to water and sanitation;
(7) recommends that international, regional, and bilateral trade agreements, should exclude negotiations on services related to the provision of water for human use that would result in reduced access to water;
(
affirms that access to international loans and debt reduction programs should not be conditioned on implementing increased cost recovery policies when those policies result in significantly increased water rates or reduced
access to safe drinking water and sanitation;
(9) asserts that United States' Executive Directors of International Financial Institutions should not approve loans that require increased cost recovery, or water privatization or public/private partnerships that
would result in significant increases in consumer water fees that would restrict access to water;
(10) deems that federal and state funding not be conditioned on the consideration of public/private partnerships or other forms of
privatization; and
(11) asserts that in the United States Federal and State policies should ensure that direct and indirect sources of water pollution, including
factories, refineries, commercial agriculture, and wastewater treatment plants, are adequately regulated and those responsible held accountable
for the pollution they cause.
April 28, 2004 (1:46 PM)
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There are congresspeople co-sponsoring the resolution:
Representatives Raul Grijalva, Chris Bell, Marcy Kaptur, Robert Wexler, Pete Stark, Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich, Major Owens, and Rick
Renzi.
86 organizational sign-ons.
Rep. Schakowsky's office is committed to introducing the resolution this month.
Rep. Schakowsky's office will sponsor a Congressional Briefing on the Water is a Human Right Resolution. The tentative date is June 16th at 2:00 pm.
http://www.wateractivist.org>
>"Most of our populace and all of our leaders are participating in a mass hallucinatory fantasy in which the megatons of waste we dump in
>our rivers and bays are not poisoning the water, the hydrocarbons we pump into the air are not changing the climate, overfishing is not
>depleting the oceans, fossil fuels will never run out, wars that kill masses of civilians are an appropriate way to keep our hands on what's
>left, we are not desperately overdrawn at the environmental bank and really, the kids are all right."
>Excerpt from Barbara Kingsolver
>"The Good Farmer"
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