Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014

Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2014 - (Sec. 2) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) water and sanitation are critically important resources that impact many aspects of human life, and (2) the United States should be a global leader in helping provide sustainable access to clean water and sanitation for the world's most vulnerable populations.

(Sec. 3) Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, to include the provision of safe hygiene among the goals of the program providing assistance for safe water and sanitation.

(Sec. 4) Directs the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), or the Administrator's designee, to serve concurrently as the USAID Global Water Coordinator, and to:

• oversee USAID water, sanitation, and hygiene programs;
• lead the implementation and revision, at least once every five years, of USAID's portion of the Global Water Strategy; and
• expand USAID's program capacity in high priority countries.

Directs the Secretary of State, or the Secretary's designee, to serve concurrently as the Department of State Special Advisor for Water Resources, and serve similar functions in the Department of State as the Global Water Coordinator does in USAID.

(Sec. 5) Directs the Administrator to ensure that USAID projects and programs are designed to achieve maximum impact and long-term sustainability by prioritizing countries based upon:

• the population using unimproved drinking water or sanitation sources;
• the number of children younger than five years of age who died from diarrheal disease; and
• the government's capacity and commitment to work with the United States to improve access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Directs the President to: (1) designate by October 1, 2015, at least 10 countries as high priority countries to be the primary recipients of U.S. government assistance under this Act during FY2016, and notify Congress of such designations; and (2) make new designations each year.

(Sec. 6) Directs the President, not later than October 1, 2017, and every five years thereafter, through the Secretary, the Administrator, and the heads of other federal departments and agencies, to submit a single government-wide Global Water Strategy to Congress that describes how the United States intends to:

• increase access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene in high priority countries;
• improve the management of water resources and watersheds in such countries; and
• work to prevent and resolve intra- and trans-boundary conflicts over water resources in such countries.

Requires: (1) the Global Water Strategy to include plans by USAID and the Department on how each entity carries out its responsibilities under this Act, and (2) the Administrator to develop for each high priority country a plan to increase access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov