On World Water Day, Secretary Clinton Notes Clean Water is “Essential” for Eradicating Hunger and Poverty

Nearly 700 million people will lack access to safe drinking water in 2015, an issue that is closely linked to the related challenges of food security and global health. Noting that water is “an essential ingredient of global peace, stability and security,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton marked World Water Day on March 22 with remarks at the Department of State in Washington, DC. She was joined by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a co-sponsor of the Water for the World Act, which aims to allocate sufficient U.S. resources to provide 100 million people with sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation within six years.

In her remarks, Clinton announced the new U.S. Water Partnership, a public-private collaborative effort to leverage American expertise in water issues to address global water challenges. The partnership will bring together more than 30 organizations across the private sector, civil society, academia, and government to find solutions to water security that can be brought to scale.

“Reliable access to water is essential for feeding the hungry, running the industries that promote jobs, generating the energy that fuels national growth, and certainly, it is central when we think about how climate change will affect future generations,” Clinton said. “We believe this [partnership] will help map our route to a more water-secure world, a world where no one dies from water-related diseases, where water does not impedesocial or economic development, and where no war is ever fought over water.”

Read the full transcript of Secretary Clinton’s remarks or download the new Feed the Future Fact Sheet on climate change (pdf).