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WASHINGTON, DC, June 29, 2005 — Household treatment to disinfect drinking water in developing countries was highlighted in the U.S. House of Representatives today as a promising and cost-efficient approach to alleviate the lack of access to clean water. One sixth of the world's population lacks access to safe drinking water and five million people die from water-related illness and disease every year. A hearing of the House International Relations Committee to examine the global water crisis, including the "Water for the Poor Act" introduced in April, highlighted the potential of household, "point-of-use," water purification products such as those marketed and distributed by PSI in 17 countries. To date PSI's safe water interventions have provided more than 20 billion liters of safe drinking water, averting an estimated 28 million cases of diarrhea and preventing more than 86,000 deaths. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-MN, called attention to the life-saving potential of PSI's safe water products and entered a summary of these interventions into the Congressional record. Similarly, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA advocated the use of such point-of-use solutions as simple and cost effective strategies. Since 1998, PSI has marketed a simple and inexpensive point-of-use solution developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, which as been shown to reduce the number of diarrhea episodes by 30%-50%. This dilute chlorine solution inactivates pathogens, such as E. coli, Vibrio cholerae and Shigella dysenteriae, and costs families less than a penny a day to provide clean drinking water for a family of six. The revenues are reinvested into the programs to cover some of the recurring costs. In 2003, PSI expanded its safe water portfolio to include PuR, another point-of-use product developed by Procter & Gamble, which uses a combined process of disinfection through calcium hypochlorite and flocculation via iron sulfate to remove parasites and heavy metals. After the devastating tsunami of December 2004, PSI mobilized enough PuR to provide almost one million survivors with clean water for 100 days. Both products are distributed through PSI's social marketing channels, which use existing commercial marketing infrastructures to get subsidized products to poor and vulnerable people in developing countries. Jacqueline Schafer, deputy assistant administrator of the U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture
and Trade, and John Turner, assistant secretary of state, Bureau of
Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, also
advocated point-of-use treatments in their testimonies, saying that
such approaches are quick and able to "save lives now." The
U.S. government has joined with numerous countries and organizations
such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF "to mobilize resources
and stimulate greater action around point-of-use and water safety plan
approaches." — Karrie Carnes, PSI/Washington
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