[afro-nets] New Guidelines Aim to Keep Drinking Water Clean

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

New Guidelines Aim to Keep Drinking Water Clean
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From: "Vern Weitzel" <vern.weitzel@undp.org>

NEW GUIDELINES ISSUED BY UN HEALTH AGENCY AIM TO KEEP DRINKING
WATER CLEAN

New York, Sep 21 2004 8:00AM

New recommendations released today by the United Nations World
Health Organization (WHO) aim to ensure the safety of drinking
water supplies -- everything from what is piped into homes to
the rural wells provided to refugee camps in an emergency.

"This is an extremely important change in orientation from a
public health point of view," Dr. Kerstin Leitner, WHO Assistant
Director-General for Sustainable Development and Healthy Envi-
ronments, said of the new Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality.
"The revised Guidelines will allow public health management to
focus on prevention of microbial and chemical contamination of
water supplies."

Drinking water regulations traditionally have emphasized testing
water samples for levels of chemical and biological contami-
nants. Relying on this approach, WHO said, means that problems
are detected long after water is consumed -- a remedial rather
than preventive approach.

The new recommended approach for regulators and operators is to
manage drinking water quality in a holistic, systematic fashion
from source to tap, including by ensuring water reservoirs, or,
local wells are not at risk of contamination from human and ani-
mal waste, to checking basics like the regular changing of water
filters.

The guidelines also include new guidance on their application in
specific settings such as emergencies and disasters, as seen in
Darfur, Sudan, and refugee camps in neighbouring Chad, where a
hepatitis E outbreak is currently sweeping through camps for in-
ternally displaced persons (IDPs).

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

--
Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality

Third Edition, Volume 1: Recommendations, 515 pages
World Health Organization 2004, ISBN 92 4 154638 7
Download chapter by chapter as Adobe PDF files at:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq3/en/