The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a program to work on water, sanitation and hygiene around the world.  Often in developing countries, many diseases are contracted from drinking contaminated water. Local populations often live in terrible conditions and finding water and having access to a source of water is a blessing to them even if they fail to notice that often that water is contaminated and will only worsen their condition.  In cooperation with the WHO, the World Sanitation and Health (WSH) has established a comprehensive guideline for drinking water quality that includes tips on safe storage and water treatment.

Drinking-water quality is an issue of concern for human health in developing and developed countries worldwide. The risks arise from infectious agents, toxic chemicals and radiological incidents. WHO has established international norms on water quality and human health in the form of guidelines that are used as the root for regulation and standard setting, in developing and developed countries worldwide.

Guidelines: The first and second editions of the Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality recognized the priority that should be given to ensuring microbial safety. Moreover, the first and second edition also contributed in presenting guideline values for a considerable number of chemical ventures.

The third edition of the Guidelines has been comprehensively updated to take into consideration the new developments in risk assessment and risk management. The updated version discusses the tasks and responsibilities of different key players, including national regulators, suppliers or independent “surveillance” agencies. Moreover, this third version presents a “Framework for Drinking-water Safety”.

“Developments in the third edition of the Guidelines include significantly expanded guidance on ensuring the microbial safety of drinking-water – in particular through comprehensive system-specific “water safety plans”. Information on many chemicals has been revised to account for new scientific information and information on chemicals not previously considered has been included. For the first time, reviews of many waterborne pathogens are provided. ” (source: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/en/).

New sections of this edition try to apply the guidelines to precise situations such as emergencies, natural disasters, packaged or bottled water, desalination systems, food production and finally, water safety on ships and airplanes.

The first and second editions, which update the third edition, have been integrated in this volume. The first addendum comprises more assistance on emergency management and additions concerning chlorination by-products and developing norms for dangerous substances. The second addendum includes more guidance on household water management, rainwater harvesting, vended water, temporary water supplies, and pesticides used for vector control in drinking water sources. This addition is key insofar as household management is fundamental to the survival of many villages and families in underdeveloped countries where a minimum amount of structure and guidance improve their living conditions.

It is worth considering that in many under-developed countries the local population has no education whatsoever and no access to Internet.  Therefore, the guidelines of WSH need to be applied and explained in simple and clear terms using the communication tools of the locals. While the training material online is useful and necessary for professionals that work in that field, there is the need to implement domestic local campaigns using the language of the locala in order to have a greater,  long term impact in order to create  more sustainable development.