Water Supply

THE NEED FOR WATER TREATMENT

Water in sufficient quantity and good quality is essential for live. However, at the beginning of the year 2000 one sixth of the world's population, 1.1 billion people is without access to improved water supply and many more are without access to safe water (Unicef, 2000). The water quality in improved water supply systems often suffers from unreliable operation and lack of maintenance, or the water is subject to secondary contamination during collection, transport and storage.

The lack of access to good quality drinking water leads to a high risk for waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid fever, hepatitis A, amoebic and bacillary dysentery and other diarrhoeal diseases. Each year 4 billion cases of diarrhoea cause 2.2 million deaths, mostly among children under the age of five (WHO, 2000). This is equivalent to one child dying every 15 seconds, or 20 jumbo jets crashing every day.

Adequate water treatment methods and avoidance of secondary contamination of drinking water, combined with hygiene promotion, are required to prevent the population without access to safe drinking water from illness and death.

UNICEF (2000): Global Water supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report.
WHO (2000): The world health report: Making a difference. Geneva, World Health Organisation, 2000