Safe Drinking Water in the Twenty_First Century: Priorities For Public Health

Advances in water and wastewater treatment in the twentieth century have transformed public health worldwide. However, as a number of World Health Organization and American Academy of Microbiology expert reports have clearly shown, we are still a long way from guaranteeing safe drinking water even in the most developed nations. This chapter attempts to identify major knowledge gaps and summarize at least some of the priorities for the future provision of safe drinking water. Obviously, the major benefits to human health are through basic hygiene and sanitation practices — still much needed areas for public health intervention in many parts of the world. However, this chapter will emphasize more research-oriented needs and priorities. These include the need for a better understanding of biofilms and their control, improvements in risk assessment methodologies, the emergence of new disease, the balance between pathogens and disinfection-by-products, and the future promise of rapidly developing technologies.