Monitoring of progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) drinking water target relies on classification of water sources as "improved" or "unimproved" as an indicator for water safety. We adjust the current Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) estimate by accounting for microbial water quality and sanitary risk using the only-nationally representative water quality data currently availa...

The WHO suggests that humans require an absolute minimum of 7.5 L of water per day, while a minimum of about 20 L of water per person per day is recommended to ensure adequate hygienic standards. With a population of 7.5 billion, this works out to 150 billion litres of safe freshwater daily, globally. Much more than this is generally consumed in developed nations, while less than adequate amoun...

OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were to investigate the importance of commitment strength in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and to test whether behaviour change techniques (BCTs) aimed at increasing commitment strength indeed promote switching to arsenic-safe wells by changing commitment strength. DESIGN A cluster-randomized controlled trial with four arms was conducted to comp...

Cyclone Hudah struck the northeastern coast of Madagascar in the spring of 2000. Over a 5-month period, 11 700 relief kits consisting of bottles of water disinfectant and foldable jerry cans were distributed to the affected population. Five months after the cyclone, a survey was conducted in 12 villages to determine the impact of these relief kits on water quality. Seventy-six percent of the su...

BACKGROUND Access to safe drinking-water is a fundamental requirement for good health and is also a human right. Global access to safe drinking-water is monitored by WHO and UNICEF using as an indicator "use of an improved source," which does not account for water quality measurements. Our objectives were to determine whether water from "improved" sources is less likely to contain fecal contami...

BACKGROUND In arid and semi-arid countries there are often large areas where groundwater is brackish and where people have to obtain water from irrigation canals for all uses, including domestic ones. An alternative to drawing drinking water directly from irrigation canals or village water reservoirs is to use the water that has seeped from the irrigation canals and irrigated fields and that ha...

Ensuring reliable access to clean and affordable water is one of the greatest global challenges of this century. As the world's population increases, water pollution becomes more complex and difficult to remove, and global climate change threatens to exacerbate water scarcity in many areas, the magnitude of this challenge is rapidly increasing. Wastewater reuse is becoming a common necessity, e...

Since ancient times, Japan has been blessed with pure, fresh water. For this reason, Japanese people believe that city water is clean and safe and do not hesitate to drink it without boiling. Drinking fresh, unboiled water has been a part of the Japanese way of life. However, in recent years, pollution of river water and groundwater has increased in this country, making that water neither clean...