WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality, third edition

From WHO: The primary purpose of the Guidelines for drinking-water quality is the protection of public health. The first and second editions were used by developing and developed countries worldwide as the basis for regulation and standard setting to ensure the safety of drinking-water. They recognised the priority that should be given to ensuring microbial safety and provided guideline values for a large number of chemical hazards.

This edition of the Guidelines has been comprehensively updated to take account of developments in risk assessment and risk management since the second edition. It describes a "Framework for Drinking-water Safety" and discusses the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, including the complementary roles of national regulators, suppliers, communities and independent "surveillance" agencies.

These 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.

Recognising the need for different tools and approaches in supporting large and community supplies, this edition continues to describe the principal characteristics of the approaches to each. New sections deal with the application of the Guidelines to specific circumstances, such as emergencies and disasters, large buildings, packaged/bottled water, travellers, desalination systems, food production and processing and water safety on ships and in aviation.

The Guidelines are addressed primarily to water and health regulators, policymakers and their advisors, to assist in the development of national standards. The Guidelines and associated documents are also used by many others as a source of information on water quality and health and on effective management approaches.

• Resource link:
  http://www.who.int/ water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq3/en/
• Published: 2004
• Source: World Health Organization: Water, Sanitation and Health (WSH) (http://www.who.int/ water_sanitation_health/en/)
• Added to ADG on: 06 October 2004 , contributed by: Simon Buckley
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