At its 48th session of Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), the Committee noted the importance of water quality and safety in
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food production and processing. CCFH requested the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide guidance for those scenarios where the use of “clean water” (i.e. water that does not compromise the safety of the food in the context of its use) was indicated in Codex texts and on
where it is appropriate to use “clean water”. In particular, guidance was sought for the use of irrigation water and “clean” seawater and on the safe reuse of processing water.
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In order to maintain daily operations and patient care services, health care facilities need to develop an Emergency Water Supply Plan (EWSP) to prepare for, respond to,
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and recover from a total or partial interruption of the facilities’ normal water supply. Water supply interruption can be caused by several types of events such as natural disaster, a failure of the community water system, construction damage or even an act of terrorism.
The planning guide provides a four step process for the development of an EWSP:
1. Assemble the appropriate EWSP Team and the necessary background documents for your facility;
2. Understand your water usage by performing a water use audit;
3. Analyze your emergency water supply alternatives; and
4. Develop and exercise your EWSP
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During fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) production, water is used for a variety of purposes. Even the water was conventionally treated
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and disinfected, it may still potentially contain human pathogens, albeit at low concentrations. A risk assessment, appropriate to the national or local production context, should be conducted to assess the potential risks associated with a specific water source or supply in order to devise the appropriate risk mitigation strategies.
Since the 48th session of Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) noted the importance of water safety and quality in food production and processing, FAO and WHO has undertaken the work on this subject. This report describes the output of the third in a series of meetings, which examined appropriate and fit-for-purpose microbiological criteria for water used with fresh fruit and vegetables. The advice herein will support decision making when applying the concept of fit-for-purpose water for use in the pre- and post-harvest production of fresh fruit and vegetables.
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WaterAid is an international NGO that provides assistance for safe water supply,
sanitation and hygiene practice in the poor communities in the world.
The development of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in schools guidelines for TimorLeste is a landmark moment in our quest to make every school child-friendly – a place where every child can l
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earn, play and grow with pride and dignity. The overarching goal is to improve health, boost education achievement and promote gender equity in our schools.
The guidelines set clear levels of acceptable standards for water supply, provision of sanitation facilities and hygiene promotion in schools and provide a common framework and policy direction for all sub-sector actors. Therefore, all implementing agencies, managers, planners, architects, water and sanitation technicians, teaching staff, school directors, school boards, district WASH committees, local authorities and other relevant bodies should consult these guidelines, when making implementation plans.
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Long-term planning for an adequate and safe supply of drinking-water should be set in the context of growing external uncertainties arising from changes in the climate
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and environment. The water safety plan (WSP) process offers a systematic framework to manage these risks by considering the implications of climate variability and change.
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This document provides an overview of the evidence of nutrition gains that can be achieved with improved WASH, a description of key WASH practices, and practical knowledge and guidance on how to int
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egrate WASH into nutrition programmes, including important monitoring and evaluation (M&E) aspects. The document concludes by providing a suite of case-studies and lessons learnt in integrating WASH with nutrition efforts
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A companion to the Child Friendly Schools Manual
WASH in Schools aims to improve the health and learning performance of school-aged children – and, by extension, that of their families
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– by reducing the incidence of water and sanitation-related diseases. Every child friendly school requires appropriate WASH initiatives that keep the school environment clean and free of smells and inhibit the transmission of harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites.
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Children without access to safe water are more likely to die in infancy -- and throughout childhood -- from diseases caused by
water-borne bacteri
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a, to which their small bodies are more vulnerable.
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This paper explores access to water, sanitation, and health in pastoral communities in northern Tanzania. It argues that the concept of gender, used on its own, is not enough to understand the compl
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exities of sanitation, hygiene, water, and health. It explores pastoralists’ views and perspectives on what is ‘clean’, ‘safe’, and ‘healthy’, and their need to access water and create sanitary arrangements that work for them, given the absence of state provision of modern water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure. Although Tanzania is committed to enhancing its citizens’ access to WASH services, pastoral sanitation and hygiene tend to be overlooked and little attention is paid to complex ways in which access to ‘clean’ water and ‘adequate sanitation’ is structured in these communities. This paper offers an intersectional analysis of water and sanitation needs, showing how structural discrimination in the form of a lack of appropriate infrastructure, a range of sociocultural norms and values, and individual stratifiers interact to influence the sanitation and health needs of pastoralist men, women, boys, and girls.
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These guidelines deal specifically with water, sanitation and hygiene, and are designed to be used in schools in low-cost settings in low-
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and medium-resource countries to:
• assess prevailing situations and plan for required improvements;
• develop and reach essential safety standards as a first goal; and
• support the development and application of national policies.
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In many conflicts around the world, more children die from diseases linked to unsafe water than from direct violence. UNICEF is releasing Water Under Fire volume 3, a report that highlights the issu
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es children face in accessing water in times of war. The report demonstrates the humanitarian impact on children through case studies from Iraq, State of Palestine, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine. Attacks on water, sanitation services and staff must stop.
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Drinking-water quality regulations and standards developed or revised in accordance with this guidance will reflect the best practices identified in the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-
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water Quality to most effectively protect public health. Moreover, the regulations and standards will consider local needs, priorities and capacities to ensure that they are realistic and appropriate. Topics covered include:
- Guiding principles
- Getting started
- Selecting parameters and parameter limits
- Setting out compliance monitoring requirements
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Guidance has been updated on a number of chemicals: asbestos, bentazone, chromium, iodine, manganese, microcystins, nickel, silver, tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene. Guidance has also been added for chemicals not previously assessed in the Guid
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elines: anatoxin-a and analogues, cylindrospermopsins and saxitoxins. The new guidance on organotins has replaced the prior guidance focused on dialkyltins. With these updates, the guideline values for tetrachloroethene and trichloroethene have been revised while new guideline values for cylindrospermopsins, manganese, microcystins, and saxitoxins have been established .
Updated information on cyanobacteria has been included, introducing an alert level framework for early-warning and to guide short-term management responses. Guidance has also been updated in the sections on adequacy of water supply, climate change, emergencies, food production and processing, and radiological aspects, particularly on managing radionuclides when exceeding WHO screening values and guidance levels.
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