Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene January - February 2016 vol.11 no.1 | Page 34

Water & Health

About the Protocol on Water and Health
Nowadays, most
Europeans take
clean drinking water
for granted. Yet, in
the pan-European
region alone, about
19 million people
still do not have
access to improved
water sources and 67
million people lack access to improved sanitation facilities.
About 100 million people do not have access to sanitation
facilities at home, which makes them vulnerable to waterrelated diseases, such as cholera, bacillary dysentery, coli
infections, viral hepatitis A and typhoid. Cleaner water
and better sanitation could prevent up to 30 million cases
of water-related disease each year in the region. The 1999
Protocol on Water and Health was negotiated with this in
mind.
The main aim of the Protocol is to protect human health
and well-being by better water management, including
the protection of water ecosystems, and by preventing,
controlling and reducing water-related diseases. The
Protocol is the first international agreement of its kind
adopted specifically to attain an adequate supply of safe
drinking water and adequate sanitation for everyone, and
effectively protect water used as a source of drinking
water.
To meet these goals, its Parties are required to establish
national and local targets for the quality of drinking
water and the quality of discharges, as well as for the
performance of water supply and waste-water treatment.
They are also required to reduce outbreaks and the
incidence of water-related diseases.
This Protocol introduces a social component into
cooperation on water management. Water resources
management should link social and economic development
to the protection of natural ecosystems. Moreover,
improving the water supply and sanitation is fundamental
in breaking the vicious cycle of poverty.

Drinking Too Much Water Can Be Deadly
New Guidelines on Healthy Water Consumption Warns Against
the Wrong Amount

Drinking enough
water is essential for
the human body to
function, but drinking
too much can be
just as dangerous as
drinking too little. A
panel of 17 experts
32

Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • January - February 2016

from around the world collaboratively wrote guidelines
outlining the safest way to drink water without going
overboard. The new guidelines were accompanied by
warnings, published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine,
and announced at the International Exercise-Associat Y