6. Pure Water and Waste Treatment 



A major hazard to the health and well-being of most 

 people in developing countries is the horde of 

 infectious agents in their environment, most of which 

 reach them, directly or indirectly, via contaminated 

 water or because not enough water is available for 

 household and personal hygiene. More than half the 

 world's population has no reliable and safe water 

 supply; 7 to 80 percent has no sewage disposal. 

 Furthermore, women and children spend hours hauling 

 water from distant sources, using time that might 

 otherwise be spent on more productive activities. An 

 overall problem is the growing competition for scarce 

 water resources among many essential uses. 



Despite the availability of engineering capability 

 in developing countries and substantial international 

 interest, relatively little gain has been made in 

 providing adequate supplies of safe water to village 

 households or most metropolitan areas of developing 

 countries. More effective systems are needed for 

 assessing available water supplies, conserving their 

 use, and influencing their distribution and methods of 

 use. The selection of appropriate water system 

 technologies by developing countries — systems that can 

 be maintained and operated effectively with local 

 resources — would stretch scarce capital, allowing more 

 water systems to be constructed and successfully 

 operated. 



we recommend that the United states offer to expand 

 its bilateral programs and cooperate in international 

 programs to provide, at acceptable costs, adequate 

 quantities and quality of water for human use in rural 

 and urban areas. This could include: (1) expanded 

 assistance in development of methodologies for 

 identifying appropriate water and waste system 

 technologies and adapting them to local situations, 

 including technologies for industrial waste disposal; 

 and (2) collaboration for improvement of available 

 methodologies for water supply planning and management. 

 The latter could include research on how different 

 types of improvements in water and waste systems affect 

 health and economic development. 



Collaboration could also be offered in developing 

 comprehensive, long-range plans for integrated water 

 resource management, including: collecting data on 

 water availability and quality; forecasting demand in 

 different sectors; analyzing the adverse effects of 

 existing uses of water resources; developing techniques 

 for adjusting to variations in water supplies; and 

 evaluating the comparative costs and benefits of using 

 alternative or new technologies, including the 

 techniques of recovery and recycling. In support of 



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