HOUSEHOLD WATER TREATMENT AND SAFE STORAGE

"Every year there are 1.6 million diarrhoeal deaths related to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene—the vast majority among children under 5. More than one billion people lack access to an improved water source.

Numerous studies have clearly shown that improving the microbiological quality of household water by on-site or point-of-use treatment and safe storage in improved vessels reduces diarrhea and other waterborne diseases in communities and households of developing as well as developed countries.

Household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) interventions can lead to dramatic improvements in drinking water quality and reductions in diarrhoeal disease making an immediate difference to the lives of those who rely on water from polluted rivers, lakes and, in some cases, unsafe wells or piped water supplies.The most promising and accessible of the technologies for household water treatment are filtration with ceramic filters, chlorination with storage in an improved vessel, solar disinfection in clear bottles by the combined action of UV radiation and heat, thermal disinfection (pasteurization) in opaque vessels with sunlight from solar cookers or reflectors and combination systems employing chemical coagulation-flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and chlorination. All of these systems have been shown to dramatically improve the microbiological quality of water".[WHO]

http://www.who.int/household_water/en/