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The United Nations declared 2005-2015 the International Decade for Action “Water for Life”, setting a world agenda that focuses increased attention on water-related issues. This initiative is of extraordinary importance in a world where preventable diseases related to water and sanitation claim the lives of about 3.1 million people per year, most of them children less than 5 years old. Of these, about 1.6 million people die each year of diarrheal diseases associated with lack of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.

By including access to a safe drinking water supply and sanitation in these international goals, the world community proposes 97 million additional people annually will have access to drinking-water services and 138 million additional people access to sanitation services through 2015. Working within the spirit of these initiatives the World Health Organization and the World Plumbing Council developed the “Health Aspects of Plumbing” publication noting that sustainable health, especially for children, is not possible without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities.

"Clean water is not a luxury"

“Health Aspects of Plumbing” is a comprehensive and substantive examination of the design, installation and maintenance of effective plumbing systems. It recommends a number of plumbing system design and installation specifications that have demonstrated their validity over years of existence and discusses the microbiological, chemical, physical and financial risks associated with plumbing.

Published by the World Health Organization and the World Plumbing Council, the book is dedicated to the achievement of the best possible plumbing practices to ensure the highest health benefits from the use of sound plumbing practices. It is a tremendous resource for administrators and plumbers, especially those in countries or areas in the early stages of introducing effective plumbing systems.

The document is also available in Mandarin.

The publication is 129 pages with 10 figures, 15 tables and five case studies, including some of the following topics:

• Basic principles of safe drinking water supply
• The role of plumbers in risk assessment
• Codes of practice for plumbing
• Training and registration of plumbers
• Standards for materials used in plumbing systems
• Design of plumbing systems
• Storm water drainage
• Wastewater use

For more information visit worldplumbingday.org