Water

The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in August 2004 released a report, entitled “Meeting the Millennium Development Goals drinking water and sanitation target - A mid-term assessment of progress”. It reported that 1.1 billion people were still using unimproved sources of drinking water as of 2002, and almost two thirds of them live in Asia. While improvement in the sources of drinking water provides a good barometer for progress in the provision of safe drinking water, improved sources may still contain harmful substances such as arsenic and fluoride which are increasing found in groundwater in South and South-East Asia.  Moreover, water can be contaminated during transport and storage. It is vital not only to focus on improving the sources of drinking water but also ensure the quality of the improved sources of drinking water is not compromised.

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