Dr. Monteiro inspects turbidity levels at water treatment
facility in
Linden, Guyana. (Jan. 2007 Richard Davis)
Access to safe water and sanitation is among the most important determinants of public health. An estimated 1.8 million people in the developing world die each year due to lack of access to improved water sources and sanitation. Another billion suffer illness. The benefits of assuring access to a safe water supply, sanitation and hygiene education include: the reduction in mortality and morbidity - 65% and 26%, respectively; poverty reduction; socio-economic development; and social equity. Improvements in water and sanitation are also cost-beneficial, returning US$5 to US$28 in developing regions for every dollar invested.
Water PLUS/ Agua y MÁS is a community-based approach for assessing water, sanitation, and hygiene issues and implementing community-determined solutions. CDC works with partners to implement the World Health Organization’s Water Safety Plan methodology. A Water Safety Plan relies on environment and health sector collaboration to identify, assess, monitor, and manage risks inherent in a water delivery system from “catchment to consumer.” The key components include supply system assessment, effective operational monitoring, and management. CDC builds upon the Water Safety plan by empowering communities to assess, prioritize, and resolve their water and sanitation issues; helping them build the skills for maintaining and sustaining improved systems, and strengthening infrastructure necessary to support and monitor improvements.
Water PLUS/Agua y MÁS focuses on communities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), where CDC has experience and strong partnerships. Approximately 60 million inhabitants of LAC lacked access to safe water and 136 million lacked sanitation services in 2002. In LAC countries with high adult and child mortality—Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Peru—an annual investment of US$ 1 in water and sanitation yields a tenfold benefit.
Ministries of Health and Environment, WHO, PAHO, EPA, U.S. Department of State, The Coca-Cola Company, CARE, Emory University, NOAA, USGS, the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI), the Andean Health Organization (AHO), the Community of Andean Nations (CAN), World Bank, IDB, and local NGO’s.
Currently, CDC, using Global Disease Detection (GDD) Innovative funds is piloting 4 Water Safety Plan projects that aim to demonstrate a health impact by assessing the vulnerability of a community’s water supply/system and measuring the potential and realized improvement in health of the consumer after implementation of the Water Safety Plan recommendations.
View the WaterPLUS/Agua y Mas Fact Sheet in PDF format [PDF, 208 KB]