Household Water Treatment and Storage

Simple, low-cost interventions at the household level can significantly improve the microbial quality of stored water and reduce the risks of diarrheal disease and death from water-borne diseases. Studies have found that household level water treatment and safe storage can reduce diarrheal disease morbidity by 25 to 50 percent or more. Research shows that water can become contaminated during transportation to the household, during storage in the home for those households without indoor connections, and that water can also become contaminated in piped distribution systems. Treating water and storing it safely in the household at the point-of-use is a way to prevent consumption of pathogens that may be in the drinking water from any of these sources of contamination. Several methods and technologies are available for treating water in the home including: chlorination, solar disinfection, boiling, filtration, and combined coagulation/flocculation and disinfection.