Most drinking water in the world should be considered unsafe unless it is treated properly and then protected from recontamination until use.  An estimated 3 billion people lack consistent household access to clean and safe piped water, with both developed and developing countries affected (Source: IFC, 2009).

In total, it is estimated that almost 900 million or one in eight people worldwide do not have access to an “improved source” of drinking water (defined as household connection, public standpipe, borehole, protected dug well, protected spring, rainwater). Millions of those whose supplies meet the definition of “improved” still rely on water that is unsafe for consumption, as the term “improved” refers only to the type of supply, not the quality of that supply (Source: WHO/UNICEF, 2005)

Unsafe drinking water is a main cause of the estimated 4 billion cases of diarrhoea each year, which kills 2.2 million people annually, including 17% of children under 5 years of age in developing countries (Source: WHO, 2008a).  At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-related disease. (Source: UNDP, 2006). Specifically, sick children miss nearly 300 million school days a year from water-related causes and an estimated 320 million productive work days are lost to illness resulting from unsafe drinking water and lack of access to sanitation (Source: CSIS, 2009).