Safe water

Safe drinking water, also known as potable water, is defined as water that does not contain harmful or potentially harmful substances and does not present any risk to human health. Harmful substances can be in the form of micro-organisms or chemicals. As most potentially harmful substances are too small to see with the naked eye, completely clear water can still be unsafe even though it looks and tastes well.

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Palatable water is pleasant to drink, meaning it is completely clear and free from tastes, odours and colours. Turbidity (cloudiness due to a large number of very tiny particles), colour, taste and odour (smell) on the other hand, affect people’s perception of water. People may avoid water that doesn’t look, smell or taste good, even if it is safe.

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​​Water for human consumption must thus be both safe and palatable, i.e. free from pathogenic micro-organisms, chemical and physical contaminants and colour and odour. Water must also be within safe physical reach, in or near the house, school or health facility. It should be reasonably priced and affordable for everyone.

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Drinking contaminated water is a very important route of transmission for diseases. But these diseases may also be transmitted by eating contaminated food or by eating with contaminated hands. This means that the availability of an adequate quantity of safe water is just as important as the safety of the water itself. It also means that just having access to bottled water is not sufficient to tackle water scarcity. To really have an impact, communities need more safe water than just the total of the daily intake per individual. According to international guidelines, the absolute minimum quantity of safe water available to all people should 20 litres per person per day (UNDP, 2006).

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Filtraide supplies standardized water purification and filtration equipment to remove the most common contaminants from virtually any source and can also provide tailor made solutions to tackle specific issues according to your needs. 

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