Introduction
Water for drinking comes from one or more of these sources. In order to satisfy the quality of the water being of acceptable standard, the World Health Organization (WHO), an agency of the United Nations Organization, has provided international Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality.
Diseases related to contamination of drinking water constitute a major burden on human health, the greatest majority of water-related health problems being the result of microbial contamination (bacteriological, viral, protozoan). In general terms the greatest microbial risks are associated with ingestion of water that is contaminated with human or animal feces. Feces can be a source of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and helminths.
In addition to fecally borne pathogens, other microbial hazards such as guinea worm, toxic cyanobacteria, and Legionella may also be important under specific circumstances.
The primary purpose of the Guidelines for Drinking-water Qualityis the protection...
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Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement is made to the World Health Organization (WHO) for permission to reproduce Table 1 from their Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, third ed.
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Herschy, R.W. (2012). Water Quality for Drinking: WHO Guidelines. In: Bengtsson, L., Herschy, R.W., Fairbridge, R.W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lakes and Reservoirs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4410-6_184
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