International standards for drinking water

Previously, two sets of international standards were used WHO European Standards for Drinking Water (last revised in 1970) and WHO International Standards for Drinking Water (last revised in 1971). Revision of these began in December 1978 and was completed in 1982. The revision formed a part of the International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade, which has the aim of providing a supply of safe drinking water for all by the year 1990. 

World Health Organization International Standards for Drinking Water, 3rd edn., Geneva, p. 37 (1971). 

Sayre JM. International standards for drinking water. J Am Water Works Assoc 1988 80 53-60. 

WHO, (2000) World Health Organization Guidelines and International Standards for Drinking-Water Quality. ACQWS paper No. 3. 

Sources Dabeka, R.W. et al., Food Add. Contain., 89, 1987. WHO, International Standards for Drinking Waters, 2nd ed.. World Health Organization, Geneva, 1963. Reilly, C., Metal Contamination of Food, 2nd ed., Elsevier Applied Science, London, 1991. 

WHO, International Standards for Drinking Waters, 2nd edn. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 1963. 

WHO International Standard for drinking water, 3rd edition, WHO, Geneva, (1971). 

Drinking water intended for human consumption is the most protected foodstuff worldwide and thus many national and international regulations have been introduced to assure a safe drinking water supply. In general, drinking water must be of a quality that under no circumstances would present a hazard to human health. In many countries, such as Germany, standards for water resources that may be used for drinking water production are specified [1]. 

There are very detailed standards for sampling drinking water and the national systems are based on the above-cited international standards. Control of water is carried from water taps (intended for human consumption), at the outlets of wells and reservoirs, and at the sites of filling packages and containers. Drinking water is also sampled at the input and output of water tanks and water treatment facilities, and in water mains and swimming pools. 

The Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality published by the World Health Organization (WHO) is the key international reference point for standard setting and drinking water safety. The WHO has developed a series of guidelines that present an assessment of the health risks associated with exposure to health hazards through water The information is essential to assist water suppliers to implement their own safe water acts. 

A proposal for a draft standard on the requirements for the internal cathodic protection of fuel tanks has been put forward by a working party entitled Internal cathodic protection of fuel tanks [18]. This contains the following information an electrolyte is produced by dissolving sodium bicarbonate in drinking water with a resistivity not greater than 2000 Q cm. The solution should completely cover the anodes in the tank. 

The ability to provide accurate and reliable data is central to the role of analytical chemists, not only in areas like the development and manufacture of drugs, food control or drinking water analysis, but also in the field of environmental chemistry, where there is an increasing need for certified laboratories (ISO 9000 standards). The quality of analytical data is a key factor in successfully identifying and monitoring contamination of environmental compartments. In this context, a large collection of methods applied to the routine analysis of prime environmental pollutants has been developed and validated, and adapted in nationally or internationally harmonised protocols (DIN, EPA). Information on method performance generally provides data on specificity, accuracy, precision (repeatability and reproducibility), limit of detection, sensitivity, applicability and practicability, as appropriate. 

Following a recent World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation to lower the permissible level of lead in drinking water from 50 pgl to 10 pgl, methodologies were required to detect a tenth of the new Hmit, i.e. 1 pgl Work was carried out at STL to introduce ICP-MS the Hmit of detection (LOD) is much lower by this technique than by furnace. Good results for Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn and Ag have been achieved by ICP-MS using the following three internal standards Sc (45), In (115) and Ir (193). This... 

Regulatory standards, or health-based guidance values, in this chapter denoted guidance values, for exposure to chemicals in various media such as air, drinking water, sod, and food are set by various international, federal, and national bodies. This chapter will give an overview of the development of guidance values in general terms and present some examples. 

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