Providing adequate sanitation of a standard which sufficiently protects human health and the environment, especially through the establishment, improvement and maintenance of collective systems.
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends modernizing drinking-water supply and sanitation.
The Global Applied Research Network in Water Supply and Sanitation was founded following consultations associated with the end of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade. The Network facilitates the sharing of relevant applied research information in water supply and sanitation on a global basis. Topic network coordinators (TNC) maintain and run their own networks of researchers in specified topic areas: Institutional development: willingness to pay, cost recovery and tariff structures; People and health: guinea worm eradication, health impact assessment, suspended solids removal; Water treatment: solar distillation and disinfection, iron removal, suspended solids removal; Pumping: hand pumps, solar water pumping; On-site sanitation: pit emptying, groundwater pollution, composting latrines; Wastewater treatment: pond treatment, anaerobic systems, wastewater reuse; Solid waste: collection, recycling.