Water is a valuable commodity and is necessary for human life. Many systems that were put in place for delivering safe and adequate supplies of drinking water have been in existence for more than 100 years. In addition, the population bases where water systems were established have shifted from sparsely populated rural areas to more densely populated urban areas. Today, there are several increased demands on water supplies, including increased population growth, increased growth in the number of households, industrial and agriculture use, and limits to access due to armed conflicts and other problems.
Meeting the need for water services requires input from multiple stakeholders. Drinking water availability will continue to be intertwined with hygiene and sanitation in such ways that planning for future water services will require an integrated approach. Further, the increased pressure from various sources means that water services must be considered from the perspective of sustainability. This view emphasizes water services that rely on a combination of the pillars of environment, social and cultural factors, and technology.
A Roundtable workshop held in 2003 focused on protecting source water as an opportunity to provide drinking water. This workshop built on the previous workshop, but used a definition of sustainability to identify and address research gaps and barriers for the provision of safe drinking water for public health in developing and developed countries. By discussing lessons learned from success stories, the information gained can be integrated into cross-disciplinary approaches that embrace the pillars of sustainability. Technological solutions to water delivery can then be implemented globally, with appropriate adaptations respective socio-cultural and economic settings.
The Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine was established to provide a mechanism for parties interested in environmental health from the academic, industrial, and federal research perspectives to meet and discuss sensitive and difficult environmental health issues of mutual interest in a neutral setting. The purpose is to foster dialogue, but not to provide recommendations. The Roundtable is sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH; National Center for Environmental Health, CDC; Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, CDC; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, CDC; National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, EPA; National Center for Environmental Research, EPA; Exxon-Mobil Corporation; American Chemistry Council, Institute for Public Health and Water Research, and Arch Chemical Company.