Water and health adaptation strategies: Overview and outlook

Although much progress has been made toward the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which have sought to reduce global poverty, the lack of access to clean water and improved sanitation, the desired MDG outcomes remain distant goals. Climate change and altered precipitation patterns, increasing population pressures resulting in growing consumption and demand for both industry and agriculture, and pollution of water sources, will place additional stresses on water quality and supply and further jeopardize attainment of MDGs. The following discussion highlights some of the issues and constraints to achieving safe water and sanitation by noting the complexity of the issue(s). It then briefly considers options for overcoming this complexity.