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Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage Options in Developing Countries: A Review of Current Implementation Practices

This article summarizes five of the most common household water treatment and storage options including chlorination, filtration (biosand and ceramic), solar disinfection, combined filtration/chlorination, and combined flocculation/chlorination, and describes implementation strategies for each option. The authors identify implementing organizations and the successes, challenges, and obstacles they have encountered in their projects. They consider sources of funding and the potential to distribute and sustain each option on a large scale, and propose goals for future research and implementation. This article focuses on point-of-use drinking water treatment and safe storage options, which can accelerate the health gains associated with improved water until the longer-term goal of universal access to piped, treated water is achieved.