Resources / Marketing Safe Water Systems. Why it is so hard to get safe water to the poor – and so profitable to sell it to the rich

Summary

This publication provides an overview of POUs and provides inputs and suggestions for bringing POUs to a higher level of dissemination. Facing the dichotomy of the rate of deaths due to diarrhoeal diseases versus the booming growth rate of the bottled water market, this paper aims to consider how POUs can be an effective solution. Previously, much of the effort has been concentrated on setting up piped water systems, emphasizing water availability over water quality. POUs have been shown to have a significant health impact and reduce the incidence of diarrhoeal disease by more than 50%, thus reducing child mortality considerably.