2008 - Clean Water: Essential for life!
What is 'sanitation'?
"'Sanitation' means different things to different people, but its definition has to include 'the safe management of human excreta', usually by means of a toilet that confines faeces until they are composted and safe, or enables them to be flushed away into a sewer. In its fullest sense, sanitation also includes environmental cleanliness; handwashing; garbage removal and wastewater disposal.
" (UN International Year of Sanitation, 2008)
Sanitation is the hygienic means of preventing human contact from the hazards of wastes to promote health. To maintain health and prevent diseases, we need to observe good hygiene practices and water management. Good hygiene practices reduce the spread of disease, for example, washing food before it is cooked and washing your hands after going to the toilet.
On a more complex level, water management is essential to our health and the spread of diseases. Water management is not a simple idea. It involves the proper treatment and disposal of used household water (also known as grey water) and waste water that comes from sewage treatment plants. It is also about having drains to channel storm water.
The water industry in Australia does an amazing job providing clean and healthy water through proper treatment! We have tap water that's safe for drinking, meeting strict health and safety standards, and very low cost. In fact bottled water costs around $1.60 per litre, which is more than water Australians pay for over 1,000 litres of domestic tap water!
In Australia, most people have access to a flush toilet in their home. Water for bathing, laundry and all domestic use is piped into the household, and once sullied, piped out again. At the touch of a handle, human wastes are removed into a sewer or septic tank.
- Learn all about Water in Australia
- Learn about WaterAid Australia, a charity dedicated to overcome poverty by enabling the world's poorest people to gain access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education.
- Visit the UN International Year of Sanitation website.