ABSTRACT
From mega-cites to tiny hamlets, those responsible for providing drinking water in countries around the world are challenged to collect, treat and distribute safe water efficiently and effectively. Treatment systems are a critical component in most efforts to ensure safe drinking water. However, increasingly it is recognized that treatment systems alone cannot guarantee safe drinking water. Thus, the multi-barrier approach to drinking water safety has become an international norm (Davison et al., 2005). In the multi-barrier approach, attention focuses not only on the treatment system, but also on the safety of the networks of pipes and pumps that distribute treated water to consumers, the effectiveness of monitoring regimes that ensure water safety at all points, and the quality of the water sources that supply the system (Islam et al., 2011). Protection of source water quality is considered to be the first line of defence in the multi-barrier approach (Hrudey et al., 2003).
