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Water, Drinking Water, and Water Protection
The WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on Drinking-water Hygiene at the Federal Environment Agency
Last changed:
16/12/11
The Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt – UBA) is a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre devoted to drinking-water hygiene.
WHO Collaborating Centres are national institutions, e.g. public authorities or research institutes that support the WHO with expertise and staff in the implementation of programmes of global or regional interest. The centres are also collection points mirroring internationally recognised public health issues and developments to national discussion forums. There are at present 29 WHO Collaborating Centres in Germany involved in a broad range of health issues.
At present focal areas are:
1. Normative work:
- Involvement in the rolling revision of WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, the international point of reference in the arena of drinking-water hygiene and regulation
- Co-ordination of various aspects related to the protection of drinking-water resources and knowledge- and capacity building regarding the Water-Safety-Plan-(WSP)-concept in the WHO Drinking water Quality Committee
- Functional representation of Germany in implementation of the WHO-UNECE Protocol on Water and Health, jointly coordinated by the secretariats of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and WHO/EURO, and lead of the activity on small water supply and sanitation systems (see also publication “Small-scale water supplies in the pan-European region”)
2. Scientific work:
- Scientific co-ordination of WHO professional monographs on protection of drinking-water resources (see Protecting Groundwater for Health, Toxic Cyanobacteria in Water), and on Water Safety in Buildings (“Water Safety in Buildings”)
- Conducting research projects on current issues of drinking-water hygiene, e.g. pilot projects to investigate the applicability and added value of the Water Safety Plan approach, proposed in the WHO Guidelines, in small scale water supplies and in buildings in Germany
3. International co-operation:
- Advisory and scientific-technical support of public authorities in charge of water and public health in lesser developed countries, e.g. Georgia, Jordan, Iran, North Korea, Oman, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan
- Collaboration in the strategic reorientation of the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP), coordinated by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
4. Organisation and Hosting of WHO meetings
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