Research Programme

The objective of the Drinking Water Quality and Health Evidence programme is to provide the science base for policy on drinking water quality encompassing both health and consumer acceptability issues. The provision of an adequate supply of water that is safe to drink is a fundamental human requirement. The supply should also be aesthetically acceptable to consumers. This is inline with DWI’s Vision and Strategic Objectives for 2020-2025 which addresses long term future challenges to maintain and improve water quality and sufficiency in England and Wales.

The adequacy of current levels of health protection is under continuous review and the decisions of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which sets global drinking water quality and health guideline values, are an important element. Future regulatory proposals may arise for chemical, microbiological and aesthetic parameters and so DWI must keep abreast of all these areas.

The programme as a whole, includes work to support the approval process for chemical and products in contact with drinking water and projects aimed at better understanding the best practice in drinking in water regulation, and also assesses risks to health in relation to emerging issues,and rapid methods of analysis to be deployed in the event of a threat to drinking water quality.

Current Research

Information on our part of our research programme, giving the description, objectives, contractors and costings can be found on the Defra science and research project database: under the theme Drinking Water Quality and Health. Please search for both project codes “WT12” and “WT22” via the search engine to view all of our projects.