WHO Water Quality Guidelines for Safer Drinking Water

IVL will provide expert support to the World Health Organization (WHO) in the revision of its Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality. The project will identify emerging chemical risks in water and evaluate analytical methods that can be used to ensure safe drinking water worldwide.

The WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality are used as a reference in many parts of the world and form the basis for national regulations, standards and recommendations in numerous countries. The guidelines are now being revised to reflect current knowledge of chemical contaminants and new approaches for monitoring water quality.

In this project, IVL will contribute expertise on emerging contaminants in surface water, groundwater and drinking water. The work will focus on substances such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides and other chemicals that are increasingly detected in water resources but are not covered by present guidelines.

The project will also evaluate analytical methods used to detect these substances. This includes established laboratory techniques as well as emerging technologies such as sensors, machine learning and AI-based tools for water quality monitoring.

A key objective is to assess whether the methods are reliable, practical and feasible to implement globally, including in low- and middle-income countries where access to advanced laboratory infrastructure may be limited. The results will provide scientific input to WHO’s revision of the drinking water guidelines and support efforts to ensure access to safe drinking water worldwide.

IVL leads the work on identifying relevant chemicals, evaluating analytical methods and assessing their applicability from a global perspective.