Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Choose a WASH reference for one planning question, record the setting and source, and identify the local technical, public-health and community checks still needed.

Editorial Status: draft
Sector: WASH
Source Review: 2026-10-26
Corrections: by email
Subsectors: Drinking water supply, Sanitation, Hygiene promotion, Water resource management, WASH in schools and health facilities

Editorial status: draft. Availability to read this page does not change its editorial status or establish external validation. The review scope and unverified items are stated on this page. A review date does not establish clinical, legal, security or field suitability. Check the publisher's current material and the requirements for your task.

Start With One WASH Planning Question

State the setting, population and decision before choosing a standard or technical resource. Examples include: "Which reference should frame a discussion about drinking-water risk?" or "Which coordination source can help us locate the current humanitarian WASH mechanism?"

Publisher starting points were checked on October 26, 2026. The Global WASH Cluster description was checked through its official-domain search listing because the page could not be retrieved directly. They do not confirm that water is safe, that a sanitation design is appropriate or that a local coordination platform is active.

Compare Starting Points

Need	Publisher Starting Point	What the Current Page Offers	Check Before Use
Frame drinking-water quality risk management	WHO Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality	The fourth edition incorporating the first, second and third addenda, dated June 17, 2026	Confirm local regulation, source conditions, sampling and laboratory roles, and the relevant chapter
Locate humanitarian WASH coordination support	Global WASH Cluster	Coordination, operational support, learning and knowledge resources	Confirm the active country or subnational platform, current contacts and local authority
Explore hygiene program themes	UNICEF Hygiene	Program information on handwashing, safe water handling, sanitation-related behavior and menstrual hygiene	Use local formative information, inclusion checks and public-health guidance rather than copying a global message
Locate humanitarian WASH standards	Sphere Handbook	The 2018 handbook, online reading and revision information	Check the current edition, WASH chapter, local standards and responsible technical lead

Keep a WASH Reference Note

Field	What to Record
Planning question	The service, behavior, coordination or risk issue
Setting and population	Place, facility or community, affected groups and date
Selected reference	Publisher, exact title, URL, edition or date and section read
What it supports	One narrow point from the source
Local evidence	Water-source, service, behavior, access, inclusion or public-health information still needed
Technical check	Engineer, public-health, laboratory, authority or coordination role to consult
Decision limit	What the reference cannot decide on its own
Recheck trigger	New test result, outbreak, service failure, population movement, regulation or revised guidance

Fictional Example

The fictional Riverbend Relief Network is preparing a meeting about a small water system after flooding. The coordinator selects the WHO drinking-water guidelines page and records the current edition shown there. The note says the guidance frames risk management but does not show whether the system's water is safe. The local water authority and a qualified public-health or water-quality role must decide what inspection, sampling and laboratory work is appropriate. The team records no household names and makes no safety announcement from the global reference alone.

Limits and Handoffs

This page does not provide a diagnosis, water-safety determination, engineering design or outbreak instruction.
Global standards do not replace local regulation, public-health authority or qualified technical work.
A landing page does not grant reuse rights for every linked document, figure or tool.
Community access, disability inclusion, gender, protection and maintenance responsibilities need context-specific review.

What Changed in This Draft

Version 0.6 replaces the old catalog with a WASH planning note and a fictional water-system example. It removes the dedicated evaluation collection and does not imply local safety, technical approval, active coordination or unrestricted reuse.