In developed countries, families can turn on the tap and fill a glass with clean, safe drinking water.
It’s safe because a treatment facility has removed contaminants, debris, and disease-causing microorganisms, and because a sealed network of pipes has delivered it to the home.
Some households go a step further, using Point-of-Use treatment devices to filter out trace elements or improve taste. These are installed at the location where water is consumed—such as a kitchen sink or filtered water pitcher.
In these homes, point-of-use (POU) treatment represents a health-conscious upgrade to already treated water—not a necessity.
In the developing world, POU treatment isn’t a convenience, it can be a lifeline. A glass of untreated water can carry parasites, bacteria, and viruses that lead to sickness, lost income, missed school, and, in the worst cases, death.
Globally, over 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water. There are no municipal treatment plants, no piped water networks, and no indoor plumbing.
Families get their water from untreated community sources—boreholes, open wells, rivers, lakes or collected rainwater—and fend for themselves against a daily threat of waterborne disease.
POU solutions at the household level, such as purchasing bottled water, boiling, filtering, or chemically treating water would ensure the safety of water.
But in low-income countries, many families lack the resources. Bottled water is far too expensive. Boiling requires time, labor, and a supply of firewood or fuel. Filters or chemical treatment requires specialized equipment, know-how and careful management.
Central to our Safe Water Initiative, BWF offers a simple, immediate, and cost-effective POU method that’s easy for any family to use.
As taught by BWF’s Safe Water Educators (SWEs), it includes two key components:
Chlorine Tablets
Used around the world to disinfect drinking water, chlorine is both safe and effective.
SWEs teach families to disinfect their water with simple chlorine tablets every time they add water to their dedicated container. Just one tablet purifies 20 liters of untreated water.
A Dedicated Drinking Water Container
While untreated household water can be used for bathing, clothes washing, and cleaning, a separate, smaller container holds treated water dedicated for drinking and food preparation.
The process:
This method is highly affordable—the cost of treating water with purification tablets is just 3% the cost of bottled water.
To make tablets more accessible, SWEs supply them more conveniently and at lower prices than pharmacies.
Where centralized water treatment is absent or unreliable, POU water purification is the way forward for families. It’s their first and often only line of defense against waterborne disease.
Beyond health benefits, it fosters peace of mind, self-reliance, dignity, and a sense of control over daily life.
Let’s help more families become Point-of-Use Safe Water Families.