The issues surrounding water services are some of the most
critical challenges facing not only the United States, but also
the global community today. The Roundtable on Environmental
Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine of the Institute of
Medicine convened a workshop in October 2007, summarized in this
volume, to address objectives related to Sustainable Water,
Sanitation, and Hygiene Services. One of the objectives of the
workshop was to think about the interdependence of environmental
health and human health as connected through water.
Organizations cannot discuss water without considering the
interrelationship of sanitation and hygiene. It is the
convergence of these strategies that promotes healthy outcomes
for both individuals and the environment. A second objective of
the workshop was to consider how planning, management, and
interdisciplinary approaches-including technology, social
behavioral issues, gender, health, environment, economic, and
political aspects-can be integrated to arrive at sustain