Designer's Role in Healthy Water and Wellbeing
After this weeks’ lesson, I have come to realisation that the average person takes for granted access to clean water, sanitation services, and hygienic practices – myself included. I’m sure we’ve all heard about the Flint, Michigan water crisis or read stories of other sanitary crises across the world, but it seems as if it isn’t happening in your backyard, you aren’t likely to take a vested interest in it.
I believe this is one reason why future clients may
discount the implementation of WELL standards when pressed to take steps
towards positive change. These issues simply don’t affect them the way it does more
disadvantaged locations in the U.S. Another reason may be that the cost required
to implement WELL Standards is just not worth the ROI to them at the time.
In a TEDtalk called Solving the Sanitation Crisis, the speaker noted that 2.5 Billion people around the globe do not have access to toilets and basic hygiene. That’s a staggering number. Another fact he mentioned was that diarrhea is the 2nd leading killer of children under 5 years old. As a parent, that statistic is horrifying especially since it is a preventable disease with proper access to hygiene, sanitation facilities, and safe water. Sanitation is a key element in gaining health, wealth, and security in developing countries. It isn’t simply a hardware issue but a human issue that needs to be resolved. Organizations such as Toilet Hackers is working to solve some of these issues.
But what can designers do? Individual actions by designers can play a crucial role in making life healthier and safer in the built environment through advocacy and implementation of iniatives such as the WELL Building Standard.
Some of the WELL water standards include:
- Verify the quality of water for human contact through easy to test parameters
- Provide
access to drinking water that complies with health-based limits on
chemical composition
- Implement
protocols to reduce risk of water quality loss and Legionella colonization
- Provide
access to drinking water without unpleasant taste, odor, and appearance
- Maintain
and display consistent high quality of drinking water
- Promote
proper hydration through the consumption of drinking water over less
healthy alternatives by promoting access to drinking water of verified
quality
- Limit
the potential for bacteria and mold growth within buildings from water
infiltration, condensation, and internal leaks
- Ensure
availability of bathrooms and support hygienic hand washing and toilet use
practices for all individuals
- Conserve water through non-potable water systems without compromising the health of the building occupants
WELL aims to increase the rate of adequate hydration in building users and reduce health risks due to contaminated water and excessive moisture within buildings through better awareness and maintenance of water quality and management. Designers must be persistent with these standards to continue making the built environment a safer and healthier place for all who engage with it.
Bottom line – water is the life source for all humans and every human deserves to have access to safe, clean water and basic hygiene.
Sources
https://www.ted.com/talks/john_kluge_jr_solving_the_sanitation_crisis
https://v2.wellcertified.com/v/en/water
https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/pdf/global/programs/globaldiarrhea508c.pdf
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