IDEAS Insights Guide to public health and water | Page 3

Key problems with boiling as a water sanitation solution:
1. Sourcing a constant supply of fuel to boil water can be very difficult or
expensive.
2. Burning fossil fuels leads to higher rates of respiratory conditions, pollutes
nearby locales, and can be scarce after local infrastructure is damaged.
3. Boiling the water also does not prevent the massive expenditure of time in
sourcing the water.

Immediate sources of water exist within the home. It is safe to drink from water heaters,
melted ice cubes, or canned vegetables. Individuals should avoid drinking water from
swimming pools or spas. [1]
Response teams will often be overwhelmed by sudden growth, when national organisations
see their staff numbers and budgets increase tenfold or more overnight. Oxfam in Haiti
reported difficulties with securing supplies and resources for its initial ground-team:
"While the organisational infrastructure (equipment schedules, staffing lists, funding streams)
was being set up, Oxfam staff outside Haiti could do little more than offer moral support to
the team on the ground. These early days demonstrated the importance of having the right
staff and equipment in place in vulnerable areas before disaster strikes." [2]

Communities are hesitant about drinking trucked water (a key method to secure water
supplies).
In Haiti, this was largely because people had become used to purchasing water following a
successful pre-earthquake government campaign to create safe water awareness. The
survey revealed that people were continuing to buy water in small plastic bags or from
water kiosks, as they had done prior to the earthquake. While agencies initially hoped that
providing treated tankered water would have a significant health impact, the majority of
people used it only for washing and cooking, and did not drink it.