Water and Health
Safe water and sanitation are the primary drivers of public and environmental health and are human rights. Improving service levels to provide safely managed drinking water and sanitation, such as regulated piped water and a complete sanitation service chain, can dramatically improve public wellbeing.
Study areas
- Urban water management
- Sanitary engineering
- Hydraulic engineering
- Water law, policy and politics
- Water supply engineering
What will I learn?
This track engages with the direct and indirect linkages between water and health. You will learn how drinking water provision and sewered and non-sewered sanitation implementation are related to human health, urbanization, the environment, climate change, human behaviour and (protracted) crises. Depending on the disciplinary profile you choose, you will learn to evaluate, develop, design, and manage sanitation or drinking water provision, including treatment and re-use, transport and distribution, or learn more about the broader technological, socio-economic and public health issues, including management and governance.
Introduction to the track
The statistics are grim, yet huge progress has been made in improving health through clean water and sanitation provision.
Track set-up
Helped by your coach, you choose from three disciplinary profiles, allowing you to focus on a specific aspect of the track or to mix and match (also across tracks), to give you a broader view of the topic. The profiles are: Engineering, Governance and Management and Sanitation.
Is it right for me?
If you want to become a drinking water expert, or an expert in sewered and non-sewered sanitation, a hygiene or reuse expert, this track will be your springboard. Depending on the profile you choose, you can work for water and sewerage utilities, consultancy firms, water boards, drinking water companies, environment agencies, water inspectorates, humanitarian organizations, or government bodies.
Interested?
This is one of four thematic tracks you can pair with a disciplinary profile in the MSc Programme in Water and Sustainable Development. Want to know more about this programme and how you can shape it to your interests?