Humans rely on water, but the rapidly growing human population along with heightened urbanization and poor water management has led to a global water crisis. Increasingly limited water resources and severely limited access to safe drinking water worldwide highlights a global imperative to ensure universal and sustainable access to clean water. Current water services and policy efforts fail to integrate different aspects of providing sustainable quality water into a holistic solution, especially with regard to human health. To promote public health, it is necessary to preserve future water security and quality.

The Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine held a workshop on October 17-18, 2007, to stimulate efforts in the urgent issue and reversal of poor water quality, management, and policy. The workshop brought together representatives from various disciplines and countries to consider a better coordinated and more holistic approach to water services. Speakers highlighted the interdependence of public health and water services and integrated social, economic, health, technological, and political aspects into a sustainable interdisciplinary global solution. The workshop outlined needs to bridge the gap between research and community action and focused on challenges and potential solutions to ensure the future availability of quality water.