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Concern
about the quantity and quality of clean drinking water has
been a constant for people, individuals and groups, for thousands
of years. The volume of information currently available is
massive and continues to expand. Scientific, technical and
public education materials have proliferated dramatically
in recent decades. Retrieval and identification of documents
relevant to any particular question and the determination
of the universe of available data and information is an emergent
challenge.
The Institute
for Public Health and Water Research has, therefore, established
a Water Issues library to serve as a frontline education
and information resource for searching for web based materials
on drinking water and human health. The goal of the Water
Issues library is to:
- help
those searching for information on water and health to
understand the amount and types of available information,
- serve
as an entrée point for web based information on
water and health,
- assist
in establishing the boundaries of available material,
- provide
examples and links to aid in defining searches.
The primary
focus of the Water Issues library is information on drinking
water and human health outcomes. Therefore, a number of important
areas of research on water are not included in this online
library or receive minimal attention. Examples include most
agricultural uses of water, irrigation, wetlands recovery
and wildlife concerns, climate change, swimming pools and
recreational uses, and water policy and law.
The Water
Issues library is not designed to be, nor does it intend
to become, a "master catalogue" of available information.
It will assist in understanding the types and extent of web
based information available for searching and will provide
examples to help in refining and focusing electronic searches.
Additionally, it will help the user by leading to contact
information for organizations and people who may assist in
securing the information the user requires.
The information
within the Water Issues library undergoes continuous updating
as new sites and organizations are added. Inclusion of any
website in the IPWR Water Issues library does not imply endorsement
of the organization or vouch for the validity of the content
of the website. This is a listing of types of information
and organizations that can be found on the internet. The
user must decide if the information is useful for his/her
purposes.
The descriptive
paragraph about each link has been edited from or directly
copied from the website.
This section
of the IPWR website remains under construction. In the future,
the terms and definitions presented here will be linked to
other websites so that additional, in-depth information on
specific drinking water and health related topics may be
easily accessed. Please check back!
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