15.6  Surface water sources

All surface water sources are subject to continuous or intermittent pollution and must be treated to make them safe to drink. One never knows when the organisms causing diseases such as typhoid fever, gastroenteritis, giardiasis or infectious hepatitis A will contaminate surface water sources. The extent of the treatment required will depend on the results of a sanitary survey made by an experienced professional, including physical, chemical and microbiological analyses. Protecting surface water from pollution is difficult because, as noted earlier, the activities of upstream users of the river water will affect the quality of the water for downstream users and the land use in the surrounding area will also have an impact. Surface waters are, by definition, unprotected sources.