UN World Water Day Offers Time to Reflect on Standards for Diminishing Resource

With the approach of the United Nations’ World Water Day on March 22, ASTM International encourages everyone to consider the many environmental, energy, economic and social issues connected to the management of this diminishing and critical resource. A developer of global standards that help ensure public health and safety as well as environmental stability, ASTM is home to hundreds of standards that provide best practices and tools for ensuring water quality and enhancing stewardship.

Technical standards are used by government agencies, state and local municipalities, and the private sector as the basis for testing and maintaining water quality and improving water infrastructure. Additionally, guidance from ASTM standards makes possible the restoration of wetlands and waterways, water conservation activities and sustainable operations. These standards are developed and maintained by more than 25 technical committees comprising stakeholders from industry, government and academia.

For example, through its portfolio of more than 300 standards, ASTM Committee D19 on Water provides tools and practices that cover the sampling and analysis of water, measurements of surface and groundwater, and measurement of corrosives or deposit-forming properties in water. The committee’s test methods guide scientists in identifying a wide range of potentially harmful contaminants in water. Established nearly 75 years ago, Committee D19 is made up of some 400 members from 37 countries.

Other ASTM committees developing critical standards related to water include:

• Committee D18 on Soil and Rock, which plays a valuable role in helping to measure and monitor the quality of surface and subsurface water sources.
• Committee D34 on Waste Management, whose standards address the generation, storage, transportation, treatment, recovery and disposal of wastes generated from industrial, commercial, residential and institutional sources.
• Committee E60 on Sustainability, which provides standards that assist building developers and operators in the safe stewardship of water resources and guide conservation efforts that help meet ever growing demands for water in residential and commercial facilities.

In late 2013, ASTM International launched a Water Portal to bring together the latest information on new and draft ASTM standards, schedules of upcoming meetings and symposia, research reports and other ASTM International resources. Visit www.astm.org/waterportals for more.

World Water Day 2014 is a campaign coordinated by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and United Nations University to raise awareness of the link between water and energy. The campaign aims to address inequities in access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, sufficient food and energy services, and to facilitate the development of policies and frameworks that lead to energy security and sustainable water use.

ASTM Staff Contact: Brian Milewski, Phone: 610-832-9619; bmilewski@astm.org
ASTM PR Contact: Barbara Schindler, Phone: 610-832-9603; bschindl@astm.org

Release #9620