A/70/203 development of water supply in urban areas in the Global North. 7 Institutions such as schools, health-care centres and detention centres are generally connected to a piped supply where this is available. Where water is provided by a formal service provider, it is expected that there will be standards and targets set, which can be regulated by an independent regulatory body. This is an essential aspect of formal service provision, even though effective implementation in practice is often lacking. 62. Clean and safe water available within the home will ensure the household’s access to sufficient quantities of safe water resulting in optimal health outcomes and significant time savings in water collection times. It also eliminates the need for transportation and the risk of unsafe storage, reducing the risk o f contamination of water supply and limiting the need for household water treatment. 10 Water piped into the home is more likely to be reliable and continuous compared to other delivery options. 63. Problems often arise with piped water supplies in terms of quality (where the water is not adequately treated) or with continuity, where limited water availability leads to rationing of water supplies. All too often, rationing will take place in poorer areas rather than in well-to-do areas. This creates a double inequality, as poorer households often lack the necessary resources to adequately store water, or find an acceptable alternative supply. A lack of continuity also puts the quality of the water at risk by increasing the chance of contaminated water entering the system. Where piped water is not safe to use, households must rely on household water treatment, which can be costly and may still be unsafe. 64. Piped services are often not available to rural households or to those living in informal settlements in urban areas. This represents a significant problem of inequality in access, as marginalized or disadvantaged people are generally excluded from accessing this type of service and rely on alternatives that are often of lower quality and accessibility and tend to cost more. Increasing the number of households with access to piped water within the home must be carefully planned, as this type of access invariably means that households will use more water than they will have used previously with a water source outside the home and measures need to be taken to ensure availability and affordability. 65. Environmental sustainability is a concern where there is not an adequate sanitation system to remove the water that is brought into a household. In urban areas, in particular, this can be a problem when water is piped into a settlement without adequate removal systems. Beyond the pollution of water bodies and the consequent impacts on health, stagnant and standing water can encourage the breeding of mosquitoes, including those responsible for spreading malaria, dengue and yellow fever. 2. Shared or communal water facilities 66. Technologies for shared or communal water provision may include water kiosks, standpipes, boreholes and wells often based in a settlement or village. These may be managed by a utility or by small-scale or community-run providers. Institutions such as schools, health-care centres and detention centres in settlements __________________ 10 16/24 See UNICEF and WHO, Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water, 2015 Update and MDG Assessment, in which multiple case studies demonstrated that “piped water supplies are generally less likely to be contaminated than other improved sources”. 15-12500