France has ratified the Protocol on Water and Health

UN ECE Secretariat of the Water Convention has informed about the ratification of the Protocol on Water and Health by France on 6 May 2005.

16 instruments of ratification were deposited with the Secretary-General.

Following the information by the Depositary, the Protocol will enter into force on 4 August 2005.

The Protocol on Water and Health comes under the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes. The Protocol was widely welcomed at the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, held in London in 1999, and it was signed by 36 counries.

The Protocol aims to promote the protection of human health through improving water management.

The Protocol applies to most water environments:

• surface fresh water;
• groundwater;
• estuaries;
• coastal waters used for recreation or for harvesting of fish or shellfish;
• swimming pools;
• water in the course of abstraction, transport, treatment or supply (tap water);
• wastewater.