A/HRC/12/24 page 12 specifying “that infrastructure must be sited within communities and include a drinking water supply and separate, private, safe sanitation services for girls” as well as “establish efficient mechanisms for supplying sanitary towels to adolescent girls who so wish, especially in rural areas, and ensure they can always have the use of the sanitation facilities they need”.39 E. The right to water 33. Sanitation has also been linked with the right to water, with now-common reference to the right to water and sanitation. The connection between water and sanitation is clear: without proper sanitation, human excreta contaminate drinking water sources, affecting water quality and leading to disastrous health consequences. Water is further linked to sanitation because waterborne sewerage systems are common in many parts of the world. 34. In its general comment No. 15 (2002) on the right to water, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that “the water supply for each person must be sufficient and continuous for personal and domestic uses. These uses ordinarily include drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, personal and household hygiene”.40 The Committee specifies that “personal sanitation” means disposal of human excreta and “personal and household hygiene” means personal cleanliness and hygiene of the household environment. General comment No. 15 further notes that “ensuring that everyone has access to adequate sanitation is not only fundamental for human dignity and privacy, but is one of the principal mechanisms for protecting the quality of drinking water supplies and resources … States parties have an obligation to progressively extend safe sanitation services, particularly to rural and deprived urban areas, taking into account the needs of women and children”.41 35. While both the Special Rapporteurs on the right to health and on the right to adequate housing refer to sanitation in the context of the rights falling under their mandates, they both also specifically refer to a “right to water and sanitation”.42 The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights adopted in 2006 guidelines on the realization of the right to drinking water and sanitation, also treating the two issues together. Regarding sanitation, they specifically provide that “everyone has the right to have access to adequate and safe sanitation that is conducive to the protection of public health and the environment”.43 The guidelines further specify that sanitation must be physically accessible, culturally acceptable, safe, and affordable. 39 E/CN.4/2006/45, paras. 129-130. 40 E/C.12/2002/11, para. 12 (a). 41 Ibid., para. 29. 42 See A/HRC/7/16, paras. 26-29; and A/62/214, para. 63. 43 E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/25, para. 1.2.