A/HRC/36/45 schools, public transport hubs, prisons, and places of detention, at the workplace and in rented housing, taking into consideration the special needs of, inter alia, women and girls; and in relation to those without a permanent dwelling, including homeless people and nomadic communities. Regulation should separate access to water and sanitation services from land tenure, often an obstacle to accessing these services in informal settlements. 2. Accessibility 46. A regulatory interpretation of physical accessibility of water and sanitation facilities should provide as minimum standards that these facilities are within safe physical reach or in the immediate vicinity of each household at all times of day and night. 22 In its proposed indicators for monitoring Sustainable Development Goal 6, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation suggests that a round trip to access an improved drinking water source should not take longer than 30 minutes, including queuing (basic level), and that a basic level of sanitation should provide access to an improved sanitation facility not shared with other households. Furthermore, regulation should specifically address the situation of those with special needs in terms of accessibility, such as children, persons with disabilities, older persons, pregnant women, and people with special health conditions, and advise that the design of sanitation facilities accommodates their specific needs, while being technically safe to use. Places such as schools, preschools, care homes and detention centres require specific regulations to ensure physical accessibility. 3. Quality and safety 47. National standards must ensure that the water used for each personal and domestic use is safe for human health as regards the presence of microorganisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards.23 The WHO Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality24 provide guidance for setting national regulations and standards for water safety in support of public health. The Guidelines describe reasonable minimum safe-practice requirements to protect health and provide numerical “guideline values” for constituents of water or indicators of water quality. When defining mandatory limits, the Guidelines are an authoritative source and must be taken into consideration in the context of local or national environmental, social, economic and cultural conditions. 48. Even when in place, regulations are not always used to their full potential and best advantage to maximize public health benefits. For example, regulations do not always clearly indicate which stakeholders are accountable and liable for identifying, responding to and mitigating risks to drinking-water quality. Regulations should also contemplate situations where water supply is unsafe, by providing coping measures (e.g. alerts) and precautionary actions. In this context, access to information on water quality is essential and should be safeguarded by regulation, using clear, easy-to-understand language, and be readily accessible to all the population. 49. The regulation of sanitation facilities should provide that they are designed and built in a way that effectively prevents human, animal and insect contact with human excreta, and should safeguard access to safe water for handwashing, anal and genital cleansing and menstrual hygiene, and ensure mechanisms for the hygienic disposal of menstrual products (see A/HRC/12/24, para. 72). The Special Rapporteur recommends that regulations require that the specific needs of women and girls are incorporated into the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of water and sanitation facilities (see A/HRC/33/49, para. 77 (h)). To that end, their participation in the design of the facilities should be sought by service providers. 22 23 24 12 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 15, paras. 12 (c) (i) and 37 (c). Ibid., para. 12 (b). See www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/publications/drinking-water-quality-guidelines-4including-1st-addendum/en/.