It was a meeting at the National Institute for Public Health in Bilthoven in April 1973 which helped to refocus IRC's objectives. Directors of 31 Collaborating Institutions reviewed the work of the network and produced a list of priority topics and projects.

Topics for concerted action

Among the topics seen as most in need of collaborative action were:

• Health aspects of water reuse - a far sighted proposal still attracting attention today.
• Slow sand filtration in developing countries - a project which was to become a major long-term activity for IRC and partners and a springboard for later initiatives on user-driven and community participation for activities such as multi stage filtration.

Slow sand filtration in developing countries was the first field project to get underway, in 1973, envisaged as a two-phase programme over three years. In the same year, IRC initiated an inventory of public standposts on behalf of the World Bank. The first in-depth assessment of handpumps was undertaken with co-sponsorship from WHO and UNEP and led to a joint IRC/UNEP publication - the first of many co-publishing arrangements. These three projects constituted the beginning of a comprehensive coverage at IRC of water supply issues.

Soon afterwards, an expert meeting discussed the health affects of water reuse. The Public Standpost Water Supply (PSWS) moved into a demonstration phase. In collaboration with WHO. IRC developed guidelines on training materials and delivery systems appropriate for developing countries. Initiatives were set in motion on the choice and implementation of technologies.

Information exchange at 1977 UN Water Conference

IRC organised a symposium in Amsterdam immediately prior to the 1977 UN Water Conference in Mar del Plata. The symposium highlighted sector needs in relation to policy and planning, manpower development, technology and motivation, and laid the basis for recommendations on information exchange and finance at the conference. Following the resolutions from Mar del Plata the centre began POETRI (Programme on Exchange and Transfer of Information), the information project that was to provide food for debate among sector specialists for another four years.

The published word

The IRC published its first IRC Newsletter in 1970 to reflect the concentration on community water supply problems in developing countries and the influence of international collaboration.

Book titles (co) published in this period show a shifting trend towards developing country issues.

• Health Effects Relating to Direct and Indirect Re-use of Waste Water Processes for Human Consumption Technical Paper Series 7 (1975)
• Hand Pumps: For Use in Drinking Water Supplies in Developing Countries McJunkin, F.E. Technical Paper Series 10 (1977 also in French and Spanish)
• Slow Sand Filtration for Community Water Supply in Developing Countries: A design and construction manual Oomen, J.H.C.M. Dijk, J.C. van Technical Paper Series 11 (1978 also in French and Spanish).
  Twenty years later authors from IRC and CINARA published: Multi-stage Filtration: An innovative water treatment technology, Technical Paper Series 34 (1998 also in Spanish)
• Participation and Education in Community Water Supply and Sanitation Programmes Wijk-Sijbesma, C.A. van Technical Paper Series 12 (1978)

Seven years later the same author published the first book on Participation of Women in Water Supply and Sanitation : Roles and realities, Technical Paper Series 12 (1985). Seven years later, in November 1992, IRC in collaboration with UNDP, UNICEF, WHO and the UNDP/Word Bank Water and Sanitation Program and DGIS organised one of the first international workshops on community management. Research and field studies carried out then were to provide guidance for community management programmes for years to come.

Tags: information and communication