Emergency water standards — DTM&H MCQ

Correct answer: B — 15 litres per person

The correct answer is B, 15 litres per person per day. The Sphere minimum standard, developed jointly with WHO input for humanitarian water, sanitation and hygiene response, sets average water use for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene at a minimum of 15 litres per person per day in the acute emergency phase of a conflict or disaster. This figure balances survival needs (drinking, cooking) with basic hygiene requirements and is the benchmark used for planning water trucking, borehole yield and distribution point capacity in camps and conflict-affected populations. It is explicitly a minimum, not a target, meaning humanitarian teams should exceed it where feasible, particularly as a response stabilises. Why the other options are wrong: D. 5 litres per person: this is below even the initial survival threshold and would only cover bare drinking needs in the most acute short term phase, not sustained provision including hygiene and cooking. E. 100 litres per person: this reflects a high income or fully developed piped supply standard, far beyond what is achievable or required in an emergency response. C. 30 litres per person: this exceeds the Sphere minimum and is not the defined threshold, though it may be used as a programmatic target once initial needs are met. A. 50 litres per person: Sphere identifies this figure specifically for an urban middle income context as a minimum acceptable amount to maintain health and dignity, not as the universal minimum for a conflict emergency. Key point: Sphere sets 15 litres per person per day as the minimum for drinking, cooking and hygiene in humanitarian emergencies, distinct from the higher 50 litre urban middle income benchmark or the lower short term survival figures.

Reference: Sphere Association, The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response, 4th edition, 2018, Water Supply Standard 2.1 (Water quantity), spherestandards.org