Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Projects Environmental Guidelines Introduction It is estimated that worldwide, three million people in developing countries die every year from waterborne diseases, caused by exposure to microbiological pathogens resulting from inadequate sanitation and waste disposal, inadequate water supply, exposure to unsafe drinking water, and bacteriological contamination through a variety of other water uses such as cooking and bathing 1 . Improving water supply and sanitation in developing countries is one of the goals of World Bank operations. To contribute towards this goal, the Rural Water and Sanitation Thematic Group has decided to develop environmental guidelines for use in the design of rural water supply and sanitation projects. The proposed environmental guidelines constitute a framework which will facilitate the identification, assessment and mitigation of potential environmental and social impacts of rural water supply and sanitation operations as well as good environmental project design and the identification of relevant World Bank safeguard policies.