Ensuring safe drinking water for the nearly three billion people living in APEC economies requires strong, coherent, and science-based standards and technical regulations. The APEC Workshop on Strengthening Standards and Technical Regulations for Safer Drinking Water—held in August 2025, in Incheon, Republic of Korea—brought together regulators, policymakers, standards bodies, industry leaders, researchers, utilities, and civil society to examine the regulatory, technical, and practical pathways needed to reduce risks from drinking water contamination, particularly from lead and other hazardous materials.

The objective of the project was to promote the adoption of plumbing product regulations and conformity assessment procedures that address water efficiency, safety, and quality, with a particular focus on markets that may benefit most from stronger regulation and enforcement. By utilizing international standards and conformity assessment processes, plumbing product regulations will become harmonized and public health will be enhanced. The workshop included information on new products that can be used to improve water quality.