Faecal contamination of groundwater from pit latrines is widely perceived as a major threat to the safety of drinking water for several billion people in rural and peri-urban areas worldwide. This study, conducted by icddr,b on the floodplains of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta in Bangladesh, found (i) that leakage from pit latrines is a minor contributor to faecal contamination of drinking water in alluvialdeltaic terrains; (ii) fears of increased groundwater pollution should not constrain expanding latrine coverage, and (iii) that more attention should be given to reducing contamination around the well-head. Consumed directly as drinking water, groundwater is contaminated more often due to poor hygiene at different stages of its acquisition – starting from the tube wells that draw the water and the water storage containers in households, suggests the study.