Water Safety Plans

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Setty ◽  
Giuliana Ferrero
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
World Health ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Water Safety Plans

Water safety plans (WSPs) represent a holistic risk assessment and management approach covering all steps in the water supply process from the catchment to the consumer. Since 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) has formally recommended WSPs as a public health intervention to consistently ensure the safety of drinking water. These risk management programs apply to all water supplies in all countries, including small community supplies and large urban systems in both developed and developing settings. As of 2017, more than 90 countries had adopted various permutations of WSPs at different scales, ranging from limited-scale voluntary pilot programs to nationwide implementation mandated by legislative requirements. Tools to support WSP implementation include primary and supplemental manuals in multiple languages, training resources, assessment tools, and some country-specific guidelines and case studies. Systems employing the WSP approach seek to incrementally improve water quality and security by reducing risks and increasing resilience over time. To maintain WSP effectiveness, water supply managers periodically update WSPs to integrate knowledge about prior, existing, and potential future risks. Effectively implemented WSPs may translate to positive health and other impacts. Impact evaluation has centered on a logic model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as WHO-refined indicators that compare water system performance to pre-WSP baseline conditions. Potential benefits of WSPs include improved cost efficiency, water quality, water conservation, regulatory compliance, operational performance, and disease reduction. Available research shows outcomes vary depending on site-specific context, and challenges remain in using WSPs to achieve lasting improvements in water safety. Future directions for WSP development include strengthening and sustaining capacity-building to achieve consistent application and quality, refining evaluation indicators to better reveal linked outcomes (including economic impacts), and incorporating social equity and climate change readiness.

scholarly journals Implementation and evaluation of the water safety plan approach for buildings

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 870-883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Schmidt ◽  
Bettina Rickert ◽  
Oliver Schmoll ◽  
Thomas Rapp
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Drinking Water Quality ◽  
World Health ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Drinking Water Safety ◽  
Premise Plumbing

Abstract The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes water safety plans (WSPs) – a risk-based management approach – for premise plumbing systems in buildings to prevent deterioration of drinking-water quality. Experience with the implementation of WSPs in buildings were gathered within a pilot project in Germany. The project included an evaluation of the feasibility and advantages of WSPs by all stakeholders who share responsibility in drinking-water safety. While the feasibility of the concept was demonstrated for all buildings, benefits reported by building operators varied. The more technical standards were complied with before implementing WSP, the less pronounced were the resulting improvements. In most cases, WSPs yielded an increased system knowledge and awareness for drinking-water quality issues. WSPs also led to improved operation of the premise plumbing system and provided benefits for surveillance authorities. A survey among the European Network of Drinking-Water Regulators on the existing legal framework regarding drinking-water safety in buildings exhibited that countries are aware of the need to manage risks in buildings' installations, but experience with WSP is rare. Based on the successful implementation and the positive effects of WSPs on drinking-water quality, we recommend the establishment of legal frameworks that require WSPs for priority buildings whilst accounting for differing conditions in buildings and countries.

scholarly journals Assessment of effectiveness of water safety plans (WSP) on water quality in rural communities of Anambra State, south-eastern Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azubuike S. Ekwere ◽  
Oyonga A. Oyonga ◽  
Maingaila M. Banda
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
World Health ◽  
Household Surveys ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Anambra State ◽  
Water Safety Plans

Abstract World Health Organization recommends the use of Water Safety Plans as a systematic approach to ensure safe drinking water supply through a comprehensive risk assessment and management. This research assesses the implementation of WSPs in Anambra State, Nigeria based on understanding the outcomes of the community's WSP implementation and provides recommendations to improve the WSP process. To meet these objectives, a mixed-methods protocol was used, including, household surveys on water management practices, water quality testing to determine water safety of households' transport, stored and source waters and qualitative data collection. An evaluation on the implementation of WSPs in two council's areas, relative to non-WSP implementing communities, the following activities was conducted: 120 household surveys; water sample testing at water sources; Focus Group Discussions with key informant, water facility staff. Results indicates: water sources in both councils are producing relatively clean water; water management practices at the source were relatively safe with minor risky practices in a few communities; households involved risky practices that led to contamination from transported through to stored water and water facility caretakers were aware of their responsibilities. Recontamination of the source water during transportation and storage remained the main difficulty in ensuring consumption of safe water.

Drinking water safety plans: barriers and bridges for small systems in Alberta, Canada

Water Policy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1140-1154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Perrier ◽  
Megan Kot ◽  
Heather Castleden ◽  
Graham A. Gagnon
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Water Supplies ◽  
Small Communities ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
Drinking Water Safety ◽  
Water Safety Plans

Water safety plans provide a relatively new management approach for identifying and addressing risks in a water supply. In 2011, the province of Alberta (Canada) became the first jurisdiction in North America to require that all water supplies develop drinking water safety plans (DWSPs). This research explored the implementation of DWSPs through the experiences of ‘early adopter’ operators who work in small communities. Specifically, in-person open-ended qualitative interviews with operators from 15 small communities from across Alberta were conducted to explore implementation challenges and opportunities. The findings highlight a number of barriers associated with the relationships between decision-making bodies, regulatory authorities and water operators, all of which have the potential to support or hinder the uptake of a DWSP. Findings also indicate that a DWSP can act as a bridge, providing a much-needed tool to facilitate communication about water supplies and help to support and manage relationships between stakeholders. This study revealed a number of important and useful insights to the small community early DWSP adopter experience in Canada that could be applied in other jurisdictions looking to adopt similar practices.

scholarly journals Water safety planning for small water supply systems: the framework and control measures

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1524-1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace O. Oluwasanya ◽  
Richard C. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
World Health ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Water Supply Systems ◽  
Safety Planning ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Small Systems ◽  
Management Procedures ◽  
Supply Systems

Abstract A water safety plan (WSP) is a preventive comprehensive risk assessment and management approach to ensuring the safety of a drinking water supply from source to tap for public health protection. The concept was introduced in the last decade in international guidance documents and has been applied widely across a varied range of water supply systems, particularly, the public water utilities and to a lesser extent towards small systems. Mainstreaming water safety intervention for small systems however, would ensure safe household water to a wider population, alleviate poverty and hunger through water for use in support of livelihood activities, and help towards achieving the sustainable development goals. Self-supply hand-dug wells in Abeokuta, Nigeria, were assessed using the step-by-step World Health Organization WSP model, mainly from the relevant system assessment to operational monitoring and management procedures. This paper reviewed the methodology of water safety planning and flagged the issue of ‘who’ conducts WSP for small systems. The paper also evaluated major control measures critical to self-supply and suggested an apt WS planning model for the systems. The WSP framework for self-supply systems incorporated an institutional aspect for WSP coordination.

scholarly journals Development and implementation of water safety plans for small water supplies in Bangladesh: benefits and lessons learned

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Mahmud ◽  
Sk. Abu Jafar Shamsuddin ◽  
M. Feroze Ahmed ◽  
Annette Davison ◽  
Dan Deere ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Water Supplies ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
Community Monitoring ◽  
Water Safety Plans

Water safety plans (WSPs) are promoted by the WHO as the most effective means of securing drinking water safety. To date most experience with WSPs has been within utility supplies, primarily in developed countries. There has been little documented experience of applying WSPs to small community-managed systems, particularly in developing countries. This paper presents a case study from Bangladesh describing how WSPs can be developed and implemented for small systems. Model WSPs were developed through consultation with key water sector practitioners in the country. Simplified tools were developed to translate the formal WSPs into a format that was meaningful and accessible for communities to use. A series of pilot projects were implemented by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) across the country covering all major water supplies. The results show that WSPs can be developed and implemented for small community managed water supplies and improve the sanitary condition and water quality of water sources. Hygiene behaviour improved and household water quality showed a significant reduction in contamination. Chlorination was found to be important for some technologies, thus increasing the costs of water supply and raising important problems with respect to transfer to the communities. Simple tools for community monitoring were found to be effective in supporting better water safety management.

scholarly journals Water safety: one of the primary objectives of our time

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Collivignarelli
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Safety Plan ◽  
Water Safety Plan ◽  
The Eu

This article discusses the benefits of an innovative approach to the problem of water security introduced by WHO in 2004, through the establishment of the Water Safety Plan (WSP). It was recently included in Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 – October 6, 2015 – the implementation of which is expected in the EU countries by 27 October 2017. The WSP is the most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking water supply. The method is based on the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that involves all steps in water supply from catchment to consumer. The knowledge acquired by some experiences of WSP application, both inItalyand in countries with limited resources, is proving the effectiveness of the model as the best way to manage drinking water systems and protect public health.

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