Implementation of Alberta's drinking water safety plans

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Reid ◽  
K. Abramowski ◽  
A. Beier ◽  
A. Janzen ◽  
D. Lok ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Effective Action ◽  
Main Element ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Biological Parameters ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Drinking Water Safety ◽  
Regulatory Approach ◽  
Water Safety Plans ◽  
Safety Of Drinking Water

Traditionally, the regulatory approach to maintaining the quality and safety of drinking water has largely been a prescriptive one based on the ability of any given supply to meet standards set for a number of different chemical and biological parameters. There are a number of issues around the assumptions and the limitations of a sampling and analysis regime. The basis for such regimes is essentially reactive rather than proactive and, consequently, the cause of the concern may already have impacted consumers before any effective action can be taken. Environment and Sustainable Resource Development has developed a template for recording drinking water safety plans together with guidance notes to help complete them. The template has been developed in MS-Excel and has been designed in a straightforward step-wise manner with guidance on the completion of each sheet. It includes four main risk tables covering each main element of water supply which are pre-populated with commonly found ‘generic’ risks and these are carefully assessed before considering what action is required to deal with significant risks. Following completion of the risk tables, key risks are identified and the interventions required to bring them into control.

A fatal waterborne disease epidemic in Walkerton, Ontario: comparison with other waterborne outbreaks in the developed world

2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.E. Hrudey ◽  
P. Payment ◽  
P.M. Huck ◽  
R.W. Gillham ◽  
E.J. Hrudey
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Reference Source ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Drinking Water Safety ◽  
Public Inquiry ◽  
Contaminated Drinking Water ◽  
The Government ◽  
Safety Of Drinking Water ◽  
Developed World

An estimated 2,300 people became seriously ill and seven died from exposure to microbially contaminated drinking water in the town of Walkerton, Ontario, Canada in May 2000. The severity of this drinking water disaster resulted in the Government of Ontario calling a public inquiry by Mr. Justice Dennis O’Connor to address the cause of the outbreak, the role (if any) of government policies in contributing to this outbreak and, ultimately, the implications of this experience on the safety of drinking water across the Province of Ontario. The circumstances surrounding the Walkerton tragedy are an important reference source for those concerned with providing safe drinking water. Although some circumstances are obviously specific to this epidemic, others are uncomfortably reminiscent of waterborne outbreaks that have occurred elsewhere. These recurring themes suggested the need for attention to broad issues of drinking water security and they present the challenge for how drinking water safety can be managed to prevent such tragedies in the future.

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 A Critical Evaluation of Water Safety Plans (WSPs) and HACCP Implementation in Water Utilities

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
pp. 600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dionysios S. Tsoukalas ◽  
Stavroula Tsitsifli
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Critical Control Points ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Water Safety Plans ◽  
Safety Of Drinking Water

The use of traditional risk management systems has proven to be insufficient to safeguard the safety of drinking water. Nowadays, it is preferable to apply preventive instead of corrective systems. Two of the most commonly used systems are the Hazard Assessment and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and the Water Safety Plans (WSPs). The major benefit of their implementation is the improvement of drinking water quality. Of course, the successful implementation of HACCP and WSPs in water utilities can be limited by a number of factors such as the lack of financial resources. However, the importance of implementation’s difficulties is minimal in relation to the benefits that may result from the application of HACCP and WSPs in water utilities.

scholarly journals A systematic literature review of the enabling environment elements to improve implementation of water safety plans in high-income countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Baum ◽  
Jamie Bartram
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Management ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
High Income ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Waterborne Disease ◽  
Enabling Environment ◽  
Drinking Water Safety ◽  
Water Safety Plans ◽  
Context Specific

Abstract Effective risk management helps ensure safe drinking water and protect public health. Even in high-income countries, risk management sometimes fails and waterborne disease, including outbreaks, occur. To help reduce waterborne disease, the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality recommend water safety plans (WSPs), a systematic preventive risk management strategy applied from catchment to consumer. Since the introduction of WSPs, international guidelines, national and state legislation, and local practices have facilitated their implementation. While various high-income OECD countries have documented successes in improving drinking water safety through implementing WSPs, others have little experience. This review synthesizes the elements of the enabling environment that promoted the implementation of WSPs in high-income countries. We show that guidelines, regulations, tools and resources, public health support, and context-specific evidence of the feasibility and benefits of WSPs are elements of the enabling environment that encourage adoption and implementation of WSPs in high-income countries. These findings contribute to understanding the ways in which to increase the uptake and extent of WSPs throughout high-income countries to help improve public health.

Implementation of drinking water safety plans and lessons from the Pacific islands

Waterlines ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Khatri ◽  
S. Iddings ◽  
M. Overmars ◽  
T. Hasan ◽  
F. Gerber
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Drinking Water Safety ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Water Safety Plans

Insights into the challenges of risk characterization using drinking water safety plans

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 321-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Post ◽  
Emma Thompson ◽  
Edward McBean
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Water System ◽  
Drinking Water Treatment ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Drinking Water Safety ◽  
Water Safety Plan ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Water Safety Plans ◽  
High Degree

Risk assessment methodologies, specifically water safety plans (WSPs), provide a water operator with a greater awareness of the drinking water system and the hazards that may occur. This brings key issues to the forefront and promotes a proactive approach to drinking water safety. This paper identifies the challenges in completing a WSP and evaluates the robustness of procedures. Experts knowledgeable in drinking water treatment were asked to complete Alberta’s Drinking Water Safety Plan template for a hypothetical community. Findings from use of a condensed version of the WSP are also described, and the resulting risk scores obtained from both methodologies are compared. A high degree of variability between experts’ responses was observed from both; however, trends between responses show that the condensed WSP makes it easier to compare hazards relative to each other, to determine key risk areas that warrant more attention.

Keeping drinking water safe: Adopting water safety plans in rural Nepal

Waterlines ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 212-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nam Raj Khatri ◽  
Han Heijnen
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Water Safety Plans ◽  
Rural Nepal
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document