Web enablement of a Water Safety Plan via the municipal-based electronic Water Quality Management System (eWQMS)

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 568-577
Author(s):  
P. F. de Souza ◽  
J. E. Burgess ◽  
M. Swart ◽  
V. Naidoo ◽  
A. Blanckenberg
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Quality Management System ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Water Services ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Safety Plan ◽  
Water Safety Plan

Despite a good legislative framework, South Africa faces significant challenges in the sustainable provision of adequate and safe water services. To improve the situation, South Africa's Department of Water Affairs (DWA) and other water sector partners undertook initiatives to assist municipalities with operation and management of water services. By way of example, in 2006, the municipal engineering oriented electronic Water Quality Management System (eWQMS) was implemented, providing municipalities with a platform for loading drinking water quality data and tracking performance of key water services management functions. Following this in 2008, DWA introduced an incentive-based regulatory programme, Blue Drop Certification (BDC), and the associated regulatory drinking water quality information system, the Blue Drop System (BDS) which is, for example, populated with data loaded by municipalities onto eWQMS. An integral part of BDC is the development of Water Safety Plans (WSPs). Due to the challenges faced by municipalities in developing WSPs, the Water Research Commission (WRC) saw a need to assist municipalities, and subsequently a generic Water Safety Plan for Small Community Water Supplies was developed. The WRC also saw the need to develop an easy-to-use WSP tool for municipalities. The eWQMS was selected as the platform for making the tool available. This paper presents the development of a web-enabled WSP tool on the eWQMS which ultimately will provide the information to the BDS.

scholarly journals Study of Long-Term Effectiveness of Water Safety Plan Applied to Microfiltered Water Dispensers to Improve Water Quality

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 2905
Author(s):  
Marta Mazzotta ◽  
Silvano Salaris ◽  
Maria Rosaria Pascale ◽  
Luna Girolamini ◽  
Graziella Ciani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Pathogenic Bacteria ◽  
Temperature Threshold ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Plastic Pollution ◽  
Safety Plan ◽  
Water Safety Plan ◽  
Plate Counts ◽  
High Level

The use of Microfiltered Water Dispensers (MWDs) is increasing in offices, companies, or commercial facilities, as a response to plastic pollution. Despite their widespread use, poor data are available about the water quality and pathogens developed. Starting from a high contamination found in MWDs, a Water Safety Plan (WSP) was implemented on 57 MWDs to improve the water quality. To assess the effectiveness of WSP during the period 2017–2021, the environmental monitoring of heterotrophic plate counts (HPCs) at 36 °C and 22 °C, Enterococcus spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium perfringens, as prescribed by Italian regulation for drinking water, was conducted. A high level of HPCs at both temperatures was observed, over the regulation limit; contrarily, the pathogenic bacteria were absent. The contamination found was studied with respect to the temperature threshold of 25 °C, suggested by directives. No significant differences were found between samples above and below the threshold, while a significant decrease over the years was observed for HPCs at 36 °C (p = 0.0000000001) and 22 °C (p = 0.000006). The WSP implementation resulted in a 43.09% decrease for HPCs at 36 °C and a 24.26% decrease for HPCs at 22 °C. Moreover, during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the WSP contributed to limit the microbial contamination, preserving the MWDs’ functionality and hygienic conditions and the drinking water quality.

scholarly journals Awareness, adoption and implementation of the water safety plan methodology: insights from five Latin American and Caribbean experiences

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 541-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Hubbard ◽  
Richard Gelting ◽  
Maria del Carmen Portillo ◽  
Tom Williams ◽  
Ricardo Torres
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Drinking Water Quality ◽  
World Health ◽  
Who Guidelines ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Safety Plan ◽  
Water Safety Plan

Considerable effort has been made worldwide to disseminate information and provide technical assistance to encourage the adoption and implementation of the water safety plan (WSP) methodology. Described since the third edition of the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, a WSP provides guidance for water utilities to ensure the delivery of safe drinking water and protect health. Attention is now being given to understand the success of efforts to advance adoption of the WSP methodology in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. More specifically, there is interest in knowing how early adopters developed strategies to implement the WSP methodology and what challenges exist for further implementation. To better understand adoption and implementation trends, key informants from five LAC countries were interviewed and case studies were developed to reveal the diversity of WSP approaches applied in the region. Results indicate that WSP implementation is more widespread than previously reported. Respondents affirmed that the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality are routinely used as a model for country-level drinking-water regulations, which has led to uptake of the WSP methodology. Interview respondents also revealed innovative national strategic approaches for WSP implementation.

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