Water safety plan

Reinforce safety in water treatment and supply by implementing Water Safety Plans. 

The management procedures developed by water suppliers can be described as a water safety plan. Such a plan, which is the basis of ensuring water safety, contains three key components ... 

The water safety plan should address all aspects of the water supply and should focus on the control of water production, treatment and delivery of drinking-water, up to the point of consumption. The plan provides the basis for a process control methodology to ensure that concentrations of chemicals are acceptable. 

Development of water safety plans is discussed in detail in the Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality (WHO, 2004 WHO, 2006) and in the WHO Water Safety Plans (Davison et al. 2005). 

Specified technology National authority specifies processes to adequately address constituents with potential health effects (e.g. generic water safety plans for an unprotected catchment) Constituents with potential health effect in small municipalities and community supplies Compliance assessed through system assessment and operation monitoring (see GDWQ Chapter 4)... 

In order to have confidence that the chain of supply is not only operating properly, but to confirm that water quality is being maintained and achieved, verification is required. Verification is the use of methods, procedures or tests, in addition to those used in operational monitoring, to determine whether the water safety plan complies with the stated objectives outlined in the water quality targets, or whether it needs to be modified and revalidated. 

Davison A et al. (2005). Water safety plans. Managing drinking-water quality from catchment to consumer. Water, Sanitation and Health, World Health Organization, Geneva (WHO/SDE/WSH/05.06). 

European Community (2004) Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption as of 3 November 1998 (Drinking Water Directive DWD) and The Bonn Charter for Safe Drinking Water , Water Safety Plans, IWA. 

WHO has adopted the HACCP based approach for drinking water in the so called water safety plans . The European Commission is currently considering whether it would be appropriate to follow this concept in the revision of the DWD. 

World Health Organization, 2007. Suppmt for the Development of a Framework for the Implementation of Water Safety Plans in the European Union. EC Grant Agreement 07-0201-200546174/sub/D2. World Health Organization-Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark. 

A Water Safety Plan is a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses aU steps in water supply from catchment to consumer. It comprises as a minimum the three essential actions that are the responsibihty of the drinking-water supplier in order to ensure that drinking-water is safe. These are a system assessment, effective operational monitoring, and management. 

The Charter proposes a framework for the delivery of safe and reliable drinking water, incorporating the development of water safety plans and the measurement of drinking water quality against relevant standards. The framework is illustrated in Figure 2.1. 

The Charter specifically draws attention to its support of water safety plans as described by the WHO in their 3rd Edition of Drinking Water Quality Guidelines and will provide a foundation for significant improvement in water supply, worldwide. It reinforces the view that effective plumbosolvency control... 

The WHO Guidelines (2004) devote an entire chapter to the topic of drinking water safety planning. It is recommended that a risk assessment and risk management approach should be implemented in the design and operation of water supply systems, additional to the verification of water safety by sampling. The risk assessment and risk management approach should extend from source to tap , that is, the entire water supply chain. This is considered further in Chapter 6 in the context of risk assessment in plumbosolvency control. 

In the context of plumbosolvency control, drinking water safety planning should focus on ... 

The elements of the water safety plan should also focus on the issues related to lead pipe replacement, including particulate lead, and the potential galvanic eflects of partial lead service replacement. 

Quantification of the severity and likelihood of problems occurring, using a risk assessment matrix, as part of a Drinking Water Safety Plan. 

Hokstad, R, R0stum, X, Sklet, S., Rosen, L. Linde, A., 2007. Generic Framework and Methods for Integrated Risk Management in Water Safety Plans. Publisher TECHNEAU. 

The application of described methods to the comprehensive method of safety analysis in order to develop Water Safety Plans is justified now, but study should be continued to obtain greater compatibility of quality safety states. 

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