Abstract
We explore the interplay between preventative risk management and regulatory style for the implementation of water safety plans in Malaysia and in England and Wales, two jurisdictions with distinct philosophies of approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 water safety professionals in Malaysia, 23 in England and Wales, supported by 6 Focus Group Discussions (n = 53 participants). A grounded theory approach produced insights on the transition from drinking water quality surveillance to preventative risk management. Themes familiar to this type of regulatory transition emerged, including concerns about compliance policy; overseeing the risk management controls of regulatees with varied competencies and funds available to drive change; and the portfolio of interventions suited to a more facilitative regulatory style. Because the potential harm from waterborne illness is high where pathogen exposures occur, the transition to risk-informed regulation demands mature organisational cultures among water utilities and regulators, and a laser-like focus on ensuring risk management controls are delivered within water supply systems.
Highlights
We discuss the key themes from this study: (a) the journey in regulatory style from compliance- to risk-based regulation; (b) compliance
As well as having the parameters for PCV in these schedules, we have a regulation that says there shouldn’t be anything in the water at any concentration that might cause a risk to health
That catches everything and we consider that sufficiency is a risk to health because if you don’t have water coming out of your tap, you have no drinking water which is a risk to health
Summary
Parker and S.J.T. Pollard billion in 2018. By 2050, 68% of the world's population is expected to live in urban settings. Urban services have not always kept pace, especially with respect to the supply of safe drinking water (Bakker, 2010). One estimate suggests 2.1 billion people lack safely managed drinking water, including 600 million urban inhabitants (WHO and UNICEF, 2017). The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seek to deliver clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) and are aligned to the water safety plan (WSP) framework introduced in 2004, codified through the systematic assessment and preventative management of risks at points of critical control (CCPs) between catchments and the consumer (WHO, 2004; IWA, 2004; UN, 2015)
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