Water Safety Plans Research Articles

Does the Emergence of Private Actors in the Potable Water Market Reduce Inequalities and Improve Access? A Critical Analysis Based on a Case Study in Selected Municipalities of Benin

In Benin, population growth, rapid urbanization, and the effects of climate change exacerbate the challenge of supplying potable water. While many households aspire to access water from the public network, financial constraints make this difficult (Kèlomè et al., 2012). The conventional water supply model, primarily reliant on a single public operator, is increasingly inadequate to meet the growing demands of urban populations. Consequently, numerous small local private operators have emerged, providing water supply services in often informal settings (Marteau et al., 2010). This emergence highlights several critical issues: while these small private operators fill the gaps left by the public sector, their informal nature raises concerns about regulation, service quality, and supply sustainability. Although access to potable water has improved, reducing the water-fetching burden for women and children in 30% of the rural cases studied, the poorest populations appear to face greater financial strain. This is due to private operators’ profit-driven motives, which often prioritize financial gain over health and environmental considerations. A univariate descriptive analysis was conducted to evaluate consumer perceptions, preferences, and satisfaction. Findings revealed that 63.10% of consumers rely on private operators to meet their daily potable water needs, while 52% of local producers lack a water safety plan. This study advocates for an innovative management model that aligns with achieving SDG 6, emphasizing both quality and equity in water provision.

Challenges in Tea Plantation-Based Small Community Water Safety Plan Implementation – A Sri Lankan Experience

This paper presents the challenges and scientific approach adopted to overcome those challenges for Rural WSP (RWSP) implementation for the water supply schemes (WSS) in the Sri Lankan Tea Plantation sector. Factors positively and negatively impacting WSP implementation were identified through a SWOT analysis. Pooled response of the Likert scale survey of WSP team members to evaluate the impact of each contributing factor. A Spearman correlation was conducted to evaluate the correlations. Survey results confirmed that top management engagement, availability of financial resources, organizational structure, clustered community, government regulations, quality certifications, and similar cultural practices positively impact the success of WSP implementation. Poor community awareness, learning culture, communication barriers, poor sanitation and hygiene practices, inadequate stakeholder relationships, inadequate resources, skills, and lack of accountability were the factors hindering the WSP implementation. Correlation analysis showed specific relationships namely, lack of accountability with inadequate resources and skills, availability of financial support with inadequate resources and skills, and lack of awareness with a lack of resources and skills. Converting the negative factors to positive ones will make the WSP application successful in another similar plantation-based WSS. The major lesson from this intrinsic research study is that socioeconomic and cultural factors in the tea plantation are equally important as the typical technical aspects of the WSP.

Ghana's water safety journey: A review of efforts toward a risked-based water quality management.

In 2015, Ghana launched the National Drinking Water Quality Management Framework (NDWQMF) to promote a risk-based approach to water quality through water safety plans (WSPs). This study uses a narrative review to synthesize WSP implementation progress in Ghana, identify gaps in practice, and provide recommendations for enhanced effectiveness and scale-up. Findings show limited uptake: only three of 88 urban water supply systems have adopted WSPs, while in the rural sector, the Community Water and Sanitation Agency has implemented WSPs in 177 of 1,022 small-town systems, and the safe water network in 46 systems. However, community-managed water systems overseen by local governments are yet to initiate WSPs. For those that have begun, significant documentation and implementation gaps are noted, including incomplete hazard listings, insufficient improvement plans, and absent standard operating procedures. To strengthen WSP implementation, this study emphasizes the need for robust regulatory mechanisms across urban and rural sectors, along with tailored guidelines and support structures to enable effective WSP adoption across diverse water systems.

Indicadores de Sustentabilidade para Gestão da Água

Water safety involves the sustainable use and protection of water sources, so that water is available in adequate quantity and quality to health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, in addition to protecting it from the negative effects of extreme weather events. Internationally, the concept of water security began being discussed in the 1990s, and more so since 2009, when the issue became the subject of a greater number of publications. In Brazil Federal Law 9433/97, which establishes the National Water Resources Policy, and corresponding state laws implicitly provide the concept of water security. However, the National Water Safety Plan was only launched in 2019, and has became the fundamental instrument for decision-making on this issue. The objective of the research was to pre-select indicators to analyze the water safety of the municipalities contemplated in the Capibaribe river watershed, within the framework of sustainable water management. To achieve the objective, the following methodology was adopted: pre-selection of indicators; application of a questionnaire to a panel of experts; structure a database. Thus, this work aims to bring subsidies that contribute to water security actions and public policies through the development of an indicator database. Additionally, this research is a proposal for future work, helping to define an equation of the water security index for the municipalities in the watershed.

Water safety planning application for aesthetic quality of drinking water.

The World Health Organization considers water quality aesthetic parameters affecting taste, odor, and appearance as factors to be monitored to determine the overall safety of water. Water safety plans (WSPs) can be used by utilities to proactively identify aesthetic hazards, rank them by likelihood of occurrence and consequence to the utility, generate risk scores, and provide direction on how to monitor, mitigate, and verify that controls are in place. The City of Wichita Falls Public Water System (CWF PWS) used the water safety planning approach to outline how aesthetics may negatively affect the system from source water, in-plant processes, and into the distribution system. By proactively identifying these hazards and outlining what to do using a WSP, the utility has put measures in place to ensure that aesthetically acceptable water is delivered to their customers. This article outlines the water safety planning process for water quality aesthetics and how the CWF PWS developed and implemented its WSP.

Evaluating Boil Water Advisory Policies and Practices: Health Outcomes in Hong Kong

Boiling water (BW) is a common global practice, especially in Asia, for ensuring safe drinking water, though it does not remove chemical contaminants. The World Health Organisation recommends BW as an emergency measure against microbial contamination. In Hong Kong, the Water Supplies Department ensures water quality through strict regulations and extensive monitoring. Comparisons with Norway and Canada reveal effective practices such as water safety planning and risk-based advisories. Norway mandates water safety planning and uses messaging notifications for water advisories, ensuring high compliance, while Canada issues site-specific BW advisories based on risk assessments. Hong Kong faces unique challenges, such as a warm climate and complex building infrastructure, which impact water quality. Many buildings lack proper maintenance, leading to potential health risks and necessitating regular maintenance. Health management, public health education and expert guidance are essential for promoting efficient practices and ensuring safe drinking water.

Incorporating taste and odour problems in water safety plans

ABSTRACT Many water utilities are at least occasionally affected by unpleasant taste and odour (T&O) in drinking water. For decades, aesthetic water quality has been of secondary concern to water producers, with water safety being the primary focus. However, there has been a recent shift towards prioritising consumer satisfaction, encompassing not only services, but also water quality, including T&O issues, which can negatively impact the supplier's reputation. Starting to address a T&O problem until consumers' complaints become massive is too late and puts water producers under great stress to take effective action in a timely manner. Rather, a preventive approach is necessary. The most effective approach is to include T&O as a hazard to assess and manage in the context of developing a water safety plan (WSP) for the supply system. The development of a WSP provides an excellent platform for including the stakeholders needed to control the source of T&O events, as this often requires multistakeholder cooperation. Our review provides a comprehensive guide to addressing T&O occurrences and shows how this can be included in the framework of WSP development. It identifies supporting tools and illustrates the information given with a number of examples from water suppliers' practice.

Supporting the development of climate-resilient water safety plans through a risk-screening framework for drinking water source protection

ABSTRACT Climate change-induced impacts on water-quality challenge risk management of drinking water. Uncertainty around future changes and limited resources require approaches that enable prioritisation at regional or national scale for planning and adaptive intervention. This paper presents a framework for risk screening drinking water supplies, providing a staged approach to building the capacity for integrating climate change into risk management. The framework is applied to drinking water sources of the Scottish national drinking water provider, developing raw water trajectories for indicative water-quality parameters (water colour and Escherichia coli). It establishes baseline understanding of water-quality controls through multivariate statistical analysis. It incorporates climate and land-use change into the model using climate (UKCP18) and land-use projections. The results suggest potential higher organic carbon production in soils from increased production with higher temperature, combined with reduced dilution and drought effects from reductions in summer rainfall. For E. coli, risks arise through land-use change leading to potential agricultural intensification. The framework supports the targeted development of climate-resilient Water Safety Plans, prioritising systems most at risk of raw water-quality deteriorations. It emphasises source protection to maintain or improve regulatory compliance, minimise socioeconomic and environmental harms, and generate additional benefits.

Cost-effective operation strategies to secure drinking water accompanied by low emissions by water safety plans

ABSTRACT Inadequate energy management leads to more emission exposure, which causes climate change, severe environmental contamination, and human health risks. Therefore, the World Health Organisation (WHO) monitors universal efforts to prevent emissions and encourages governments to develop industries to transform the green economy. During the current study, the energy and cost variation was observed through three years (2020, 2021, and 2022) at a surface water plant in southern Egypt. Consistent with applying operation strategies that met convenient standard operating procedures (SOPs) during 2021 and 2022. Energy consumption was reduced by 13% to 17%, and the cost decreased by 5% to 12% for 2021 and 2022, respectively. These energy and financial savings should be considered as an influence of the water safety plans (WSPs). Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was utilised to identify the mechanism of energy consumption and its impact on the cost during the study period. The finding proves that the energy and cost rise is related to increased water demand during the summer months, periodic/emergency maintenance, and comprehensive cleaning activities. WSPs were applied to control biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and oil and grease (O & G) that show increasing values than Egyptian law.

Assessment of Shallow Wells of Public Importance in Selected Areas of Ekiti State Capital City, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria

ABSTRACTGroundwater is one of the main sources of public water supply all over the world. This study assessed hand‐dug wells of economic importance in selected areas of Ado Ekiti in relation to terrain characteristics. A total of 15 wells were randomly sampled with replicates from 5 densely populated parts of the study area. Water samples collected were processed and analyzed in the laboratory using established scientific methods. Results showed that physicochemical characteristics of the sampled groundwater compared favorably with the standard for drinking water, except for phosphate (PO43−) concentration, which was above the permissible limit of 0.1 mg/L. Moreover, while lead (Pb2+) was within the acceptable limits of 0.001 mg/L, cadmium (Cd2+) and iron (Fe2+) mean values of 0.01 and 16.723 mg/L were above the permissible limits of 0.003 and 0.03 mg/L, respectively. All the samples analyzed were found to contain total coliforms. Piper diagram indicates prevalence of chloride anion facies and a small portion of sulfate with no carbonate ions. There was no dominant water type among the cations. The chemical makeup mainly showed the prevalence of strong acids (Cl−) and slightly alkaline earth elements (Ca2+). The Schoeller plot suggests the dominance of calcium and elevated chloride concentrations in comparison to other ions. The water quality index indicated widespread pollution in most of the sampled water, showing that the shallow wells are not suitable for drinking purposes except in Adebayo and Erifun axis as expected. The study revealed terrain's influence and unprofessional construction of wells. A holistic water safety plan is imperative in the area and thus recommended.

New Frontiers in Water Distribution System Management and Monitoring: First Development of a Water Safety Plan Based on Heritage Building Information Modeling (HBIM) in Neptune Fountain, Bologna, Italy

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the introduction of a water safety plan (WSP) approach on drinking water, in all types of settings. This study represents the first WSP developed on the Neptune Fountain, in Bologna (Italy), based on an interdisciplinary approach, integrating hydraulic and microbiological features, in a Building Information Modeling (BIM). The aim was to develop a dynamic and digital platform to update and share the maintenance program, promoting collaboration among microbiologists, engineers, and municipal staff. Water samples were collected along fountain water distribution systems (WDS) from 2016 to 2021 to monitor water quality through the heterotrophic bacteria at 22 °C and 37 °C, as well as to conduct an Enterococci, Coliform bacteria, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Clostridium perfringens, and Staphylococcus aureus assessment. Simultaneously, hydraulic measures were performed, and advanced geomatics techniques were used to detect the WDS structural components, with a focus on the water treatment system (WTS). The WTS consisted of 10 modules corresponding to specific treatments: descaling, carbon–sand filtration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection. Fecal indicators, heterotrophic bacteria, and P. aeruginosa exceeded the reference limits in most of the modules. Several disinfections and washing treatments, other than changing the maintenance procedure scheduling, were performed, improving the WTS and controlling the contamination. The developed microbiological results, hydraulic measurements, and maintenance procedures were integrated in the BIM model to optimize the data storage, updating procedures and the real-time data sharing. This approach improved the fountain management, operation, and material conservation, ultimately preserving the health of daily visitors.

Effectiveness of climate resilient water safety plans in Nepal

ABSTRACT Water supply schemes (WSSs) in Nepal are managed by water user committees with basic knowledge of climate change. The Government of Nepal has committed and prioritized improving the quality of water services by implementing climate-resilient water safety plans (CR-WSPs) in 10 WSSs. In this study, how tough water sanitation and hygiene (HTIW) framework was adopted to assess the effectiveness of these CR-WSPs, which include four groundwater and six protected springs-based WSSs. Employing the HTIW framework, this study adopted the six key indicators environment, infrastructure, management, community governance and engagement, institutional support, and supply chains to evaluate CR-WSPs effectiveness. The indicators were then assessed using a Likert scale. Resilient schemes are needed to demonstrate a capacity to respond effectively to challenges such as unforeseen extreme events and potential hazards, together with an aptitude for financial management, laboratory maintenance, and social inclusion. Less resilient schemes tend to be those linked to social inclusion or financial issues. Institutional support and supply chain domain scored four and were relatively strong among them. The findings of this study suggest that CR-WSPs can be an important metric tool to assess climate resilience and guide policymakers in low- and middle-income countries.

Burden of unintentional drowning in China from 1990 to 2019 and exposure to water: findings from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study

BackgroundDrowning is an important contributor to the burden of deaths in China. Exposure to open water is a risk factor for drowning, but few studies quantify its impact on drowning....

Transforming place-based management within watersheds in Fiji: The watershed interventions for systems health project

Watersheds offer opportunities for place-based interventions to transform systems health via preventative versus reactive approaches to management that achieve multiple co-benefits for public and environmental health. The Watershed Interventions for Systems Health in Fiji (WISH Fiji) project embraced participatory knowledge co-production and action-oriented research to identify risks to public and ecosystem health, prioritize interventions to address risks, and monitor responses of the system to interventions. We used screening filters and local knowledge to collaboratively identify five watersheds for action with high prior incidence of water-related diseases (Fiji’s “three plagues” of leptospirosis, typhoid and dengue) and high risk to downstream environmental health. We reviewed literature to identify disease risk factors, evaluated overlaps with risks for downstream environmental impact, and designed 13 instruments to collect information about baseline risk. Following consultations to obtain free, prior and informed consent, we enrolled 311 households across 29 communities. We synthesized data to identify key risks at the household, community, and landscape level, which were communicated to community water and resource management committees and government leaders as part of developing water and sanitation safety plans for each community. Local committees identified 339 priority risk reduction actions across nine main categories: animal management; drainage; health systems surveillance; hygiene; integrated planning; land use management; sanitation systems; waste management; and water systems. As of October 2022, 154 interventions were implemented in the five watersheds across different risk categories and scales. While we can track changes to factors that reduce risk of water-related disease and improve environmental health, direct evaluation of impacts to public health is limited due to poor geolocation of case records. The WISH Fiji project is a model of cross-sectoral coordination that efficiently progresses multiple Sustainable Development Goals, but scaling requires sustained investment in interventions to realize full benefits, particularly for nature-based solutions that exhibit lagged responses.

Spatial distribution and health risk assessment of heavy metals in drinking water in Nikshahr and Iranshahr cities of Iran

ABSTRACT The presence of high concentrations of certain heavy metals (HMs) in drinking water poses a serious threat to the health of consumers. This work was done to investigate the concentration of heavy metals such as Arsenic (As) cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and cobalt (Co) in the water resources of two cities of Iranshahr and Nikshahr in the south of Sistan and Baluchistan province. For this aim, 24 samples of drinking water sources were collected and the concentration of heavy metals was determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results of samples of these networks showed that the average concentration of Pb (11.25 μg/L), Hg (10.33 μg/L), As (10.62 μg/L) and Cd (3.45 μg/L) far exceeds the standard of the World Health Organisation. The average concentration of heavy metals in the drinking water of Iranshahr and Nikshahr is respectively Fe>Pb>As>Hg>Ni>Cr>Co>Cd and Fe>Pb>As> Ni > Cr >Co>Cd> Hg. Potential sources of pollution in this study are attributed to infiltration of industrial effluents and agricultural runoff, which is a significant threat to groundwater quality. The calculated hazard quotients (HQ(values for non-carcinogenic risk show that this value is less than 1 in most metals, but the hazard index)HI) in children is greater than 1, and non-carcinogenic risk is evident. HI was obtained for children 5.4 and adults 2.6. However, the risk of carcinogenics in children and adults is equal to 2.66 E-05 and1.3E–6, respectively, and the increase in the risk of cancer in children is higher due to the consumption of drinking water. Therefore, it is necessary to protect water sources, water treatment and monitor more water distribution networks based on the water safety plan.

Environmental Surveillance of Legionella spp. in an Italian University Hospital: results of 7 years of analysis.

Nosocomial structures pose a high risk of Legionella spp. contamination due to complex water systems with challenging disinfection; moreover, the risk of severe legionellosis as a consequence of nosocomial exposure is very high in settings characterized by vulnerable patient conditions. In the present work, we described the results of 7 years of environmental surveillance in a reference hospital in Liguria, in which a specific water safety plan (WSP) has been implemented in 2017, including data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the study period, 1190 water samples were collected, of which 277 (23.3%) tested positive for Legionella spp. Positive samples with concentration values above 1,000 CFU/l were 184 (66.4%). Based on the new structure categorization contained in the WSP, hospital buildings classified as at "very high" risk resulted the most affected structures over the entire study period; however, the absolute number of positive samples greatly decreased over time, from 61 contaminated water samples in 2017 to only 9 in 2023. Our findings prompted the reinforcement of control and prevention measures, affirming the appropriateness of risk-category classification. Indeed, the majority of contamination cases were associated with the water networks of buildings classified as "very high" risk.

Geographical distribution of nitrate pollution and its risk assessment using GIS and Monte Carlo simulation in drinking water in urban areas of Fars province-Iran during 2017-2021.

Pollution of water resources with nitrate is currently one of the major challenges at the global level. In order to make macro-policy decisions in water safety plans, it is necessary to carry out nitrate risk assessment in underground water, which has not been done in Fars province for all urban areas. In the current study, 9494 drinking water samples were collected in four seasons in 32 urban areas of Fars province in Iran, between 2017 and 2021 to investigate the non-carcinogenic health risk assessment. Geographical distribution maps of hazard quotient were drawn using geographical information system software. The results showed that the maximum amount of nitrate in water samples in 4% of the samples in 2021, 2.5% of the samples in 2020 and 3% of the samples in 2019 were more than the standard declared by World Health Organization guidelines (50mg/L). In these cases, the maximum amount of nitrate was reported between 82 and 123mg/L. The HQ values for infants did not exceed 1 in any year, but for children (44% ± 10.8), teenagers (10.8% ± 8.4), and adults (3.2% ± 1.7) exceeded 1 in cities, years, and seasons, indicating that three age groups in the studied area are at noticeably significant non-carcinogenic risk. The results of the Monte Carlo simulation showed that the average value of non-carcinogenic risk was less than 1 for all age groups. Moreover, the maximum HQ values (95%) were higher than 1 for both children and teenager, indicating a significant non-carcinogenic risk for the two age groups.

Managing Drinking Water Aesthetics With Water Safety Planning

Key TakeawaysAesthetic water quality is an important but sometimes inadequately addressed aspect of providing a safe and reliable drinking water supply.In the United States, federal regulations provide a starting point for maintaining aesthetic water quality; however, this framework falls short of providing the tools needed to effectively implement the standards.A water safety planning approach can complement regulatory frameworks or be used as an industry standard for better management of aesthetic water quality.

Natural hazard risk analysis in the framework of water safety plans.

The available literature on natural hazard risk analysis focused on the implementation of water safety plans (WSPs) is surprisingly quite poor, despite the significant increase in the number and severity of disasters and adverse effects on drinking water supply systems generated by natural hazards. At the same time, WSPs that conveniently account for natural hazards with a comprehensive approach 'from source to tap' are still scarce as they typically occur at larger spatial scales and adequate prevention, mitigation and adaptation require efficient inter-institutional collaborations. The aim of this paper is to highlight the main bottlenecks for water utilities to include natural hazards in the development of their WSPs. The research adopted a stakeholders-oriented approach, involving a considerable number of water utilities (168), water sectoral agencies (15) and institutions (68) across the Adriatic-Ionian Region through a stepwise process that generated joint SWOT analysis, the development of a decision support system (DSS) focused on WSPs procedures and tabletop exercises. The final outcomes generated strategic documents (REWAS - Adrion Road map for resilient water supply) that highlighted the necessity for efficient cross-sectoral and inter-institutional cooperation in the development of well-founded and robust WSPs to address natural hazard risk analysis for water supply systems (DWSS).

New institutional theory perspective: water safety plan implementations in Thailand, Australia, Indonesia and Nepal

ABSTRACT Water is essential for human life and is an increasingly scarce resource with global population increase and climate change. In recognition of access to water as a fundamental human right, the World Health Organization (WHO) formulated Water Safety Plans (WSP) to be used by water organisations globally to ensure safe and secure water for human consumption. Whether and how water utility organizations use WSPs varies globally, however. We use case study analyses and institutional theory to explore the difference between water utility companies that are forced by regulations to adopt the WSP and those that are not, across four different countries. Our results show variation in WSP adoption based on the country’s legal requirements. We suggest that government regulations are important for promoting the implementation of WSPs by utility organizations and to secure and supply clean water to customers. Such regulations would reduce conspiracy and avoidance actions by organizations that limit the use of WSPs.