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WATER
SAFETY PLAN:
A comprehensive health-based risk assessment and risk management
approach to optimizing drinking-water safety from catchment
to consumer. |
THE
WATER SAFETY PLAN APPROACH
Poor
water quality and inadequate sanitation account for 1.8 million
deaths among children each year and act to undermine economic
growth and hinder the efforts of households to escape poverty.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, an estimated 50 million
people lack access to an improved water supply (UNDP Human
Development Report 2006).
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The
most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of
a drinking-water supply is through a comprehensive health-based
risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses
all steps in the water supply from catchment to consumer. In
the 3rd Edition of the World Health Organization’s Guidelines
to Drinking Water Quality, this approach is referred to as a
Water Safety Plan (WSP), and it is a key component of the framework
for safe drinking-water described in the Guidelines (see figure
below).
A WSP is a holistic, systematic and integrated management approach
used to identify and prioritize potential threats to water quality
at each step in a specific system’s water supply chain
and implement best practices to mitigate those threats and ensure
drinking-water quality.
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THE FRAMEWORK
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OBJECTIVES AND BENEFITS
A
WSP aims to help drinking-water providers and other stakeholders
improve water quality and consistently meet established health-based
targets by:
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controlling the contamination of source waters through managing
activities in the watershed;
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optimizing the removal or inactivation of contaminants during
treatment; and
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preventing recontamination during distribution, storage
and handling.
The WSP approach to ensuring a safe water supply is flexible,
accessible and serves to:
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identify opportunities for low-cost improvements to operations
and management practices that can enhance water safety,
improve efficiency and reduce expenses;
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improve stakeholders’ understanding of the complete
water supply chain and its vulnerabilities;
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improve communication and collaboration between key stakeholder
groups, such as water providers, consumers, regulatory authorities
and commercial, environmental and health sectors; and
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help substantiate and prioritize capital improvement needs
and help leverage financial support.
GROWING
WORLD-WIDE APPLICATION
Communities
in almost every region of the world have implemented WSPs,
including Africa, the Americas, South-East Asia, Europe and
the Western Pacific. The Latin America and Caribbean Region
has been notably involved in this global effort to apply the
WSP approach to ensuring drinking-water safety.
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WATER
SAFETY PLANS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: |
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Tarija, Bolivia |
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San Pedro Sula, Honduras |
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Spanish Town, Jamaica |
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Dolores, Uruguay |
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Vicosa, Brazil |
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Buenos Aires, Argentina |
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Linden, Guyana |
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Mabouya Valley, St. Lucia |
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WATER
SAFETY PLAN RESOURCES:
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For more information on Water Safety Plans (including examples
of completed WSPs), visit the WSPortal:http://www.who.int/wsportal.
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To download the 3rd Edition of the World Health Organization’s
Guidelines to Drinking Water Quality, visit:http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq3rev.
(Chapter 4 describes the principles of the WSP approach.)
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For more information on the WSP Network (to be launched
in October 2008) aimed at sharing experiences and resources
and building capacity to support continued WSP implementation
in Latin America and the Caribbean, contact:
Mr. Ricardo Torres
Regional Advisor in Water Quality, CEPIS/SDE/PAHO/WHO
Phone: +(51) (1) 319-0000, Ext. 5783; Fax: +(51) (1) 437-3603
E-Mail: rtorres@paho.org;
web: http://www.bvsde.paho.org
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For information on the International Water Association’s
Bonn Charter, which presents a framework for drinking-water
safety that incorporates the development of WSPs, visit:
http://www.who.int/wsportal/bonn/en/
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For information on the Inter-American Association of Sanitary
and Environmental Engineering (AIDIS) and the organization’s
involvement in the implementation of WSPs, visit:http://www.aidis.org.br
Versión: June 2008
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