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This text provides guidance on the chemical safety of drinking-water. Chemical contaminants of drinking-water are often considered a lower priority than microbial contaminants, because adverse health effects from chemical contaminants are generally associated with long-term exposures, whereas the effects from microbial contaminants are usually immediate. Nonetheless, chemicals in water supplies can cause very serious problems. The objective of this text is to help users at national or local level to establish which chemicals in a particular setting should be given priority in developing strategies for risk management and monitoring of chemicals in drinking-water. The document will be useful to public health authorities, those responsible for setting standards and for surveillance of drinking-water quality, and to water supply agencies responsible for water quality management. In particular, this publication will be applicable in settings where information on actual drinking-water quality is limited, which is the case in many developing countries and in rural areas of some developed countries.

Tool developed to support the development and implementation of WSPs, systematically highlighting the areas where progress is being made and opportunities for improvement.

Under AusAid funding, WHO supported WSP implementation in 10 urban systems in Bangladesh. This case study reports on WSP facts, and provides a description of the status of urban and rural water supply in Bangladesh.

Under AusAid funding, WHO supported WSP implementation in Vietnam. This case study highlights key WSP facts, and describes the water supply situation and regulation of WSP in Vietnam

This document summarizes the management of risk from microbial regrowth in distribution systems through optimized chlorine disinfection. Considerations is also given to the potential for formation of disinfection by-products. Strategies for controlling these risks are presented.

This document describes the learnings from water safety plan development and implementation by Rand Water in South Africa, providing valuable field experiences from the process.

This document sets out information which allows water suppliers and others to work together to minimise the risk of backsiophange (that is, the reverse flow condition created by a difference in water pressures that causes water and associated contaminants to flow back into drinking-water distribution pipes).

This publication describes the methods used in the surveillance of drinking-water quality in the light of the special problems of small-community supplies, particularly in developing countries, and outlines the strategies necessary to ensure that surveillance is effective. It is also concerned with the linkage between surveillance and remedial action and with the form that remedial action should take.

This document describes a preliminary economic assessment of the Koror-Airai, Palau drinking water safety plan. The information generated is to be used to inform stakeholders in Palau of the rewards from supporting the DWSP approach, demonstrating the potential benefits of investing in the Plan.

This paper describes an economic cost-benefit analysis of the Koror-Airai drinking water safety plan from Palau to demonstrate the value to society of the drinking water safety planning approach in the long term. The cost-benefit analysis for implementing the Koror-Airai drinking water safety plan showed that a return of US$ 6.00 was expected on every US$ 1.00 invested towards implementing the plan. The case study provides an effective advocacy tool for the promotion of drinking water safety planning both in the Pacific region and globally.

This document highlights water quality risks from supplies that do not continuously supply water and outlines examples of measure to control these risks.

This document describes the WSP implementation process in New Caledonia (French territory in the Pacific Ocean) for 13 municipalities that started in 2008. It describes the risk assessment and management tools used, the benefits achieved, the challenges and solutions to those challenges and the overall lessons learned.

The Guidelines for drinking-water quality is an authoritative basis for the setting of national regulations and standards for water safety in support of public health. It provides guidance on ways of implementing its recommendations of contextual hazard identification and risk management, including catchment-to-consumer water safety plans. The Guidelines position WSPs as a core element of the Framework for Safe Drinking-water and outline the principles and key elements of a WSP for policy-makers.

Before implementation of a WSP it is important to clearly identify the expected benefits and the associated costs both of which could be significant. This will help secure the support of senior management, ensure that sufficient resources are made available and allow much more targeted and efficient implementation. The actual benefits and costs of WSP implementation will vary considerably from utility to utility. This document sets out a summary of the issues that need to be taken into account.

This case study describes the development of Water Safety Plans in small community water supplies in South Africa. It describes the previous assessment methods as well as the eleven steps taken to develop and implement the WSP.

This text describes the processes involved in the design, installation and maintenance of effective plumbing systems. It also examines the microbiological, chemical, physical and financial risks associated with plumbing and emphasizes the importance of measures to conserve supplies of safe drinking-water. It is aimed at administrators and plumbers working in areas that are served by a mains drinking-water supply or sewerage system, or are about to install a mains drinking-water supply or sewerage system.

This Household Water Use and Health Survey was therefore conducted as part of the Water Safety Plan for Linden, Guyana in order to understand the fate of water from the time it reaches the home to the point of consumption. It illustrates the sampling, the household visits, the water testing, the data management and discusses the results from the survey.

The aim of this manual is to provide guidance on conducting a household survey as part of a Water Safety Plan for organized piped water supply systems in resource-limited settings. A household survey can help researchers to understand the fate of water from the time it reaches the home to the point of consumption. This survey contributes to Module 2 (System Assessment) of the Water Safety Plan, upon which the subsequent steps of hazard identification, consideration of control measures, and development of corrective actions, monitoring, and verification plans are based. Thus, the survey provides valuable information for the WSP team as the team goes through the process of system evaluation and implementation of changes resulting from the Water Safety Plan. Specific examples intended to guide the planner in designing the survey are provided in the appendices. A summary checklist for survey planning and completion is provided as Appendix A.

This document provides a 'road map' to support country-level implementation of WSPs. It provides guidance for country planners on how to initiate and carry out WSP implementation.  The document outlines a series of steps which may guide how WSP implementation and scale-up of WSPs may be approached at a national level.

Numerous publications now exist on the formation and use of WSPs, but most of these focus on largerscale projects run by private or public utilities, commercial enterprises and international NGOs. Tearfund’s particular interest is in how WSPs can be understood and established by user communities which are faced with self-managing a water supply project to gain sustainable access to safe water quality. The guide is written chiefly for the use of a facilitator or facilitating body (eg the hygiene promoters or community mobilisers of a DMT or partner staff) to use in training community members, and in particular,the water project accountability group (eg Water Users Committee) of the community.

Presents the WSP for Spanish Town, Jamaica, which may provide an example approach for WSP development for WSP community at an early stage of WSP development

The Water Research Commission (WRC) project K5/1993//3 “Web enablement of a water safety plan and incorporation of existing similar supply system assessment tool” aimed to establish a methodology to identify and manage the risks of water services infrastructure and the means by which Water Services Institutions (WSIs) are better able to identify and manage these through use of Water Safety Planning. The tool assists in developing a Water Safety Plan. Implementation thereof (e.g. taking required actions, implementing corrective actions, developing and implementing management and communication procedures) of the Water Safety Plan depends on the Water Services Institution (WSI).

This case study describes a randomized household survey and the collection and testing of drinking water samples from sources (household tap, public standpipe, rainwater, etc.) and household storage containers in Spanish Town Jamaica, with linkages to water safety planning.

This paper outlines a conceptual framework for conducting this type of overall evaluation of the impacts of a WSP. Drawing examples from existing WSPs in various regions, the framework also illustrates the types of intermediate outcomes that can be expected during WSP implementation. This conceptual framework, which requires some familiarity with WSPs, is designed to be one of a set of tools to guide the implementation and evaluation of Water Safety Plans, along with the WHO guidelines (WHO, 2006), the Water Safety Plan Manual (Bartram et al, 2009) and other tools and resources developed for national or regional use1

Egypt has accomplished the first draft of WSP at 2013, via cooperation between the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater and the VNG - International, this abstract represent the current situation of WSP in Egypt.

This checklist is conceived as an on-site, concise tool to support the Egyptian Water Regulatory Agency (EWRA) inspectors in performing a comprehensive audit of drinking water treatment plants. It covers both management and technical aspects of service provision in assuring adequate level of performance for health and environmental protection. The list is composed of 8 sections, encompassing:
- identification and service data
- local (outside) circumstances and security issues
- organization, human resources, procedures and training
- workplace safety, environmental and equipment conditions
- operations and maintenance
- power supply and ancillary services
- drinking water network
- laboratory, reporting and monitoring data

This water safety plan (WSP) template was developed to support the integration of climate risks into the WSP approach in rural areas of the United Rep. of Tanzania. Examples are presented on how to complete the template, and the information should be considered and customized to the local context.

This template is  based on WHO EURO (2014) Water safety plan: a field guide to improving drinking-water safety in small communities, but adapted to the local context.

This resource was developed as part of the Department for International Development (DFID, UK)-funded project on “Building adaptation to climate change in health in least developed countries through resilient WASH” which was implemented from 2013-2018 in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal and Tanzania.

Several Travel-associated Legionnaires’ disease (TALD) cases occur annually in Europe. Except from the most obvious sites (cooling towers and hot water systems), infections can also be associated with recreational, water feature, and garden areas of hotels. This argument is of great interest to better comprehend the colonization and to calculate the risk to human health of these sites. From July 2000–November 2017, the public health authorities of the Island of Crete (Greece) inspected 119 hotels associated with TALD, as reported through the European Legionnaires’ Disease Surveillance Network. Five hundred and eighteen samples were collected from decorative fountain ponds, showers near pools and spas, swimming pools, spa pools, garden sprinklers, drip irrigation systems (reclaimed water) and soil. Of those, 67 (12.93%), originating from 43 (35.83%) hotels, tested positive for Legionella (Legionella pneumophila serogroups 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15 and non-pneumophila species (L. anisa, L. erythra, L. taurinensis, L. birminghamensis, L. rubrilucens). A Relative Risk (R.R.) > 1 (p < 0.0001) was calculated for chlorine concentrations of less than 0.2 mg/L (R.R.: 54.78), star classification (<4) (R.R.: 4.75) and absence of Water Safety Plan implementation (R.R.: 3.96). High risk (≥104 CFU/L) was estimated for pool showers (16.42%), garden sprinklers (7.46%) and pool water (5.97%).

Beautiful short film on how to achieve safe drinking-water by Björn Weber, Oliver Meinborn and Grimme-price winner Ute Hilgeford. Launched by the World Health Organization on World Water Day 2019.

The film-makers accompany a community in the mountains of Tajikistan – where water safety plans have been introduced for the first time in Central Asia. It is a group of citizens who take matters into their own hands. An inspiring story of how a village invests their funeral fund on safer drinking-water.

These training materials have been developed by the South-East Asia Regional Office of WHO to be used either to train trainers or to train operators of water supply utilities or sector stakeholders. They are intended for use by governments, NGOs, private sector, academic institutions and individuals. They may be used intensively over three or five days or included in longer educational programs either as part of academic courses or as part of continuing professional development training. They comprise:
- Presenters Guide,
- Participant’s Handbook,
- PowerPoint slides notes for presenter and PowerPoint Handouts for participants,
- Worksheets and other resources for participants
- Table group worksheets for use during the training programme.

This document provides guidance on developing and implementing a WSP auditing scheme, covering such topics as the aim and role of auditing, auditor training and certification, audit criteria, audit timing and frequency and audit reporting. The guidance document includes examples, tips, tools and case studies, and it serves as a practical resource for policy makers, government bodies responsible for drinking-water regulation or surveillance and water suppliers implementing WSPs.

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Small-scale systems are an important component of water supply in the WHO European Region, and Water Safety Plans (WSPs) are regarded the most effective approach to ensuring continuous provision of safe drinking-water.

The above is a short promotional video on WSPs in the WHO European Region.