Much of the global population is exposed to contaminated drinking water. In piped systems, contamination can be mitigated at the water supplier or household levels, but it is often easier to mitigate at the water supplier level where it can be centrally managed. A water safety plan (WSP) is a holistic tool for proactively ensuring the safety of drinking water supplies from source to tap. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends this systematic risk assessment and preventive management approach for water supplies of all sizes to ensure drinking water safety and avoid exposure to contamination.

While application of WSPs have spread, systematic evidence for their implementation and effectiveness in improving water quality and health is limited, particularly in low-resource settings. Randomized controlled trials with staggered implementation (i.e., implementing in the control group at the end of data collection) have been recommended to overcome these issues. WSPs are also at the early stages of implementation in Ghana, and an evaluation of their implementation approaches and impact would help guide nationwide adoption and provide evidence useful to water service providers.