Find WSP Resources

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......

This report provides a synthesis of water safety plan (WSP) implementation efforts in Ghana. It highlights the implementation status, enabling environment, challenges, opportunities, and relevant recommendations for improvement....

Water safety plans (WSPs) represent a holistic risk assessment and management approach covering all steps in the water supply process from the catchment to the consumer. Since 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) has formally recommended WSPs as a public health intervention to consistently ensure the safety of drinking water. These risk management progr...

This water safety plan country report for Sri Lanka shares the key learnings from the country’s WSP journey and achievements. The lessons learned can support the broader WSP global community for successful and practical WSP implementation....

Set in Uganda, this short video documents how sanitary inspections can be applied as a basic risk management tool for small water supplies in resource limited settings. For more information, visit: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/department-civil-environmental-engineering/research/water-environment-and-health-engineering-group...

Set in Iceland, this short video documents how sanitary inspections can be applied as a basic risk management tool for small water supplies. For more information, visit: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/department-civil-environmental-engineering/research/water-environment-and-health-engineering-group...

The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes water safety plans (WSPs) – a risk-based management approach – for premise plumbing systems in buildings to prevent deterioration of drinking-water quality. Experience with the implementation of WSPs in buildings were gathered within a pilot project in Germany. The project included an evaluation of the feasibi...

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.......

The lack of access to safe drinking-water is felt disproportionately by those who are disadvantaged socially, economically, demographically or geographically, and explicit consideration of these groups is required to understand and address disparities. This document describes how, with relatively modest efforts, the water safety plan (WSP) approach can bring...

In many countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) South-East Asia Region, drinking water is not used directly from the tap and faecal contamination of water sources is prevalent. As reflected in Sustainable Development Goal 6, access to safer drinking water is one of the most successful ways of preventing disease. The WHO Water Safety......

The World Health Organization has recommended Water Safety Plans (WSPs), a holistic risk assessment and risk management approach, for drinking-water suppliers across low-, middle- and high-income countries, since publishing its 2004 Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality. While rapid WSP adoption has occurred, capacity is still catching up to implementation n...

Aims: The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended Water Safety Plans (WSPs) since 2004 as a means to reduce drinking water contamination and risks to human health. These risk management programs have shown promise across several potential areas of evaluation, such as economic benefits and regulatory compliance. Since WSPs are largely carried out by p...

This document presents case studies from lower and higher income settings around the world that highlight O&M benefits resulting from WSP implementation. These case studies contribute to a growing body of information on the outcomes of water safety planning and may be useful in building support for WSPs among water sector senior managers, operational sta...

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....

This study investigated the effectiveness of Water Safety Plans (WSP) implemented in 99 water supply systems across 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. An impact assessment methodology including 36 indicators was developed based on a conceptual framework proposed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and before/after data were collected between Novemb...

Describes resources developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and partners, on various aspects of water safety planning, such as water safety plan development, implementation, training, advocacy and auditing....

Water Safety Plans (WSPs), recommended by the World Health Organization since 2004, seek to proactively identify potential risks to drinking water supplies and implement preventive barriers that improve safety. To evaluate the outcomes of WSP application in large drinking water systems in France and Spain, we undertook analysis of water quality and complianc...

Based on information gathered from 118 countries representing every region of the globe, this report provides a picture of WSP uptake worldwide. It presents information on WSP implementation and the integration of WSPs into the policy environment. It also explores WSP benefits, challenges and future priorities. It is envisaged that this report will serve as....

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....

Presents policy-makers with a range of regulatory, planning, financial and educational instruments to support effective policy and promote good practice (including water safety planning) to improve small-scale water supply and sanitation systems. This publication aims to inspire practitioners and policy-makers who develop water supply and sanitation policies...

The purpose of this document is to share Ethiopia’s experience in the implementation of the “Building adaptation to climate change in health in least developed countries through WASH project” especially the WASH sector with development partners, government bodies and project implementing member countries. It includes valuable lessons learned fr...

The New South Wales (NSW) Public Health Act 2010 requires water suppliers to implement a drinking water quality assurance program that addresses the ‘Framework for management of drinking water quality’ in the Australian drinking water guidelines. NSW Health has recognised the importance of a staged implementation of this requirement and the need to suppo...

A survey was conducted to assess the costs and benefits of the WSPs developed at 197 production units operated by the SUEZ Company and serving a total of 10.6 million consumers in France, Spain, Cuba, Morocco and Macao. The results demonstrate benefits in terms of confidence of clients and health agencies. The main benefits however......

Information and advocacy brochure from WHO-SEARO briefly defining Water Safety Plans (WSPs), showing progress in WSP development in South East Asia Region, illustrating what WSPs deliver to suppliers and users and providing ideas on what stakeholders’ next steps might be....

Water supply companies may face challenges when developing an investment plan for implementation of WSPs, due to the relatively large number of objectives with limited available budget for funding. This draft publication aims to provide guidance for water service companies to develop an investment plan that can meet the most of basic requirements of a......

The WSP approach was elaborated within two cooperation projects implemented in rural areas of Burkina Faso and Senegal by two Italian NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations). In order to evaluate its sustainability, a questionnaire based on five different sustainability elements and a cost and time consumption evaluation were carried out and applied in both th...

The article describes an Icelandic study to determine the impact of WSP implementation on regulatory compliance, microbiological water quality, and incidence of clinical cases of diarrhea....

The objective of this research was to understand the impact of WSPs on operators and water management culture in Alberta’s small communities....

This paper presents a case study from Bangladesh describing how WSPs can be developed and implemented for small systems. Model WSPs were developed through consultation with key water sector practitioners in the country. Simplified tools were developed to translate the formal WSPs into a format that was meaningful and accessible for communities to use....

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...

Under AusAid funding, WHO supported WSP implementation in the Philippines. This case study reports on key WSP facts, and describes the status of water supply in the Philippines...

Under AusAid funding, WHO supported Water safety plan implementation in Nepal. This case study reports on key WSP facts, and describes the status of water supply....

Under AusAid funding, WHO supported WSP implementation in Bhutan. This case study reports on key facts of the WSPs, and describes the status of water supply in Bhutan....

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....

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 de...

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......

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......

Da Nang Water Supply Company (DAWACO) and Manila Water Company, Inc. (Manila Water) engaged in a water operator partnership (WOP) to help DAWACO meet World Health Organization (WHO) standards for water quality in their pipe network. Through the partnership, 20,000 residents received improved access to water, and DAWACO increased staff capacity to scale up si...

A brief note on the rationale for the WSP approach, the potential benefits for various stakeholder groups, and the value of incorporating WSPs into policies and regulations....