Water Safety Plan, a tool that will help improve water quality/safety

In the 6th World Water Forum (Marseille 2012), severaldirections and priorities were discussed Marseille 2012.

The target 1.3.3 states:By 2021, the practice of water safety and sanitation safety planning will be fully rolled out in 90 middle and lower-income countries, at the policy, regulatory and operational levels, with the establishment of national health-based targets, the quantitative assessment of microbial risks the implementation of cumulative health risk management and independent quality assessment.

What is your opinion and how keen you are about Water Safety Plan?

6 Answers

1. Very important topic and highly refreshing discussion indeed thank you very much for the great posts and shared information. Water safety planning is very vital and in a way needs to be fully embedded in river basin plans as well as integrated urban water management.

2. Hi Dani, Thanks for your post. WSP is clearly an holistic tool which can help to improve system knowledge and permonce. A leave here a link with information for whom is interested about WSP in NEPAL. http://www.wsportal.org/templates/ld_templates/layout_1367.aspx?ObjectId=30315&lang=eng Best Regards, Rui Sancho

3. In my experience in rural Nepal, WSPs are an excellent tool for engaging communities in discussions about their community-managed water/sanitation systems. It opens users' eyes up to how they themselves can improve the safety of their system, even if they are not confident of their own 'technical' abilities. The result is not only and implementation and monitoring plan, but also a greater understanding of how the system functions and how human interactions can impact upon this.

4. The next Water Safety Conference, will happen in Kampala (Uganda), between 13th and 15th of November 2012. For more information visit: http://web.nwsc.co.ug/iwa2012/ Kind Regards, Rui Sancho

5. Thanks Vishaka. I will take advantage of your post, to add some information about what is happening in India related with water safety: http://www.indiawaterportal.org/node/31311.

6. Consumption of unsafe drinking water affects the health of communities and has an impact on morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Access to safe drinking water is a basic need and is essential to health. I fully trust that the most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of drinking water supply is through the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and management approach, that encompasses all steps in water supply from catchment to consumer. Such approaches are called Water Safety Plans (WSPs). In India govt has started following WHO guidelines and pilot projects are started at two main metros. I am sure that other developing countries fighting with water and sanitation problems will get benefited when they will follow WSP.