Capacity building and training approaches for water safety plans: A comprehensive literature review.

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 needs. Many countries and regions lack case examples, legal requirements, and training resources for WSPs, corresponding to widespread capacity shortfall in the water supply sector. We undertook a comprehensive review of the literature on capacity building and training for WSPs, with the goal of providing recommendations for multiple stakeholder groups at the scales of individual utilities, national governments, and intermediate units of governance. We propose a WSP training taxonomy and discuss it in relation to the stages of learning (introduction, practice, and reinforcement); describe the importance of customizing training to the target group, local language and circumstances; highlight the relevance of auditing for evaluating change over time; and call for robust methods to monitor WSP capacity development.

Measuring the Impacts of Water Safety Plans in the Asia-Pacific 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 November 2014 and June 2016. WSPs were associated with infrastructure improvements at the vast majority (82) of participating sites and to increased financial support at 37 sites. In addition, significant changes were observed in operations and management practices, number of water safety-related meetings, unaccounted-for water, water quality testing activities, and monitoring of consumer satisfaction. However, the study also revealed challenges in the implementation of WSPs, including financial constraints and insufficient capacity. Finally, this study provided an opportunity to test the impact assessment methodology itself, and a series of recommendations are made to improve the approach (indicators, study design, data collection methods) for evaluating WSPs.

Plan de gestion de la sécurité sanitaire de l’eau : guide pratique pour l’amélioration de la sécurité sanitaire de l’eau potable dans les petites communautés

Selon les Directives de qualité pour l’eau de boisson de l’OMS, la mise en place d’un plan de gestion de la sécurité sanitaire de l’eau (PGSSE) constitue l’approche la plus efficace en vue d’assurer une alimentation continue en eau potable. Même si l’alimentation en eau potable dans les zones rurales et les petites villes ne cesse de poser d’importants problèmes dans l’ensemble de la Région européenne de l’OMS, l’approche PGSSE s’est révélée efficace pour les systèmes d'approvisionnement en eau à petite échelle. Le présent guide pratique vise à faciliter la mise en oeuvre du PGSSE dans les petites communautés en fournissant de courtes explications sur ce processus et des modèles pratiques utilisables sur le terrain.

План обеспечения безопасности воды: практическое руководство по повышению безопасности питьевой воды в небольших местных общинах

Подход, предполагающий разработку и реализацию “Плана обеспечения безопасности воды” (ПОБВ),рекомендован в Руководстве ВОЗ по обеспечению качества питьевой воды как наиболее действенныйспособ, позволяющий бесперебойно снабжать потребителей безопасной питьевой водой. Проблемыи трудности, связанные со снабжением питьевой водой населения сельских районов и малых городов,вызывают серьезную озабоченность во всем Европейском регионе ВОЗ, однако подход к решениюэтих проблем, в основе которого лежит ПОБВ, доказал свою эффективность в маломасштабныхсистемах водоснабжения. Предлагаемое практическое руководство, в котором содержатся краткиепояснения процесса разработки и осуществления ПОБВ и готовые к практическому использованиюформы документов для использования в реальных условиях, предназначено для того, чтобы помочьвнедрить методику и принципы ПОБВ в небольших общинах.

Water safety plan: a field guide to improving drinking-water safety in small communities

The WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality recommend the water safety plan (WSP) approach as the most effective way of ensuring continuous provision of safe drinking-water. The challenges related to drinking-water supply in rural areas and small towns are of notable concern across the entire WHO European Region, but the WSP approach has been proven to work effectively in small-scale water supplies. This field guide aims to support WSP implementation in small communities by providing brief explanations of the WSP process and practical templates for field use.