Water safety plans

Drinking water safety plans are described by the World Health Organisations as follows :-

“The most effective way means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking water supply is through the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses all steps in water supply from catchment to consumer.”

(Bartram J, Corrales L, Davison A, Deere D, Drury D, Gordon B, Howard G, Rhinehold A, Stevens M
Water Safety Plan Manual : Step-by-step risk management for drinking water supplies, World Health Organisation, Geneva 2009)

A copy of this second edition Manual (2023) is available from the WHO website.

The manual provides a framework and guidance for those wanting to create water safety plans for drinking water supply systems.

Drinking Water Inspectorate Risk Management Assessment Scheme

The Scheme, launched on 01 August 2019, has been jointly developed by the Inspectorate, Lloyd’s Register and in consultation with water companies.

The purpose of the Scheme is to verify that the risk based drinking water safety plan process (WSP), as advocated by the World Health Organisation, has been implemented, and is consistent with the requirements of the Water Industry Specification document (WIS) (WIS 04-01-04), together with the BSI standard for Security of Drinking Water Supply – Guidelines for Risk and Crisis Management – BS EN 15975-2, and the Guidance document to the Scheme.

The guidance document, application form, and other relevant material can be found on the LRQA website, by following this link.