Risk Assessment for Safe Drinking Water Supplies - Global Drinking Water Management and Conservation - page 122

The Water Safety Plan is useless unless prompt and corrective action is possible
when the results of monitoring indicate a deviation from an operational or critical
limit. This is the point about intervention. When a water treatment plant is small and
simple, the possibilities of intervention are severely limited. In that case, an elab-
orate Water Safety Plan may not be of much use.
We may de which are activities that

ensure the operating environment, the equipment used, and the people themselves
do not become an additional source of potential hazards to the drinking water
supply. Supporting programs ensure good process control, good management, and
good hygienic practices.
Veri

ne the functions of “ supporting programs, ”

cation and Validation require the use of methods, procedures, or tests in
addition to those used in monitoring to determine if the water safety plan is in
compliance with the stated objectives outlined in the water quality targets and/or
whether the water safety plan needs modi

cation and revalidation. This stage may
also include review of monitoring control measures, microbiological and chemical
testing, or review of the water safety plan overall so as to ensure that it is still in
accordance with the original intent. In principle, a Water Safety Plan should be
constantly reviewed and updated.

6.3.3 The Bonn Charter

While the WHO was developing its approach to risk minimization for drinking
water, a group of water industry professionals first met in Bonn in 2001 and worked

on establishing very similar but complementary principles. After their second
meeting in 2004, the Bonn Charter was born; it is endorsed by the International
Water Association (International Water Association 2004 ). While the Bonn advo-
cates also endorse the WHO approach, the Bonn Charter principles are slightly
different. They are:
(1) Management of the whole water cycle; (2) management control systems to be
implemented to assess risks at all points throughout water supply systems and to
manage such risks; (3) an integrated approach requiring close cooperation and
partnership between all stakeholders including governments; (3) open transparent
and honest communication between all stakeholders; (4) clear responsibilities of the
different institutions contributing to the delivery of safe and reliable drinking water;
(5) water that is safe, reliable, and esthetically acceptable; (6) the price of water
should be set, so that it does not prevent consumers from obtaining water of
suf

cient quantity and quality to meet fundamental domestic needs; (7) any system
for assuring drinking water quality should be based on the best available scienti c

evidence and be suf flexible to take account of the different legal, institu-

tional, cultural, and socioeconomic situations of different countries.
Thus, the Bonn Charter emphasizes consumer satisfaction and recognizes that
drinking water is a public good and that good quality drinking water should not be

ciently