CS55: Guidance Note on Mainstreaming Water Safety Plans in ADB projects

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Mainstreaming Water Safety Plans

in ADB Water Projects

Guidance Note

11 March 2011

DRAFT

Prepared by Dr. David Sutherland, Atkins(Currently WHO)



Contents

Section Page

. Purpose of these guidelines 1

. What does a Water Safety Plan look like? 1

. Why are Water Safety Plans important? 4

. On-going Water Safety Plans activities 4

. How to mainstream WSPs into ADB Operations 5

.1

WSPs within ADB project planning cycle

5.2 Water safety within programmatic lending 13

. Roles of utilities and households 13

Attachment

1. Examples of Hazards and Hazardous Events Affecting Water Safety



1. Purpose of these guidelinesThe purpose of this document is to provide ADB Project Teams with the information and guidance they need

to incorporate Water Safety Plans (WSPs) into their project planning and implementation activities. The

types of projects to which they apply are primarily water supply and sanitation projects but they could and

should be used for any projects that may have an impact on water supply sources and systems. This

document describes Water Safety Plans and explains why they are important, both for improving water

quality for consumers and for improving the longer term performance of ADB’s investments.

The guidelines should be used by ADB staff in the preparation of Project Preparation Technical Assistance

(PPTA) Terms of Reference and consultants should use them as part of the PPTA to ensure that WSPs are

developed and implemented within project design and implementation. They should also be used during

project implementation to ensure that the WSP is implemented as a fundamental part of the project and can

be used for monitoring and evaluation (M&E).

Draft Terms of Reference are included within the guidelines, as are examples of how WSPs are being usedcurrently by ADB in their project and programme delivery.

2. What does a Water Safety Plan look like?WSPs are being promoted by WHO through their Drinking Water Quality Guidelines, based on the premise

that: “The most effective 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. In these Guidelines, such approaches are called WSPs”.

A WSP is, in its most basic form, a document, created and used by any organisation that supplies water toothers. It is a document that:

• Shows who within the organisation will oversee the development and implementation of the WSP – the

WSP Team. It shows who is responsible for what activities identified under the WSP.

• Presents the results of a system assessment which include:

o A description of the water supply system from source through treatment, storage, transmission,

distribution and consumption

o A list of the hazards and hazardous events that can affect the safety of the water supply (examples

of hazards are provided at Attachment 1)

o An assessment of the risks presented by each hazard and hazardous event

o A review of controls or barriers for each significant risk and if these are effective – an operational

monitoring schedule

o A verification process to validate the effectiveness of controls and barriers

o An implementation plan for improvements where necessary

o A list of supporting documentation and on-going record-keeping

o A demonstration that the system is consistently safe

This WSP document is then referred to on a regular basis as the hazards, risks and controls are reviewed

systematically (operational monitoring) and management and communication systems are set up with

consumers and external organisations with an influence on the water supply system and its source.



The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Water Association (IWA) have developed a

Water Safety Plan Manual. This Manual presents this schematically in Figure 1 below. The Manual can be

accessed at: ://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/WSP/en/index.

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/WSP/en/index.html





Figure1: Water Safety Plan development and implementation process. Source: WHO (2009), Water Safety Plan Manual



3. Why are Water Safety Plans important?The initial purpose of WSPs was to shift the emphasis away from the expensive, and far from full-proof,

process of monitoring water quality towards the surveillance of water safety (monitoring and management ofthe water supply system itself in addition to checks on water quality). However, as WSPs are being

developed, it is becoming increasingly clear that they offer far more in relation to:

• Improved operation and maintenance of water supply systems, and their regulation, saving money and

improving the targeting of resources.

• They are an effective tool in reducing Non-Revenue Water as there is a focus on reducing leakage,

maintaining pressure in the system 24 hours a day and on communication with the consumers.

• Providing information on asset condition and management and associated current/future investment

requirements.

• Assessing the impact of development upon water supply systems and their catchments.

4. On-going Water Safety Plans activitiesWSPs are being promoted by WHO through the latest () edition of the Drinking Water Quality Guidelines.

With the support of AusAID WHO are actively scaling-up the delivery of WSPs through policy development,

institutional capacity building and implementation of urban and rural WSPs in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Lao PDR,

Nepal, Philippines and Viet Nam, as well as through the development of materials and tools to support WSP

development. They are working closely with the International Water Association on tools and events to

promote WSPs and they have a joint web-site which presents WSP these: ://www.wsportal.org/ibis/water-

safety-portal/eng/

Amongst the tools are:

• a ‘WSP Quality Assurance Tool’ which water suppliers can use to see how far they have got with WSP

implementation and identify areas they need to work on, and

• ‘A Road Map to Support Country-Level Implementation of Water Safety Plans’.

Other partners who are supporting the development of WSPs include USAID (in India and through their

ECO-Asia twinning programme in Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam ://www.waterlinks.org/ ).

The Global Water Operators Partnership Alliance (GWOPA) is providing training to utilities in many locations

on WSPs. ://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6947&catid=234&typeid=11&subMenuId=

There are advanced programmes on water safety planning in Australia and the UK:

://www.dwi.gov.uk/stakeholders/risk-assessments/index.

The Asian Development Bank is itself actively involved in the promotion of Water Safety Plans in Viet Nam,

as reported by Rudolph Frauendorfer in the Keynote Presentation at the Water Safety Conference, 2-4

November 2010, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Water

There are various opportunities for ADB projects to partner in-country with other agencies in developing

WSPs.

http://www.wsportal.org/ibis/water-safety-portal/eng/home



http://www.waterlinks.org/twinning


http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6947&catid=234&typeid=11&subMenuId=0


http://www.dwi.gov.uk/stakeholders/risk-assessments/index.htm


http://www.wsportal.org/uploads/IWA%20Toolboxes/WSP/Events/WS2010PPT/10-11-02%20ADB%20presentation%20AJude%20IWA.ppt

http://www.wsportal.org/uploads/IWA%20Toolboxes/WSP/Events/WS2010PPT/10-11-02%20ADB%20presentation%20AJude%20IWA.ppt








5. How to mainstream WSPs into ADB

OperationsThere are two main ways in which WSPs can be mainstreamed into ADB operations. The first is to include

them within the normal ADB project planning cycle (from project identification and preparation through to

implementation and review). The second is to include it as one of the conditions of programmatic lending.

5.1 WSPs within the ADB project planning cycleThe structure presented in the WSP Manual (Figure 1) is one which complements ADB’s project planning

preparation cycle. The four broad stages of WSPs are:• WSP Stage 1: Concept and Preparation

• WSP Stage 2: System assessment (and operational monitoring)

• WSP Stage 3: Management and communication, and

• WSP Stage 4: Feedback (and improvement)

Figure 2 below shows how these stages fit comfortably with the ADB process. WSP Stages 1 to 3 need to

be completed twice. During the PPTA they will help inform the project design process (in terms of identifying

control measures and institutional capacity building requirements) and then during project implementation.

At the PPTA stage, a preliminary WSP Team would be established to carry out the system assessment,

identify hazards and control measures. This team would be made up of individuals who are already involvedin the project preparation such as ADB staff, PPTA consultants and counterpart agencies and utilities.

Ideally, a specialist with experience preparing WSPs may be added to the PPTA team to set out the

preparation plans, provide guidance and then review progress. Partner agencies described in section 4

above who are also working on WSPs in-country may be able to provide their expertise or make available

their trainers to support to the teams. For example, in Vietnam, the ADB Team Leader worked closely with

WHO staff during project preparation.

At implementation stage a formal, permanent WSP Team would be established to implement the WSP. It

is likely that the composition of the preliminary and permanent teams would be the same, with one or two

possible additions. The formation of a team helps to ensure staffs of the utility and consultants hired by ADB

or the borrower have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities and accountability to other

team members. However, there is no rigid requirement for a team to be formed and there may be differentways to structure the expertise required based on the individual case and institutional structure of the utility.

a. Project Concept

During the project concept stage, the ADB team and any consultants hired to scope the project, should

review the potential to incorporate WSPs. In essence, the WSP approach can be applicable to all water

supply systems no matter how simple or complex. The ADB team should provide information to the

government and utility counterparts to gain interest in incorporating WSPs as a strategy to consistently

ensure the safety and acceptability of a drinking water supply .

The WSP approach needs to be included from the planning stage and should be incorporated into theProject Concept Paper, Concept Stage Design and Monitoring Framework, Safeguard related documents,and PPTA ToRs. The Project Concept Paper should raise the issue that unsafe water, together withinadequate sanitation and hygiene, is he overwhelming contributor to the 4 billion cases of illness and 1.8



million deaths caused by diarrhoea ever year. About 90% of this toll is borne by children under 5. It is nolonger sufficient to provide the infrastructure without being able to ensure the water being supplied is safe. The Concept Paper will need to illustrate how the WSP approach supports the higher level goals of the

project, which in most cases will be to improve health through provision of safe drinking water. See below

how the WSP approach might fit into the overall project concept.

Design Summary Performance

Targets/Indicators

Data

Source/Reporting

Mechanism

Impact

Improved health (and productivity) Reduced Incidence of

diarrhoeal outbreaks

Reduced physical burden

National Health

Data

Outcome

Sustainable provision of safe water and improvedoperational efficiencies Improved water qualityWater Safety Plans

Customer Satisfaction

Water Quality DataReports

WSP monitoring

reports

Output

Expanded /rehabilitated infrastructure (including

specific investments to reduce risks/hazards to

water quality)

Improved capacity (risk management, water safety

management as well as operational, financial,

planning, etc.)

Long term asset management

strategy and funding

arrangements

Quality Control and Quality

Assurance systems, internal

and third party.

Auditing of O&M Activities and

key performance indicators

Improved water quality data

Customer satisfaction

Utility reports

Activities

Staff and contractor training programs

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for operation

of water supply system from the catchment to

consumer including Operational Manuals

Procedures for programmed and unscheduled

(emergency) maintenance activities

Emergency and Incident Management Protocols and

Manuals

Equipment calibration and maintenance programs

Asset information data capture and management

systems

Training reports, manuals and monitoring Reports



b. P roject P reparation

During the PPTA, the consultants should have adequate experience to identify the hazards to safe water

abstraction, treatment and distribution. The PPTA consultants will need to help in identifying the cost

implications of incorporating the WSP approach during project implementation. Consultant ToRs, key tasks,

and inputs are provided in the following section.

The consultants should identify the preliminary WSP team members within the utility (assuming it already

exists) and identify the external counterparts that would have a potential role in regulation and monitoring. A

WSP Team within the utility would ideally include the following types of experts:

JOB TITLE EXPERTISE ROLE

Team Leader Water quality engineering Lead on WSP development

Water Supply Operator Operations Dissemination

Process Support Water Treatment specialist Input into WSP

Water Supply Operator Treatment plant operations Input into WSP

Principal Scientist Microbiology/Chemistry Monitoring of effectiveness of WSP

Headworks manager Operations Management of catchment

Secretary Communications/Training Management of procedures

There is no one way to undertake the WSP approach. What is important is that the WSP approach fits in with

the way a utility is organized and operates and the roles and responsibilities are defined.



Figure2: Incorporating WSP into new ADB Projects



Project Feasibility Study

Consultants selected to carry out the PPTA (including the feasibility study, safeguards assessment

and poverty and social assessment) should be able to either: (i) demonstrate experience applying and

working with WSPs or risk–based approaches to water supply, or, as a minimum (ii) an understanding

of WSPs and risk-based approaches.

Whilst formal WSPs are only proposed for water suppliers, consideration should be given to WSPs

and approaches for all projects, regardless of the sector, where there is the potential to adversely

impact the environment. In particular, regard should be given to assessing hazards and risks to

The ADB Project Team should add a WSP Expert (1 to 2 person-months) to the PPTA consultant

team, one with experience of water quality management/engineering and the production and

implementation of WSPs.

a

water supply system and its source water.

The Terms of Reference for the WSP Expert would include:

• Assembly of a preliminary WSP team comprising:

o the WSP expert as well as other water engineering/quality experts within the PPTAimplementing team;

o representatives from existing local water utilities including engineers and any water quality

staff;

o representative(s) of government agencies responsible for standards and regulation of

drinking water quality; and

o representative(s) of government agencies responsible for urban infrastructure investment

policy and regulation of utilities.

• Coordination of a workshop with the above stakeholders, plus at least one member of ADB’s

project team (to ensure they are appropriately briefed in the concept and process for conducting

future appraisal, monitoring and evaluation activities), to discuss:

o the concept of WSPs, their benefits (provide presentation) and how they are developed and

implemented;

o the existing water supply system and drinking water quality control measures (engineers

from individual utilities should be encouraged to present);

o the existing situation with respect to water safety (incidence, location and source of known

water safety failures and problems); and

o the apparent actions required for the improvement of water safety – either by the water utility

or others.

• Initial system assessment(s) – high-level description of the existing (or proposed) water supplysystems including flow charts showing sources, control points and receptors. This will need to be

done separately for each water supply utility but need not be a highly detailed assessment at this

Project Preparation stage. The basic elements for describing the water supply system should

cover the whole system from the source (catchment) to the end point of supply (the consumer)

and document the inputs and outputs even if they do not operate all the time. Ideally the flow

diagram should be taken out on site to check it’s accuracy and local knowledge.

• Workshop to undertake high-level risk assessment for the preparation of a preliminary WSP.

This should establish:

o the sources of risk to water safety in the region;

o identify potential biological, physical, and chemical hazards to water safety along thesystem;



o the current control measures for those risks;

o residual risks which are not controlled;

o the required action for improvements;

o the indicators by which drinking water safety improvements will be measured; and

o the level and responsibilities of permanent WSP teams; and

o the cost implications of any of the recommendations proposed including for any goods,

equipment, capacity building during project implementation.

• The interim WSP will identify the need for institutional capacity and infrastructure improvements

(in the water sector and elsewhere) in order to improve water safety. The consultant should

incorporate these findings into the wider work of the PPTA consultant team with respect to

project design and costing for urban infrastructure and environmental improvements. They

should also make recommendations of the indicators by which the success of the project can be

measured in terms of:

o process: uptake of the WSP; and

o impacts: beneficial outcomes in terms of improved water safety (e.g. percentage of drinking

water quality samples meeting standards following treatment and at supply points, number

of pollution/other incidents requiring provision of alternative water supplies, number and

duration of treatment plant failures, proportion of those served receiving continually

pressurised water).

• Assembly of preliminary WSP team and providing the team with the required information and

briefing material: 3 days;

Likely Consultant Resource Requirements at PPTA Stage – 25 days

• 2 in-country workshops (1-day each) led by international expert and attended by local

stakeholders: 2 days of workshop time with 4 days preparation time;• Initial system assessment and completion of interim WSP (following second workshop).

Incorporation into wider project design: 12 days; and

• Technical translation support for the consultant: 4 days including two workshop attendance days

and two days for travel, preparation and document review.

c . Project Appraisal

The Design and Monitoring Framework and its outputs should be tailored to develop performance

targets/indicators that include a review of the WSP and/or its implementation.

The key indicators to consider when reviewing a WSP are:

• How much of the WSP has been developed and implemented. WHO and IWA have developed a

Tool, called the Quality WSP Assurance Tool which can be used to determine progress. It was

set up originally as a tool for utilities to measure their own progress and identify areas which

need further attention but, after discussion with utilities and regulators, is also being promoted as

a tool for external evaluation. It is useful to have a common tool used internally and externally so

that the level of implementation is discussed from a common perspective.

• The extent to which the key components of an O&M plan to ensure delivery of safe water have

been implemented and are operational, including1

1 These indicators are taken from the ‘O& M Plan Guidance Note’ produced by the operation and MaintenanceNetwork, 2010

:



o Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for operation of water supply system from the

catchment to consumer including Operational Manuals

o Procedures for programmed and unscheduled (emergency) maintenance activities

o Emergency and Incident Management Protocols and Manuals

o Equipment calibration and maintenance programs

o Asset information data capture and management systems

o Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

o Monitoring and reporting of KPI (government regulated/self regulated)

o Long term asset management strategy and funding arrangements

o Staff and contractor training program

o Quality Control / Quality Assurance systems, internal and third party Auditing of O&M

Activities and KPIs

•

Outcome based indicators may include incidence of diarrhoeal outbreaks but in the first instanceare more likely to include quality of water quality data, water quality itself and operational

efficiency.

As in the case for the PPTA, water safety approaches should be adopted for any project that may

have an impact on a water source or water supply system. For example, an analysis of urban

development plans and policies should include a review of the water supply system and any hazards

and risks that the proposed project may have within the system (including catchment), or water supply

and sanitation projects having impacts on the environment.

The Fact Finding Mission needs to review technical, financial, economic, marketing and

management aspects and potential social and environmental impacts. The detailed project risks and

sensitivity analyses carried out to assess the project viability should include a review of the WSP,

particularly the system assessment and the operational monitoring

The Project Administration Manual (PAM) would incorporate the outputs and recommendations

from the PPTA with respect to WSPs. In particular, the PAM would include:

steps. ADB would include in theToRs for the project Fact-Finding Mission a requirement for a meeting with the interim WSP team

stakeholders.

• Identification of the interim WSP team in the project definition, as well as the anticipated impact

and outcomes of establishing a formal (long-term) WSP approach. Identification of the outputs

that will be delivered by the WSP teams in the future i.e. formal WSPs for each water supply

utility and regular reviews;

• Under Environmental Safeguards, identification of how the control measures will improve water

quality, water efficiency and the catchment and system environment;

• Inclusion of additional finances for the ADB and/or its consultants to conduct the required WSP

processes in the future (as shown in the Terms of Reference above);

• Description of required WSP activity in the Execution Plan. This would closely follow the ten

steps set out in the WSP Manual; and

• Inclusion of procedures and indicators in the Performance Monitoring & Evaluation section with

respect to the achievement of the processes and impacts of the WSP.

It is not anticipated that the inclusion of this information in the PAM will require significant additional

efforts or resources by the ADB project management team, beyond what is already required.



d. P roject Implementation

Inception and progress missions

The ADB project management team undertakes regular missions, at inception and at least twice per

year during implementation, to monitor progress towards project completion.

Such missions should include an additional requirement to review progress of the new formal WSPteams in establishing the WSP process. This would be conducted by the ADB’s own WSP expert or

an external expert who may be the same expert who establishes the process in the PPTA stage.

Design

The ADB project includes the recruitment of loan implementation consultants by the borrower for the

design and implementation of the infrastructure activities recommended in the PPTA consultant’s

report and contained in the RRP.

The loan implementation consultant team would include a WSP expert so that once significant

investment in project infrastructure and capacity-building has begun they can work to assemble the

permanent WSP team. These WSP teams will develop, implement and monitor the WSPs in the

future.

The ToRs for this work would require an international WSP expert (preferably the same as used in the

PPTA, if possible) to conduct the following work:

• Assemble the required individuals and stakeholders for the permanent WSP teams in each water

supply utility;

• Provide appropriate training as required by the permanent WSP teams; to cover the concept and

implementation of WSPs;

• Work with the permanent WSP teams to;

o undertake a revised system assessment (based on the status of infrastructure/institutions

following project investment) including any new system aspects and control measures now

in place;

o undertake a revised risk assessment of the water supply/safety system and initiate the

required monitoring programme for evaluating water safety into the future;

o review the team’s WSP outputs and identify control measures to mitigate the potential

hazards identified.

• Conduct a review of the WSP 6 months and 1 year after its completion. This would include

checks to ensure the WSP is being reviewed as necessary and the monitoring procedures

contained within it are being implemented. This would also include review of construction of

control measures where included and of the WSP Team’s own operational monitoring. This

would be reported to the ADB for inclusion in the Project Monitoring / Completion reports.

e. Project Evaluation

The ADB or its Consultants would monitor progress on achieving the desired impacts of the WSP

process. This will be guided by the indicators set out in the PPTA consultant’s report but is likely to

require a meeting with the Ministry of Health, or simply a request for data (e.g. relating to standards of

drinking water quality). This data should be analysed to consider water safety progress and reported

in the project completion and evaluation report.



5.2 Water safety within programmatic lendingADB is already including water safety planning within its programmatic lending. Under the new multi-

tranche financing facility (MFF) in Vietnam, ADB have a USD1 billion line of credit for 2011 – 2012.

The ADB have set up a competition for utilities to be funded by the MFF. The two key criteria for

selection are:

• agreement to follow WSPs; and

• agreement to ensure full cost recovery.

Often WSP related activities are not currently included in the tariff so consideration needs to be given

on how to finance this. This may be by phasing it into tariff prices but in the case of more expensive

control measures, it may require additional capital investment. WHO is working with the Government

of Vietnam and ADB on piloting Safe Water Investment Plans, whereby investments for infrastructure

to ensure safe water are prioritised in terms of impact, risk, urgency and cost and a business plan is

developed for financing. This is then taken to the market for investment.

6. Roles of utilities and householdsWSPs are designed to cover the water supply system from catchment (source) to mouth. In most

cases, the water supplier only has responsibility for the quantity and quality of water supplied to a

connection (household or street/community). Beyond that, water quantity and quality is the

responsibility of the household or community.

There are many examples of where the water quality in the household storage vessels (be they tanks

or portable vessels) is worse than at the source or in the distribution system. A properly managed

WSP, therefore, includes advice and communication to householders and communities on proper

management of household water collection, storage and distribution as well as hygiene promotion.



Attachment 1Examples of Hazards and Hazardous Events Affecting Water Safety

(Adapted from WHO/IWA Water Safety Plan Manual)

A) Affecting the Catchment

Hazardous Event Associate HazardWeather, Seasonal variations Flooding, rapid changes in source water qualityGeology Arsenic, fluoride, lead, uranium etc.Agriculture Microbes, pesticides, nitrate, slurry, dung, disposal of dead animalsForestry PesticidesIndustry, Mining Chemical and microbesDevelopment Run-offHousing – septic tanks MicrobesRaw water storage Algae and toxins

B) Associated with Treatment

Hazardous Event Associate HazardAny hazard not controlledfrom catchment

As identified above

Power supplies Interrupted treatment / loss of disinfectionCapacity of treatmentworks

Overloading treatment

Disinfection Reliability, disinfection by-productsBy-pass facility Inadequate treatmentTreatment failure Untreated waterUnapproved orcontaminated treatmentchemicals

Contamination of water supply

Blocked filters Inadequate particle removal

Security/vandalism Contamination / water lossInstrumentation failure Loss of control

C) Within a Distribution System

Hazardous Event Associate HazardAny hazard not controlledfrom treatment

As identified above

Mains burst ContaminationPressure fluctuations ContaminationIntermittent supply ContaminationOpening/closing valves Reverse or change flow, introduction of stale waterUnauthorized connections Contamination by back flowOpen/leaking servicereservoir

Contamination

Security/vandalism Contamination

D) Affecting Customer Premises

Hazardous Event Associate HazardAny hazard not controlledduring distribution

As identified above

Unauthorized connections Contamination from backflowLead pipes Lead contaminationPlastic service pipes Oil or solvent spillage

Storage in home Contamination from storage in contaminated storage vessels in home

CS55: Guidance Note on Mainstreaming Water Safety Plans in ADB projects

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