The IWA Water Safety Planning Specialist Group (WSP SG) was formally launched in September 2010 during the IWA World Water Congress in Montreal, Canada. This SG had its beginnings in the work of the previous IWA Bonn Network which was composed of 15 water utilities. The Bonn Network developed an online toolbox (Bonn Toolbox) and the IWA Specialist Group took the commitment to continue the work and increase outreach to a larger number of water professionals, especially those working for water suppliers.
The main objectives of the WSP SG are to disseminate practical knowledge in WSP implementation to the key stakeholders involved in providing safe drinking water, including water suppliers, regulatory authorities, catchment management authorities, public health institutions and the international water community at large.
A major goal was set up by the Management Committee to disseminate WSP implementation in small water supply systems. In the following years the activities of the WSP SG will be focused on this goal.
The WSP Specialist Group will work with IWA to strengthen WSPs beyond the boundaries of the utility and the users, involving and working together with new stakeholders in order to achieve the objectives described above.
From the open meeting of the IWA Specialist Group on Water Safety Planning, held in September 2014 during the Lisbon World Congress, decisions were made on the activities to be organized up to 2016:
- Support the Brazilian MoH in the organization of the Conference “Water safety: less risk, more health”
- Finalize link demonstration between WSP and O&M
- Regular Newsletter Publication
- Water Safety Conference (TBD)
- Open Meeting in IWC 2016, Australia