The DOH-certified Water Safety Plan of COWD is designed to manage drinking water quality from catchment to consumer. It complies with parameters set by the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water.
The primary objectives of a Water Safety Plan in protecting human health and ensuring good water supply practices are:
(1) The minimization of contamination of source waters
(2) The reduction or removal of contamination through appropriate treatment processes
(3) The prevention of contamination in the distribution network and the domestic distribution system
The COWD Water Safety Plan includes the following:
I. Hazard identification and risk prioritization – The WSP Team determines all possible sources of contaminants, after which an ocular inspection is conducted to come up with reliable data and analysis on the potential hazards which may affect water quality. The team ranks hazardous events to provide a focus on the most significant hazards done using AS/NZS 4360:2004 Risk Management Standard which gives guidance on the use of semi-quantitative risk assessment.
The hazards are ranked to establish priorities and to provide a focus on the most significant ones. Based on the assessment, improvement plans have been developed for those identified as high risks to eliminate or control the hazards:
a. At Catchment: Possible entry of contaminants due to presence of nearby septic tank or fuel stations, flooding, unscheduled power outage, etc.
b. During distribution: Possible entry of contaminants during handling of materials, through leaking pipelines, during installation of service connections, etc.
c. Consumer level: Possible entry of contaminants due to illegal tapping, improper handling, and storage of water, etc.
II. Monitoring – The WSP Team determines the (a) frequency of monitoring of the items listed as potential hazards or risks, (b) who will be assigned to monitor and (c) how it will be monitored.
COWD conducts regular, scheduled monitoring of water produced from different sources such as Boosters, Production Wells, the Malasag Spring, and Bulk Water.
III. Plan for Corrective Action – if operation deviates from normal situations or surpasses normal or critical limits, certain corrective actions are indicated in the Water Safety Plan to prevent contamination of supplied water.
Water Safety Plans evolve with the times. It is important to learn from emergencies, incidence or near misses. It is subject for periodic review to keep the WSP updated to prevent reoccurrence of the problems and ensure the effective implementation of the program.
