Water safety planning (WSP) is a comprehensive approach introduced in the Philippines to assess and manage the risks of the water supply chain—from the source to consumer. This moves away from the notion that tap water quality testing is the only way to determine the safety of drinking water and instead, regards tap testing as just one of the methods to verify water safety. WSP assures that water can be checked on in the simplest water systems to the most complex.
This WSP initiative was introduced in 2006 in three phases, with Phase 3 culminating in December 2016. This decade long project, supported by the Government of Australia, institutionalized the approach of water safety planning for all drinking-water service providers in the Philippines. Key milestones of the project were the Department of Health’s Administrative Order that required all drinking-water service providers to develop and implement water safety plans and the Local Water Utilities Memorandum Circular directing all water districts and rural waterworks association to comply with the DOH Order, both issued in 2014.
By end of 2016, the project was able to develop 116 water safety plans for the following areas:
WHO Technical Officer on Environmental Health, Engineer Bonifacio Magtibay, highlighted that these WSPs can serve as models for others to follow. With these templates, it is expected that more water safety plans will be developed in the coming years. “To ensure its sustainability, the Department of Health has to continue to build capacity”. Engineer Magtibay gave the accreditation and certification systems and guidelines on reviewing, approving, and auditing water safety plans as some examples to achieve this. “ Ideally, other government agencies with water supply projects such as the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and Department of Agrarian Reforms (DAR) would need to comply with DOH requirements on water safety so that the population served will also be protected from waterborne diseases.” he concluded.
Dr Gundo Weiler, WHO Country Representative in the Philippines, lauded the program saying “Together, the water safety plans developed in the last decade have reached at least 26 million people, an investment that cost less than $4 cents per beneficiary. If we continue to support such innovative and cost effective intervention, we can protect the health of millions of Filipinos for years to come.”