DAVAO City Water District (DCWD) launched its updated Water Safety Plan (WSP) this month in a bid to ensure that the water that reaches their customers' homes is safe.
The launching marked the start of its implementation, starting with the information dissemination phase of the plan’s importance and components to DCWD employees, government agencies, and other identified stakeholders.
The Water Safety Plan is a water quality management program designed to ensure the safety of drinking water from source to customers.
The concept is to protect the source water from potential hazards, prevent contamination during treatment, storage, and distribution, and ensure that it meets the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water's (PNSDW) criteria for quality water.
After the training seminar conducted in Davao City, the 14-member team started developing its WSP in 2009 based on the concepts and guidelines introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2004 and included in the PNSDW of 2007. The first edition was completed in 2011.
Since then, the water utility, in pursuit of its mission to provide safe water, has been proactive in updating its WSP per standards set by regulating agencies.
These include the Department of Health’s Administrative Order 2014-0027 declaring the development and implementation of WSP by all drinking-water service providers as a national policy, and the Local Water Utilities Administration’s Memorandum Circular 10-2014 making the WSP part of the institutional requirements for water districts.
Among the upcoming activities are the WSP orientation to DCWD employees, the WSP Stakeholder Forum, and the WSP Internal and External Audit.
The orientation is the first activity in the WSP’s implementation and is planned to be integrated in the 2017 DCWD employees’ forum scheduled in the first quarter of this year. (PR)