Water Safety Plans and HACCP implementation in water utilities around the world: benefits, drawbacks and critical success factors

Drinking water is of paramount importance for people's health. Many outbreaks due to poor water quality are being recorded even nowadays. Although the institutional framework exists at global (e.g., WHO guidelines) and national level, there are still many factors contributing to water contamination. Risk assessment tools, such as HACCP and Water Safety Plans, are being elaborated all over the world to act proactively referring to drinking water quality. The present paper aims at reviewing the implementation status of risk assessment tools around the world and presenting the benefits and the difficulties recorded during the implementation process. The benefits include improved water quality, improved operational efficiency, reduced consumers' complaints, reduced production cost, and reduced potential hazardous incidents. Studying the difficulties, the identification of critical success factors for the implementation of such tools is feasible. Some of the critical success factors include the financial and human resources, staff training, effective identification of critical control points, correct estimation of the occurrence and the severity of the hazards, effective coordination, and efficient monitoring.

Automated summary

The importance of clean drinking water for health cannot be overstated, as poor water quality continues to lead to outbreaks. Despite global and national institutional frameworks, there are still many factors contributing to water contamination. Risk assessment tools are being developed worldwide to proactively address drinking water quality, with benefits including improved water quality and operational efficiency, reduced complaints and costs, and fewer hazardous incidents. Identifying critical success factors such as financial resources, staff training, control point identification, hazard severity estimation, coordination, and monitoring is crucial for successful implementation.