Conducting a Water Safety Plan (WSP) Relied on WHO Recommendations for the Assessment of Qom Desalinated Water Supply System

Abstract

This work aimed to apply the water safety plan (WSP), a plan suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO), to evaluate desalinated water supply system in Qom province of Iran, assisting a systematic prevention approach based on risk assessment. Major portion of Qom drinking water is supplied by an integrated membrane-based desalination system through a private water network. WSP includes 12 phases comprising chapters like "System Description", "Hazard Identification", and "Risk Assessment". The abovementioned phases were conducted according to filled checklists which finally served as the input data for WSP software, namely WSP QA Tool. The processed information by the software attributed to each step was presented finally as appropriate tables and histograms. Total score obtained for Qom desalinated water supply system via WSP was 302 whereas, the full obtainable score considered in WSP was 440. Accordingly, 68.6% of the total WSP obtainable scores was acquired. The scores achieved in steps "catchment", "treatment", "distribution", and "point of use" were 67%, 67%, 64%, and 65%, respectively. The minimum obtained score was 25% assigned to the step "Improvement Plan". The maximum scores were 100% and 97% attributed to "Identification of Stakeholders" and "Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment", respectively. The score of 68.6% from WSP was achieved by Qom desalinated water supply system. The step "Improvement Plan" should be performed simultaneously with the entire WSP to improve the coordination for better enforcement of the plan. To enhance the current condition, the funding demands assigned to each uncontrolled risk which is attributed to each improvement program must be supplied, ranked, and enforced.

The Risk Assessment of the Critical Points in the Water Safety Plan Based on the Characterization and Validity of Microbial Indicator Control: A Case Study in Qom Province, Iran

“…Furthermore, the safety of the water distribution system network in Qom was examined through the identification and risk assessment of the critical points in the WSP and assessing the validity of the microbial water quality indicators [6]. Qom is the capital of Qom province, which is located at the border of the central desert of Iran (Kavir-e Markazi) and geographical coordination of 34°38′24″N 50°52′35″E.…”

“…This cross-sectional study was conducted at 160 points of an urban water distribution network. The sampling plan was repeated twice per season, and sampling time was the fall of 2019 location of studied area and sampling point is mentioned in the figure 1 and 2 [6].…”

Development and implementation of water safety plans for groundwater resources in the southernmost city of West Azerbaijan Province, Iran

“…In Iran, in the city of Qom, a study on the water safety plan was conducted by Shafiei et al In 2017. In this study, by implementing the water safety plan, they were able to achieve a high level of safety of the water source system and distribution network [18]. In 2019, Razmju et al conducted a study on risk assessment of Semnan city water supply system using water safety plan.…”

Source to tap water quality assessment in drinking water supply system in Oman

“…Around 88 % of diarrhoea cases are resulted from drinking unsafe water as well as insufficient sanitation and poor hygiene [2,3]. Waterborne diseases are caused when human drinks water contaminated with pathogenic bacteria or viruses such as cholera, typhoid, bacillary dysentery, adenoviruses, retroviruses, due to the contamination of drinking water with human or animal faeces or urine [4]. Furthermore, water from different sources could include harmful dissolved substances (organic and inorganic) and could negatively affect human health.…”