ABSTRACT
Water safety plans address both routine operations and incident responses to support risk management in drinking water utilities. Their use and relevance in facing the challenges of the Covid-19 crisis were investigated via a survey distributed to water utilities and health or environmental agencies across the globe. Responses from 86 respondents from 38 countries were analysed to identify the water safety challenges faced and responses. Water safety plans appear to provide some preparedness and organizational advantages to utilities in facing the Covid-19 crisis, including stronger communication links between utilities and governing agencies. Guidance for future water safety planning is provided.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank all the organizations that helped to distribute or advertise the survey during summer 2020, including the UN-Habitat’s Global Water Operators Partnership Alliance (GWOPA), the World Health Organization (WHO), IHE Delft (alumni mailing list), the World Bank, Suez, EurEau, the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association and the Programme d’excellence en eau potable (PEXEP of Réseau Environnement in Québec, Canada), as well as all the professional contacts of the research team who circulated the survey. We thank Baptiste Leveque for his help with the online survey; Jacqueline Noga for survey advice; and Simon Dufort for help with data analysis. We also thank Jennifer De France, Angella Rinehold and Rory Moses McKeown at WHO for reviewing and commenting on the survey questionnaire.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2021.2016378
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Notes on contributors
F. Bichai
All authors contributed to this study: all authors (except S.B.) participated in initial discussions at the start of the study. F.B., G.F., D.D. and P.S. designed the survey. F.B., G.F. and P.S. contributed to the survey’s dissemination; F.B. managed the survey; and F.B. and G.F. analysed the results. All the authors contributed to writing the article.