Policy issues: engaging stakeholders in implementation of water safety plan

Abstract

Many developing countries, are accelerating the efforts towards attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG 6 “Ensures availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation (WASH) for all” relates to water, sanitation and hygiene. The WASH SDG has 8 targets of which, target 6.1 aims to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030. The indicator for this target is “percentage of population using safely managed drinking water services (6.1.1)”. The safely managed drinking water means, there is strong concern for drinking water quality assurance to the people. This is the foundation of water safety planning, which is a risk assessment and management procedure of ensuring safety of drinking water from catchment to consumer. By UNICEF/WHO JMP definition, safely managed water are improved drinking water sources, which are accessible on premises, available when needed, and free from contamination. In this paper, it is discussed that only having WSPs is not enough but proper action plan and engagement of concerned stakeholders, capacity building and continuous follow up, monitoring & evaluation and surveillance is important to achieve the national and international targets. Some lessons from the developing countries is included.