Issue 5, 2015

Applying the water safety plan to water reuse: towards a conceptual risk management framework

Abstract

The Water Safety Plan (WSP) is receiving increasing attention as a recommended risk management approach for water reuse through a range of research programmes, guidelines and standards. Numerous conceptual modifications of the approach – including the Sanitation Safety Plan, the Water Cycle Safety Plan, and even a dedicated Water Reuse Safety Plan – have been put forward for this purpose. However, these approaches have yet to encapsulate the full spectrum of possible water reuse applications, and evidence of their application to reuse remains limited. Through reviewing the existing evidence base, this paper investigates the potential for adapting the WSP into an approach for water reuse. The findings highlight a need for the management of risk to reflect on, and facilitate the inclusion of, broader contexts and objectives for water reuse schemes. We conclude that this could be addressed through a more integrated approach to risk management, encapsulated within an overarching risk management framework (adapted from the WHO's Framework for safe drinking water) and operationalised through the Water Reuse Safety Plan (WRSP). We also propose that the WRSP should be based on modifications to the existing WSP approach, including an increased emphasis on supporting communication and engagement, and improvements in decision support mechanisms to better account for uncertainty, risk interactions and risk prioritisation.

Graphical abstract: Applying the water safety plan to water reuse: towards a conceptual risk management framework

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Mar 2015
Accepted
01 Aug 2015
First published
04 Aug 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2015,1, 709-722

Applying the water safety plan to water reuse: towards a conceptual risk management framework

D. Goodwin, M. Raffin, P. Jeffrey and H. M. Smith, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2015, 1, 709 DOI: 10.1039/C5EW00070J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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