Overview

This intensive two-day course guides delegates through the practical development and implementation of a Water Safety Plan (WSP) for a drinking-water supply system. It follows the supply chain from catchment and raw-water source through treatment, storage and distribution to the consumer, and aligns the WSP process with Blue Drop requirements and SANS 241:2025.
Delegates work in facilitated groups on a representative water supply system. Each session advances the same WSP, enabling participants to identify hazards, assess risks, select and validate control measures, establish operational limits and corrective actions, and compile a defensible monitoring, verification and incident-response framework.

Why Should an Individual Attend?

• Develop a practical Water Safety Plan. Move beyond theory by building a structured WSP from system description through implementation and review.
• Connect WSPs to Blue Drop success. Understand how sound risk management, operational control and evidence support Blue Drop performance.
• Apply SANS 241:2025 in a risk-based framework. Use drinking-water quality requirements to inform hazards, control limits, monitoring and verification.
• Assess the complete supply system. Recognise risks across the catchment, source, treatment works, reservoirs and distribution network.
• Strengthen operational decision-making. Define measurable control limits, corrective actions, responsibilities and escalation procedures.
• Improve teamwork and implementation. Clarify the roles of technical, operational, laboratory, management and regulatory stakeholders in maintaining safe water.

Outcomes

At the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

• Explain the purpose, principles and key components of water safety planning and their relationship to Blue Drop requirements.
• Assemble a multidisciplinary WSP team and define responsibilities, communication channels and system boundaries.
• Prepare and verify a clear description and process flow diagram of a water supply system from catchment to consumer.
• Identify hazards and hazardous events and assess risks using a consistent likelihood-and-consequence methodology.
• Evaluate catchment, raw-water source, treatment, storage and distribution risks.
• Identify existing and additional control measures and establish critical or operational limits and corrective actions.
• Develop operational monitoring, verification, recordkeeping and incident-response arrangements aligned with SANS 241:2025.
• Compile, assess and present a practical WSP with an improvement plan, assigned responsibilities and review arrangements.

Program Outline

Day 1: System Assessment and Risk Identification

Session 1: Water Safety Planning and Blue Drop Requirements

• Purpose and principles of water safety planning
• The catchment-to-consumer risk-management approach
• Linkages between the WSP, Blue Drop requirements and SANS 241:2025
• WSP structure, evidence and implementation cycle

Session 2: Assemble the WSP Team and Describe the Water Supply System

• WSP team composition, competencies, roles and responsibilities
• Defining the system boundary and intended water use
• System description, process flow diagrams and field verification
• Breakout activity: establish the team and map the selected system

Session 3: Assess Catchment and Raw-Water Source Risks

• Catchment characteristics, pollution sources and source vulnerability
• Hazards and hazardous events affecting surface water and groundwater
• Likelihood, consequence and risk-ranking methodology
• Breakout activity: source hazard identification and risk assessment

Session 4: Assess Water Treatment Process Risks

• Treatment barriers, process failure modes and interdependencies
• Chemical, microbial, physical and radiological hazards
• Assessment of existing controls and residual risk
• Breakout activity: treatment-process risk assessment

Day 2: Risk Control, Monitoring and WSP Completion

Session 1: Assess Storage and Distribution Network Risks

• Reservoir integrity, pressure, water age, ingress and cross-connection risks
• Network operation, maintenance, repairs and contamination events
• Consumer-end risks and communication considerations
• Breakout activity: storage and distribution risk assessment

Session 2: Define Control Measures, Limits and Corrective Actions

• Selection and validation of preventive control measures
• Operational and critical limits and alert levels
• Corrective action, responsibility, escalation and recordkeeping
• Breakout activity: control-measure and corrective-action schedule

Session 3: Develop Monitoring, Verification and Incident Procedures

• Operational monitoring: what, where, how, when and by whom
• Verification against SANS 241:2025 and supporting quality assurance
• Incident classification, response, communication and recovery
• Supporting programmes, documentation and management review

Session 4: Compile, Assess and Present the Water Safety Plan

• Consolidating the WSP and prioritised improvement plan
• Assigning actions, responsibilities, resources and completion dates
• Assessing completeness, evidence and implementation readiness
• Group presentation, peer review and facilitator feedback

Who Should Attend?

• Municipal officials and Water Services Authority personnel
• Water service providers and drinking-water treatment professionals
• Process controllers, supervisors and operational managers
• Civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical and environmental engineers
• Water quality, laboratory, compliance and risk-management personnel
• Regulators, consultants and other stakeholders involved in, responsible for, or affected by municipal or private drinking-water supply systems