Unsafe water remains a significant public health threat in high and low income countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes Water Safety Plans (WSPs) as the most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking-water supply. Although health benefits of WSP implementation have been shown, there is a lack of information relating water supplier characteristics to expected costs. Costing practices were adapted from food quality management studies and applied to six water suppliers from the Western Pacific Region, as designated by WHO. The explanation building procedure was used to develop understanding of relationships between drinking-water supply agency (DWSA) characteristics and WSP implementation costs. The results indicate that costs associated with WSP implementation are expected to be low for developed DWSAs; however, for developing DWSAs, there is high variability in costs which indicates further research may not improve generalized WSP cost estimations. Furthermore, developing DWSAs experience large and highly variable capital and operational monitoring costs. The capital and operational monitoring improvements are necessary to achieving a safe water supply and may require ongoing financial and technical resources to execute.
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Research Article|
September 14 2013
Analysis of Water Safety Plan costs from case studies in the Western Pacific Region
Zai Kang Chang
;
1The Water Institute at UNC, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA 27516
E-mail: zkangchang@gmail.com
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Mien Ling Chong
;
Mien Ling Chong
2Public Utilities Board, Singapore 228231
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Jamie Bartram
Jamie Bartram
1The Water Institute at UNC, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA 27516
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Water Supply (2013) 13 (5): 1358–1366.
Article history
Received:
September 03 2012
Accepted:
March 11 2013
Citation
Zai Kang Chang, Mien Ling Chong, Jamie Bartram; Analysis of Water Safety Plan costs from case studies in the Western Pacific Region. Water Supply 1 September 2013; 13 (5): 1358–1366. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2013.146
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